Prodrive today issued the following Press Release to the mainstream motoring media:
"McRae tribute to set new world record
A world record 1000 Imprezas are expected to descend on Prodrive on August 31, as the Subaru community gathers to pay a fitting tribute to the late Colin McRae.
Led by McRae’s 1995 World Rally Championship-winning Impreza 555, a convoy of Subarus will leave Colin’s home town of Lanark at 10 am on Saturday 30 August. The initially small group of Subarus will head down the A74, M6, M42 and the M40 before arriving at Prodrive in Banbury later the same day.
On Sunday August 31, organisers of the McRae Gathering expect more than 1000 Subarus from all over the UK to gather at Prodrive. The British motorsport company is the home of the Subaru World Rally Team, where Colin spent the most successful years of his rallying career; first winning the British Rally Championship in a Subaru Legacy in 1991 and 1992, before graduating to the works team Impreza and famously becoming Britain’s first world rally champion in 1995.
Colin also helped Subaru win the manufacturers’ championship in 1996 and 1997 and his 1996 Group A Impreza 555, will lead the convoy up the M40 for the final leg of its journey from Banbury to Prodrive’s proving ground in Warwickshire.
Having just set a world record for a gathering of Subarus, the aim is then to set a world record for a parade of Subarus, as all the cars circulate around the 2 mile test track. As a final mark of respect, the Subarus will park up on the mile-long straight to spell out the name Colin McRae in letters more than 100 feet tall and visible to anyone flying into nearby Birmingham International airport.
Prodrive chairman, David Richards, was instrumental in putting the young Colin McRae into a Subaru and nurturing his talent. He said: “Colin was not only an exceptional driver, but also a remarkable person and a great friend to everyone at Prodrive. Single-handedly he brought the sport of rallying into everyone’s living room, whether it was through his sideways exploits in the forest or through the many video games which bore his name. I can not think of a more fitting tribute to Colin than a gathering of so many Subarus, a car for which he did so much to make as popular as it is today.”
The McRae Gathering is only open to Subarus and to take part, all cars must bear the special ‘McRae Gathering’ plate. There is an entry charge of £10 for each car and all proceeds will go to the McRaes’ nominated charities. For more information and to join the convoy please visit
www.mcrae-gathering.co.uk."
We cannot express how grateful we are to Prodrive for supporting us in the way they have. Already the McRae Gathering website is seeing increased traffic from across the globe as a result. Website articles and forum topics have been recorded in South Africa, Australia, USA, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Poland - amongst others and yesterday we received contact from a Rally Magazine in Argentina wanting to cover this event. Interest is expected to continue to grow as word spreads.
SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM
When the Subaru World Rally Team were approached about offering items to auction for this event, we expected a few bits and pieces - maybe some SWRT jackets or fleeces. Never in a million years did we expect what they have offered us...
Apart from
"an actual set of Petter Solberg's 2008 (blue and yellow rather than the newer style) rally overalls (cleaned, fortunately) which we'll get Petter to autograph at the Festival of Speed. These are not replica - and they are rarely made available to the public for purchase."
THE CONVOY AND WEEKEND
Please note that a McRae Gathering Sticker will be required to participate in ANY part of the weekend's events, not just to gain entry to Prodrive. If you want to just be part of the convoy then leave or join the convoy part way then you MUST carry an official sticker on the front of your car and you must register your details with us. This is a condition of Police approval for the event
Wee update people..
Thursday, 05 June 2008
It’s been a helluva week for the McRae Gathering team, but have we got news for you! Two of our Members travelled down from Scotland at some ungodly hour on Tuesday morning for a meeting with Prodrive, the local police and the local council to finalise things. I’m not going to go into all the details, but suffice to say it was a VERY successful meeting. We have the police and the local council very much on-side and the support that Prodrive are offering is simply incredible.
Straight after that and having had very little sleep and a somewhat adventurous journey back north of the border, our intrepid heroes had a meeting with Jimmy McRae and Campbell Roy regarding their involvement in this event, both from a McRae family point of view and the involvement of McRae Motorsport.
We still have loads to sort out, but there are some MAJOR high points already arranged and confirmed which we’re absolutely delighted and very excited to be able to tell you about:
Saturday Morning – 30th August
Jimmy McRae will make the iconic Colin McRae World-beating Impreza L555 BAT and Colin's Subaru Legacy available at the start point at Lanark Market for us all to drool over!
Jimmy is also going to look into making the Impreza L555 BAT road-worthy and legal to lead the convoy from the start point onto the motorway. If that can happen it will be a unique and truly one-off experience in our lifetimes that is guaranteed to send a shudder down the spine of all in attendance. Cross your fingers and everything else that this can happen.
Sunday Morning – 31st August at the Prodrive Banbury facility
Prodrive will open their heritage centre at the Banbury facility and the Subaru World Rally Team workshops for you to explore and make their barbecue available from which we’ll be serving hot breakfast rolls whilst we wait for everyone to arrive for what is truly going to be a once in a lifetime event
Sunday Lunchtime – 31st August
At 12 noon, Colin’s car from the 1996 World Rally Championship – N1 WRC – will roll out of the gates from Banbury to lead the convoy to the Prodrive facility at Warwick.
The Essex Police Impreza Interceptor as featured in the Channel 5 TV Programme “Police Interceptors” will take part in the convoy along with Warwickshire Police’s unmarked Impreza (be on your best behaviour guys!) We’re really excited about these guys taking part as it shows the support and buy-in we have for this event and we’re delighted they’re going to be part of it.
Sunday Afternoon – 31st August
There are still some final bits to sort out, but as things stand right now this is going to be an afternoon NOT to be missed!
On arrival of the convoy at Warwick:
Prodrive will lay on demos/passenger laps on the adverse handling track, demos/passenger laps on the wet grip and also on the off-road tracks
There will be the opportunity to book on Prodrive's Rally Day, with discounted rates available and 10% will go towards the charities
There will be a Show and Shine event for those who want to take part. Prodrive employees will be the judges with an exclusive Prodrive prize for the winner.
Warwick Police's road safety stand and their unmarked Impreza will be displayed
Plans are afoot to spell out C. McRae or Colin McRae in Imprezas on the runway at Warwick. Dave Richards of Prodrive who has bought into this event totally has said he will make his helicopter available for aerial photos. This would be awesome, but is going to take some organising! We’d love to do it and are looking into it. More on that soon but if anybody fancies taking the organising of that on then please email me - andy AT mcrae-gathering.co.uk. We're swamped with work so could be done with someone to take ownership of this.
The TV Company that are doing the “Police Interceptor” series on Channel 5 are interested in the TV rights to this event. That shows how big this is going to be. It’s going to be totally unique and an awesome day for any Subaru or Colin McRae fan. If you’ve not yet got your stickers for the Subaru event of the year then get them soon!
Other News
In other exclusive news, we have the official polo shirts for this all done, dusted and approved. We held off on publicising this as we were not going to go public until we were totally happy and had approval from the various people involved. We're now delighted to announce they will feature the McRae Gathering logo, the official Prodrive logo and the official Colin McRae Sport logo.
Prodrive branded clothing is almost impossible to get hold of and the official Colin McRae clothing is only available through official McRae Sport channels. For both of them to grant us permission to use their logos is a real honour and way beyond what we expected. It shows how highly Colin was and still is thought of by those who knew him and how much those people are supporting this event. These will be "once in a lifetime" shirts - NEVER again will anyone be able to purchase anything carrying the McRae Gathering, Prodrive and Colin McRae Sport logos. It's only down to the support of the people who loved and respected Colin that we've got permission to produce these. We expect to have them on the online shop early next week and expect demand to be high!
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Prodrive, Jimmy McRae and the McRae family, Campbell Roy, Thames Valley Police, Warwickshire Police and the local authorities for agreeing to and supporting this event. We will not let any of you down.
Finally...
It’s been a hectic few weeks since things have started to ramp up with much more going on behind the scenes than most of you will ever know. To those who have ordered stickers and waited patiently for them, thanks! To those who have ordered stickers and moaned they haven’t arrived within a week – give us a break! This is a massive event that isn’t happening for another 85 days so you’re not going to die if you don’t have your sticker(s) yesterday! There is absolutely shedloads of organising going on, but at the same time we have to juggle the work with our full-time jobs. If you’ve ordered then you will get your sticker(s) in plenty time. Please don’t make our job harder by complaining or hassling us!
_________________
-4-
