Cad Scoobies at Tatton Hall Classic Car Show 2012

I've not heard of Cad [Cheshire and District] Scoobies before but they're a well organised club of Subaru enthusiasts that had one of the largest and best presented stands at the Tatton Hall Classics show. Ok so they're not exactly classics - those hawkeyes are a long way off - but they still seemed to be drawing a big crowd. Find out all about Cad Scoobies on their info page here - http://cadscoobies.com/about.html.

http://cadscoobies.com/

For the full story on Tatton Hall Classic Car show 2012 and over 120 pics go here: Tatton Hall Park Classic Car Show 2012 [on my other blog: http://retrorunabouts.blogspot.co.uk/]

VectraLab - SL's new sister-blog!

That's right folks, ScoobyLab has a twin. VectraLab will be covering the life, times and trials of my mate Mike's awesome 2001 Vectra B 'Irmscher' project car... big!

So check it out @ http://vectralab.blogspot.com!

If you're into your Vauxhalls then stay tuned for some big things in the new year!

ScoobyLab's original Vec-Lab page - http://scoobylab.co.cc/p/veclog.html

ScoobyLab for iPad + Gran Turismo 5!

A member of my family recieved an iPad for Christmas so, naturally, I hit up ScoobyLab to see how it looked on the thing and noticed quite a few errors occurring. Its the same story when I've checked on my friend's iPhones [as mine is water-damage dead :(], with Flash not working at all and any fixed-size object jumping into a weird position, so I've spent some time making the layout compatible while I still have the iPad around to check it on.

I'm pleased to say that the blog is now almost completely working on iPad and comes up more or less correctly on most mobile/smart-phone browsers, but I'm still having trouble with the iPhone display. It's a tricky fix, but I've found some great code for accessing the iPhone menu-functions themselves to make clicking the drop-downs easier, so that'll be exciting anyway.

** The other great news is that Gran Turismo 5 has finally landed on my doorstep! When I bought my PS3 [over 2 years ago!] we we're promised GT5 by the following January and boy, it just went on and on didn't it?! My sister has made up for the wait though [bless her] by getting hold of a Collectors Edition box-set for me crizzy prezzy, which comes with 5 unique 'ChromeLine' cars [in the pic] and the 1/2-thick 'Apex' book full of driving techniques and glossy stuff, which is very nice. Its basically an updated version of everything you got in the manual with the original GT games, but I guess in these gloomy economic times they have to sell it as an add-on. Either way its a nice bit of coffee-table literature for gamers and car chums alike as we while away the frugal months ahead with the best racer ever!

As for the game, well it speaks for itself! After all the hype it couldn't possibly turn out a disappointment and I'm happy to say the graphics and gameplay really rocks. When the game eventually installed I was a little cold at first because the intro-movie and menu screens just looked the same as before. They look old, in fact, for the PS3, but once I got maybe two races in I'm already starting to think this could be the best GT yet. I didn't expect them to change the driving-engine from GT5 Prologue, but it feels much, much better to me - smoother and a little easier too. The choice of extra-modes is also staggering, stuff like go-karting and NASCAR is utter sickness and have the potential to be just magnificent online. If you haven't already bought the game and don't take my word for it, then check the GT website - http://eu.gran-turismo.com/gb/.

While we're on the subject of GT5 I thought I'd use this thread to list any cool cars and achievements I stumble upon that are worth noting:

Cars:

These are all tuned up and can be used from the outset in all modes [except Sunday Cup races], but don't count as purchased cars.

ChromeLine BMW M3

ChromeLine Lamborghini Murcialago

ChromeLine Gullwing Merc. 300SL

ChromeLine Shelby Cobra

ChromeLine Audi R8 V10

Silvia S15 Q's Aero Well its between this or the Mitsi 3000 for the sub 20k first car, so a no brainer really.

'89 MOTUL Civic Race Car OK so you win it right away, but its a beast of an FF car!

Nissan SilEighty Another early win - the front of a Silvia / back of a 200SX [180SX in Japan], I love these things.

Impreza STi Type R '99 Wahey my first Scooby, I've always wanted a coupe.

Merry Xmas!

Seasons greetings and all the best for the new year from ScoobyLab!

I hope you've been enjoying the freezing conditions as much as we have and may Santa bring many shiny JDM parts down your chimney!

Can't wait to start working on the car again in the new year, when I'll be enhancing the boot-install with a boot-lid skin and a storage compartment, as well as restoring the power-steering system, which may result in a whole new PAS-pump so stay tuned...

More snow donuts...

Bit more donut fun early this morning. Getting the Scoob sliding a bit more easy now, but it felt a lot warmer today so the snow is on its way out I reckon. Probably for the best - I dunno how much the Scoob can take. Yeah, I know its only ice and there's not nearly as much strain on components as a dry road, but strain is still there and high-revving like that can't be good first thing in the morning, even with a warm engine so naturally I checked the car throughout the day. Neuroses over a couple of snow donuts, I guess I'm just not cut out for this lark haha...

Snow Fun + Update

Well the snow and ice has worsened and brought all work on the car to a halt. I guess this is it until the new year, so I might as well focus on actually driving the thing... and thats one part of the snow and ice nightmare that we can console ourselves with!

I've been dying to donut and drift the Scoob around, but I daren't try it on the gravel car-park at work. It's a different story when its covered in ice though so I chucked it round for a few practice spins afterwards with Laney filming. If we get a good freeze tonight the car-park should be like an ice-rink so I'll have to try and get to work early one day and film some in the daylight!

And yes, this is completely private land with nobody around - the only thing I might harm is my back-tyres...

The Scooby's 4WD has been amazing on the ice - no wheelspins when pulling away and the grip on a wet/slushy roundabout is phenomenal. On the other hand, all this grip is not great if you just want to tit about throwing the back-end around, even on the ice. Spin all four wheels and the front wheels slide onwards with the back ones and it won't snap round easily. Even with less than half the horse-power and no LSD, the RWD Beemer was more giving on the ice when you chuck the back out, where the Scooby finds it hard to let go, so I've really had to put it into a tight handbrake before dumping the clutch. The handbrake was never good enough in the BMW to do that, even on ice, but no need - just drive in a circle normally until the back-end goes and enjoy!

It would seem that the mighty Subaru needs a bit more figuring out before I start attempting this on wet-roundabouts....

Update + BMW M1 'Art Car' Birthday Cake!!

Where has the year gone?! It's rolled round to October already, but at least that means it's my birthday!!

I've finally got a whole two weeks off work, but I've been on holiday in the Scilly Isles for a bit [where there are no Scoobys sadly] and too busy partying to focus much on the car. I have found time to iron out a few small problems that have been doing my head in, like the faulty subs, and neatened up some of the detailing [which I'll cover soon], but I still haven't motivated myself to finish off my carbon wind-diffuser and anything else exciting will mean spending money - and that ugly old thing called insurance is about to rear it's head in a couple of weeks so I'll have to get saving hard again and see what I can achieve before Xmas hits...

For now enjoy this birthday cake that my good friend Chidge made for me. OK, so it's not shaped like a WRX, but it is a rather spectacular rendition of the awesome BMW M1 supercar from the late 70's. The more astute among you will notice that its not just any M1, but is in fact the famous 'Art Car', with the paint-job done by Andy Warhol himself for one of his exhibitions [http://www.bmwdrives.com/artcars/bmw-artcars-warhol.php]. A brilliant car-geek-cake and a very thoughtful birthday gift!!

Can't even tell which is which!!