These are the most frequently asked questions from the McRae Gathering Mailbox. Please check here before contacting us as chances are your question has already been asked and answered...

PARTICIPATION

Registration for this event closed on Thursday 14th August. You can no longer purchase the required car sticker to take part in this event.

Can I get a sticker please?

Afraid not. Sales are closed. Please don't ask us as we'll only have to say no. They were on sale for three months which is plenty time to get organised and order one.

No. A sticker is required to participate in any part of this event. Even if you intend just doing a short part of the convoy you will need to be registered with us and display an official sticker on the front of your car. This is a condition of Police permission.

NOOOOOO! Please don't!

There is still a backlog on sticker orders, but now there are no more orders coming in we should clear that pretty quickly. If you have not received yours by 25th August, please contact us.

CLOTHING

Is there any clothing available to mark this event?

Yes! Official McRae Gathering Polo shirts, endorsed by both Prodrive and the McRae family are available via our online shop to the left.

Are the sizes quoted accurate?

Yes. We've shipped over a 250 shirts so far and had no complaints about the stated sizes being incorrect.

How long will my shirt take to arrive?

As with the stickers, there is a large backlog on shirt orders. Your shirt order is produced to order specifically for you and shipped directly from our supplier. You will receive an email from us when your order has shipped. Note that the cut-off date for ordering shirts to get them in time for the Gathering has now passed. You can still order, but we will not guarantee delivery in time for the event.  Please allow 28 days for delivery before contacting us. 

I ordered shirts and stickers on the same order. One has arrived, but the other hasn't. Shouldn't they come together?

No. The stickers are shipped from us, the shirts are shipped direct to you from the embroiderer. They will arrive seperately even if ordered together.

LANARK TO BANBURY CONVOY

What time will you be leaving Lanark?

The convoy will leave Lanark at 10am on Saturday 30th August. The first part of the convoy will be led by Colin's Dad, Jimmy McRae, behind the wheel of Colin's personal Series McRae car.

AN OFFICIAL STICKER WILL BE REQUIRED TO ENTER THE PARTICIPANTS AREA AT LANARK. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ONE CLEARLY DISPLAYED ON THE FRONT OF YOUR CAR YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED ACCESS. CONSIDER THIS IF PLANNING ON TRAVELLING WITHOUT HAVING PURCHASED A STICKER IN ADVANCE.

Where can I stay in Lanark?

Most of the places local to Lanark are now fully booked. Please check the Accommodation - Lanark link on the menus to the left for other ideas. At this stage you will probably not find accommodation within 20 miles of Lanark, but roads will be quiet at that time on a Saturday morning.

Where can I join the convoy after it  leaves Lanark?

Over the weekend of 19th/20th July we carried out a full recce of the convoy route from Lanark to Prodrive in Banbury. This included joining points and times for those joining the convoy en route.

AN OFFICIAL STICKER WILL BE REQUIRED TO TAKE PART IN THE CONVOY

On the day, a clearly marked Impreza will pull ahead of the convoy shortly before each joining point. That Impreza will swing off the motorway into the joining points to pick up any waiting cars. Cars joining will then merge into the convoy.

The approximate timings for each joining point will be:

10:20 - M74, Junction 13, Abington Services

10:45 - M74, Junction 16, Johnstonebridge, Annandale Water Services

11:05 - M74, Between junctions 21 and 22, Gretna services

11.30 - M6, Between junctions 41 and 42, Southwaite Services

11:55 - M6, Between Junctions 38 and 39, Tebay Services

12:10 - M6, Between Junctions 36 and 37, Killington Lake Services

12:40 - M6, between Junctions 32 and 33, Lancaster Services 

13:00 - M6, between Junctions 27 and 28, Charnock Richards. There will be a one hour stop here for refuelling and lunch. If joining the convoy here please make sure you are fuelled up BEFORE the convoy arrives to alleviate pressure at the petrol station. This is a Shell station. In the interests of safety please follow the directions of Marshals for refuelling as it will not be possible to fit everyone into the filling station at once and queuing will see cars tailed back onto the motorway. You may have to park up and then refuel when the queues are less.

14:00 - Depart Charnock Richards

14:25 - M6, between Junctions 18 and 19, Knutsford Services

14:30 - M6, between Junctions 16 and 17, Sandbach Services M6      

14:45 - M6, between Junctions 15 and 16, Keele Services

15:00 - M6, between Junctions 14 and 15, Stafford Services

15:30 - M5, between Junctions 3 and 4, Frankley Services

15:45 - M42 Junction 2, Hopwood Park Services

16:20 – Arrive Prodrive Banbury.

We’re probably going to run a wee bit behind schedule due to the sheer scale of the event, but please be at your joining point ahead of the times listed and ready to go. Please only join the convoy at the designated joining points. DO NOT park on slip road hard shoulders waiting to join as this is illegal. Please don’t ask us to add additional joining points. We believe we have listed plenty for everyone en route.

We will issue a full event briefing nearer the time you can print out and take with you.

I need to refuel. Can I pull ahead of the convoy so I can do this then re-join?

Absolutely not. It is your responsibility to ensure you have enough fuel to either get to the planned refuelling stop at Charnock Richards  if joining before there or to refuel there if joining the convoy there. Refuelling at Charnock Richards will provide you with more than enough fuel to reach Banbury. The Recce car (07 2.5 WRX) did the entire 320 miles on one single tank of fuel with just under a quarter tank left to spare. There is a Shell station in Lanark selling V Power for those doing the entire route. We'll provide details on how to get to it nearer the time. If you do need to pull off  the motorway en route  for any reason this should be done from your position in the convoy. You will then need to catch up to re-join, but given the convoy wil be travelling at 60-65mph this should be possible without exceeding the speed limit. Remember this is a respectful tribute event. Take your time and make the most of being part of it. Enjoy the experience. We don't want to see anybody done for speeding and would not condone that. We've worked hard with the Police to make this happen. Don't let us down. 

BANBURY

Where can I stay in Banbury?

Please see the Accommodation - Banbury link on the menus to the left for ideas. As with Lanark, many of the local establishments are already fully booked.

What happens at Banbury Saturday?

The convoy will arrive at Prodrive Banbury between 4 and 5pm on Saturday. There is nothing formally organised as most will want to get to their respective hotels, B&B's, camp sites etc, freshen up and go out for food, beers etc. The convoy will take you to Prodrive in Banbury so you know where're you're heading on Sunday morning. The Prodrive facilities will not be open on Saturday. We'll get there and those who want to park up and have a bit of banter and a walk around can do so. Alternately, once you've sussed where we're going on Sunday morning you're free to disperse to wherever you're staying. We will be notifying the local press as to what is happpening and why Banbury is suddenly going to be infested with Subarus! We'll make it clear it is a respectful charity event , not some boy-racer "Cruise" and we're injecting a lot of money into their local economy. Please help us by respecting the local residents and keep revs low if you've got a loud exhaust! We want the locals to go away thinking what a nice bunch of people the Subaru community are.

What's happening at Prodrive Banbury on Sunday?

AN OFFICIAL STICKER WILL BE REQUIRED FOR ADMITTANCE.  IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ONE CLEARLY DISPLAYED ON THE FRONT OF YOUR CAR YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED ACCESS. CONSIDER THIS IF PLANNING ON TRAVELLING WITHOUT HAVING PURCHASED A STICKER IN ADVANCE.

Prodrive Banbury will open their facility at 10am on Sunday 31st August. The heritage centre and the Subaru World Rally Team workshops will be open for you to explore. This is a very impressive facility and is worth taking the time to look around. There will also be a barbecue available from which we’ll be serving hot breakfast rolls. Please folllow the Marshal's directions when it comes to parking as we have a LOT of cars to fit in!

What about the Banbury to Warwick Convoy?

At 12:00 the convoy will depart from Prodrive Banbury heading to the Prodrive facility at Warwich and led by Colin's 1996 World Championship Impreza.

WARWICK

What happens when we get to Warwick?

When you arrive at Prodrive Warwick you will be split into TWO (note no longer THREE) Categories of traffic by Marshals:

1)  The Fast Lane -  If you have followed all the rules, drive a Subaru and have a Gathering sticker clearly displayed somewhere on the FRONT of your car you will be given a site plan along with details of what's happening where and when for the day and waved through in a matter of seconds with a welcoming smile! You will be our favourite people as you've listened, paid attention and complied with things making our job easier and alleviating traffic flow From the gatehouse you should follow the directions of other Marshals to the designated parking areas.

We obviously want to see everybody in the Fast Lane to get us all to the event to enjoy ourselves as quickly as possible.  Please, please comply with the simple rules!

What's on at Warwick?

We're still working on things for Warwick so can't give full details yet.

There will be the spelling out of Colin McRae in Subarus on the main runway. We're also going to add to that by having a Saltire alongside it again made up of Subarus (A Saltire is the Scottish St Andrews Cross for you English heathens!!! ) 

There will be Prodrive drivers taking people out for passenger laps on the adverse handling circuit. There won't be a formal charge for this, but there will be buckets for donations. You've all been very generous so far - more than we expected, but remember these guys are giving up their time for free and all proceeds will go to the charities. Do feel free to make a donation

There may be other opportunities to get in a car, but we're still working on them so can't say anything right now.

We are inviting all the Major tuners along with their cars to an exhibition area. 

There will be a Visitors Book available for you to sign to record your memories of the day.

There will, of course, be the auction for the signed Petter Solberg SWRT overalls, the totally exclusive SWRT Team weekend and a very special signed Gathering Shirt - more on that later...

There will also be a raffle on the day (subject to us getting enough prizes!!!) This idea only got off the ground at the weekend so we're looking for prizes!

Finally, we're planning on smashing a couple of world records which you will all be part of! More on that soon...

OTHER QUESTIONS

Will this become an annual event?

Absolutely no way! This is strictly a one-off event (which makes it all the more important you are there to be able to tell your grandkids!) It will never happen again. 

I'd like to take the organisers of this event to Litchfield Imports and let them pick the Subarus of their choice at my expense to thank them for their efforts. Is this possible?

Yup. Call us! Okay, this may not be an even once asked question, let alone a frequently asked one, but we can all dream!