asu

I might be moving to marry old england, due to a possible assighnment with the US Army . I was wondering how the Subaru scene around Oxforshire was ?

Ginge !

iTrader: (1)

quite big tbh..... also near prodrive too

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Yes Prodrive, about as big as your going to get on the scooby scene in the uk plus there are enough owners clubs in the surrounding area's for meets (ACE cafe is a little drive down the M40 )

Tony

andy 2000awd

iTrader: (3)

always seemed to be quite big, unitl i got my scoob.....now i very rarely get a wave!

asu

Damm, near prodrive, okay so by the time I leave england ill be desitute but have a bad *** subaru . One last question do you have to have goverment approval and pay taxes on modifications in the UK ? When I was stationed in Germany the Goverment required this, but I got around this becasue of the SOFA agreement . Since you guys are a long time allie I dont know if we can get away with things like we did in Germany .

asu

I guess ill have to get use to the term Yank and Cowboy and questions like why is your steering wheel on the wrong side of the car . For your info I do come from a Cowboy state LoL .

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

No you just have to inform your insurance co of any changes, we can help you there as well Keith Michaels are good for modified scoobs over here, just ensure you take the car to a decent tuner and you wont go far wrong
Your car will probably have to have an ESVA first though, this will require the fitting of a rear fog light and a couple of other minor things like headlight adjustment to suit our roads, but you should be ok after that

Tony

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Where bouts in Oxforshire ?

asu

Tony, what Tuner do you recommend and what fuel do you guys have over there for premuim . And do you guys have Esso or Exxon over there . Because my tuner here in the states probably could tune my car correctly over here in Washington if he knows what fuel Ill be running over there .

asu

Just read a Department of Defense memo that says all we are required is to present a emisions test and proof of insurance to the local DMV and they issue us NATO plates .

Cant wait to show what we have done on our side of the pawn with the STi, I hope you guys like it and it meets your guys expectations .

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

insurance for a us market modified sti will be high i would imagine

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

got any pics?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

There are a fair few tuners, some being fairly close to you, Powerstation does some very good tuning packages, as for fuel 95 ron is our basic gas, 97 is premium, then you have some slightly higher octane fuels, tesco (supermarket) does 99 and shell v power, 99 ron fuel so about the highest octane we can get over here (with the exception of BP's 102 ron but its twice the price and very rare), but you can have the car remapped to run it if you wish plenty of tuners, finding which ones to use are normally down to personal choice, and you may even get to see some of the Japanese Domestic Market cars you dont get over in the States

asu

Not really we just get it through USAA which is basically military insurance they are typically 50% cheaper than thier counterparts . Why would being a US market STi be any higher than a UK market STi ?

asu

I got some older ones, when my wife comes home she can post them up here, for I pretty stupid when it comes to this stuff .

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

LHD v RHD, it can add to the price but if you get it through work then i dont think you will have any problems

Tony

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

A list of tuners

PowerStation
AndyForrestPerformance (he does travel out of scotland, normally a group buy on some of his work )
www.jollygreenmonster.co.uk
Tracktive Solutions - CONTACT US

Just to wet your appitite

Tony

asu

Tony, you have no Idea how difficult its going to be to not get in a accident, I hope your roads are nice wide and straight for some WOT pulls . When I served with the Blackwatch in 05 in Iraq they would tell me storys on how the freeway was basically the autobahn, but than again I thought they where just telling me stories to impress me .

The whole swap on direction of travel is going to be a painfull experience .

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Oh no you have it totally wrong well you do have the M40 which is the motorway (a freeway) with a 70mph limit (like we all keep to that anyway ) but watch out for the unmarked cop cars and speed enforcement camera's
Most of oxfordshire is nice twisty country roads, could be difficult sometimes as your steering wheel is on the wrong side but more enjoyable than straight line drags!
There is Silverstone race track near by, they use to hold the Formula 1 Grand Prix there, you can do track days which need to be booked in advance, that will really put your car through its paces and its pretty wide!

Silverstone Official Website

Tony

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Well i will just gen you up a little on our roads.

Freeway = motorway, 70mph limit unless otherwise indicated by signs
"A" roads, these are the main type of road you will see in the UK, speed limits vary due to locations, ie town is 30mph (20 in places) going to national speed limits (60mph) to 70mph on duel carrigeway's.

"B" roads are well, a little more bumpy, not as wide and usually very twisty, very good fun but you have to watch everything as you can run into some unusual traffic like horse riders.
Speed limits on these are 10mph lower than that on an "A" road on national speed limit area's.

There are also unmetalled roads, normally classed as dirt tracks

Here is a copy of our online highway code dont know if you do a conversion when you change country, we use to do it for Germany when I was posted out there many years ago so its worth having a look at

The Highway Code : Directgov - Travel and transport

Tony

asu

Damm I hope it was like in Germany where you could just throw the ticket out and nothing would happen to you .

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Only if you have diplomatic immunity otherwise its a fine, doubt you would get points but you could end up in court but silverstone is in oxfordshire so quite easy for you to get to and give the car some stick

Tony

asu

Good to know that, all we hear over hear in the States, is that the UK has damm photo radar and cameras everywhere . Makes me feel very uncomfortable to think that someone is watching you 24/7, but after getting some info that is mostly in the Mega-metro areas of the UK . I would love to meet you guys when I get there in about 4 months than another 2 months to get my car . Maybe Ill pick up a old beater GC so I can attend meets and get to know everybody .

PS do they have any Mega-meets like Subyfest in the UK ?

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Northern Big One :: Home

A good selection of scoobs will be there a "donation" is required that goes to charity (100% of it), its a good day out but about 250 miles from oxford, still its all motorway may even be worth having a night out in a hotel up that way

Tony

asu

Now all I got to do is re-learn the english language . When I was in paris I meet some Brits from glochester in the hotel and I understood about a third of what they said . Time to watch lock stock and two smoking barrels and Euro trip to learn how to properly cuss and get use the accent . I hope they understand me because I have a southern accent thats pretty heavy and we have are own dialect .

noobyscooby

I didn't realise there were any US military bases in Oxfordshire anymore . . . except the top secret radar/listening post on the side of the A43 near what was RAF [USAF actually] Upper Heyford from where the Yanks "NEVER EVER" flew US spyplanes . . . so what was that Blackbird and later the Stealth fighter that used to creep in over my office which was directly under the flight path in the dead of night?!

Indeed my office was so directly under the flightpath that an F111 reconaissance plane crashed right beside it one afternoon in 1992 and set fire to all the cars in the car park - the crew ejected OK but here's a picture: http://www.raf-upper-heyford.org/Mis...f111eCrash.jpg

There is no trail of debris. An engine packed up on final approach at low altitude and low speed with the wheels down and the plane just pancaked and made a hole 12 feet deep.

I have to say, the Yanks were very good as they paid everyone within days: the RAF liaison officer said if it had been an RAF jet, everyone could have waited a year or more for their money . . . and the RAF would have argued like hell over the used car values which the Yanks didn't.

And I think "glochester" is Gloucester - county city of Gloucestershire which is west of Oxfordshire.

You'll have to get yourself a GPS police radar locator [radar detectors are illegal now I think]. They range from £40 to several hundred pounds if you want a high psec SATNAV with the info on.

The police have radar vans with cameras that are used 7 days a week on local roads in Oxfordshire [and other counties too I might add] but the sites are well known [partly because many are built as small lay-bys with the words "Reserved for Police Vehicles" written on the tarmac!] and the info is on many of the databases.

By the time you see the camera van it is too late - they've got you. The leeway is 10% so 23+ mph, [yes, we have 20 mph limits and Oxford will soon be the first city to have the biggest area of 20's just as the county has the biggest number of 30 mph limits out in the country] 34+ mph, 45+ mph, 56+ mph, 67+ mph and 78+ mph should see a fixed penalty ticket coming your way - 4 lots and you lose your licence!

We also have fixed speed cameras, red light cameras, bus lane cameras and some councils have started using CCTV to hand out parking, bus lane, cycle lane and other violations too. I've seen someone on a motorway near Birmingham trip 3 fixed cameras [they flash twice when there is film in them and one when the film has run out] in the space of 8 miles in a 50 mph limit during roadworks!!

We also have average speed cameras - they read your number plate as you enter and leave the control zone [no flash so no warning] and are digital to can do hundreds of tickets an hour if need be. They are usually in road works.

Sadly, the days of when it used to be possible to blast around the countryside at speeds of up to 160 mph [even the bends on motorways are tight at that speed!] provided you knew what the local unmarked police cars looked like [yes we have those too!] and were sensible in the 30 and 40 mph limits have long since gone.

The last time I had a three figure blast in a new BMW up and down a dual carriageway near Oxford, I attracted the attention of the police helicopter which had just refuelled at the small airport beside the road there! Luckily I got just a finger waving from the observer as I stopped at some traffic lights and the pilot dropped the chopper to about 20 feet above the road and facing me!! Did I sh*t myself or what!!??

Anyway, here's some links for you to depress yourself!!

Speed Camera Locations UK Database, Gatso, Truvelo, SPECS, Mobile speed cameras

Speed Cameras from UK Speed Cameras .co.uk

You can check out the various types of cameras.

I've had two near misses at high speed with Americans who've forgotten they should be on the left and when one of them swerved, she swerved to her right and not to the left!! Luckily I'd swerved to MY right too so she went by on "my" grass verge and I went by on her side of the road before turning around to stop her. She turned out to be very drunk sadly.

The other shunt I saw was a USAF female who forgot the right side of the road to travel on and drove herself right underneath a coach as she came out of some bends. The local doctor who happened by could only identify whether it was a male or a female corpse he was dealing with by putting his hand down her trousers so please take care for all our sakes!

And despite everything I've said above, whilst the public road motoring is not so much fun anymore, you can, as others have suggested, do track days - or just enjoy England - and Scotland - and Wales in lots of other ways.

asu

I dont know whats on the base and from what I understand Im not suppose to ask . I know the US goverment has recently put the UK at a critical level of alert for US military bases and personal, that would be my job I guess is to respond to any terroist attack made against such installation, than again I guess that is all speculative, but makes sense since I am a infantryman that has nothing to do with intel .

And yes, the Army will pay quik and at full price no questions asked thats why people dont mind us being there because we will pay out the nose to keep you happy . Remember the US defense budjet with all its supplementals is close to a trillion dollars a year so money is not a object . My current battalion has such money they ask the soldiers what equipment they want at the end of the quarter and buys over half a million dollars of equipment . When I served with the Royal Army they called us Gucci soldiers because we had all the little Hi-tech gadgets and they where amazed when we would give them ammo when they asked for it no questions asked they where like " Hey mate arnt they going to take that out of your pay check " we where quite confused because we had over a million rounds that we hadnt shot off and no one would care if a few thousand went missing .

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Dont you love wiki

RAF Croughton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dont worry about the accent, there are alot of US visitors to the Oxford area

Tony

asu

Wiki is awesome ! I guess I will fall under the command of the 422 security squadron, which is kind of wierd Since they are Air Force and I am Army, but I know the Pentagon has little faith in Air Force security forces and will bolster them up with Combat troops from the Army and Marines when they think a target is soft or critically vital .

Oh yeah Im not doubting I wont get use to the accent very quikly, I was speaking German in 6 months now I am married to a German national so I will adapt quikly since english is my language .

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Took me about 5 minutes to learn the important bits of german, how to order beer and food, and how to get back to camp

Tony