Prodrive factory tour

Prodrive has been working with Subaru since 1989 and first competed with the Subaru World Rally Team at the Rally of Greece in 1990.

Since then, Subaru has become synonymous with rallying with the blue and yellow liveried Subaru Imprezas now the icons of the World Rally Championship.

Together, they have won six World Rally titles. Their first was the championship double in 1995, when Colin McRae became World Rally Champion and Subaru took the manufacturers' title. Subaru then went on to win the manufacturers’ championship in 1996 and 1997, but it wasn't until 2001 that the team took its second drivers' title, when the late Richard Burns became England's first World Rally Champion. Norway's Petter Solberg then took the title in 2003.

Prodrive has been working with Aston Martin since 2004 to develop the Aston Martin Racing program which has seen the famous British marques return to international sports car racing and its first Le Mans GT1 class win at Le Mans in June 2007.

They are fully responsible for all aspects of the programmes, from the design and development of the DBR9 to running the works team in sports cars series across the world, including the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The team first competed at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2005 and was victorious on its first outing. The team then won its second race at Silverstone in the FIA GT series, which was also the centenary of the Tourist Trophy. The team was on course for a class victory at its first outing at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June in the same year, but some overheating problems meant that the team had to settle for third place.

The Tour commences at Prodrive Main Reception & Heritage center with refreshments.

In the Heritage center you will get to see and get take photos of Prodrive Motorsport history which includes Richard Burns & Colin McRea's winning cars plus the Rothmans Metro 6R4,Porsche 911 and various other Rally and Race cars.

We will the be taken on a tour of their 10 acre facility which on site they have their,Engine,Chassis, Gearbox,Machining and welding,Body repair and Assembly workshops,but there is just to much to list I would be here most of the afternoon.

Starts At 5pm and will finish approximately 7/8pm

Maximum of 15 people can be taken on this visit due to Health and Safety Guidelines.

There will be a charge of £20 per person for the tour but at the end you will have the choice of an official Subaru or Aston Martin team baseball cap included in the price and all of the proceeds of the tour will be donated to local charities by Prodrive,(Cheques to be made out to PRODRIVE HOLDINGS LTD)

This really is one of the best factory tours I have been on.

The date for this is Monday 24th November,need to be there for 4.30/4.45pm

Prodrive address is
Acorn House
Acorn Way, Banbury, OX16 3ER

Just of junction 11 M40.

I might be up for that.

a possibility depending on date/work etc

Spoke to them today and looks like it will be Monday 24th November,

No can do as I'll be working but have a good one and post up some pics !!

Snap. I'm on call that night so can't

i'm up for that!

Thats great Wosket,but at the mo it's just you and me and I need the 15,but I thought on here I would have been over subscribed not struggling so I think I'll have to phone and cancel,I've got a couple of weeks to get the people together so heres hoping,I'll let you know how I get on.

where abouts is it ?

banbury bazza, short blast up the m40 for you.

[quote name='Wosket' post='591158' date='Oct 9 2008, 10:09 AM']banbury bazza, short blast up the m40 for you.[/quote]

short blast up the M40, bit longer round the M25

sounds good to me
put me down for 2 please

Put me down for 2 pls.....poss 3 - will confirm the 3rd later....

Edit: Confirmed: 3 please if they are avail....

This is more like,cheers lads.
So far we have

Mark W 3
Bazza 2
Wosket 1
Ken 2
Gord 2


5 places left,so ROLL UP ROLL UP.

Put me down for 2 places please.
Will confirm tomorrow.

Anymore for anymore or I'll have to cancel if I cant get the extra 7

free bump, hope you get the 7 Ken

So do I because this is a really good night.

[quote name='kenmac' post='593625' date='Oct 15 2008, 11:01 PM']Anymore for anymore or I'll have to cancel if I cant get the extra 7 [/quote]
Yep please, 2 people, Steve from charlesworth motors and myself

nearly there Ken.

[quote name='kenmac' post='591349' date='Oct 9 2008, 09:24 PM']This is more like,cheers lads.
So far we have

Mark W 3
Bazza 2
Wosket 1
Ken 2
Gord 2


5 places left,so ROLL UP ROLL UP.[/quote]

Cheers Gord

I'll have 2.

How\when do we pay.

[quote name='RayKhan' post='595121' date='Oct 20 2008, 12:49 PM']I'll have 2.

How\when do we pay.[/quote]

Cheers Ray

This is more like,cheers lads.
So far we have

Mark W 3
Bazza 2
Wosket 1
Ken 2
Gord 2
RayKhan 2
Rsr200 2

1 place left,so ROLL UP ROLL UP.
nearly there,come only 1 place left!!

Payment is by cheque made out to PRODRIVE HOLDINGS LTD (not made out to me) but if you could send them to me by the 12th of November so I can get them to Prodrive all together a week before the tour.
My address is
Ken MacRitchie
21 Trewarden Ave
IverHeath
Slough
Bucks
SL0 0SJ
Or if anyone is coming to the Ace on Wednesday night,you can give the cheque to me then to save you posting it.

Get a cheque in the post by the end of the week

Cheers Ray and thanks Gary (Rsr200) for the cheque,anyone else as I have only 1 space left and this really is a good night and you wont be disappointed

I'm happy to give someone a lift, so long as its not too far out the way.

Kind of you Ray

So far we have

Mark W 4 Payment Received Thanks
Bazza 2 Payment Received Thanks
Wosket 1 Payment Received Thanks
Ken 2
Gord 2 Payment Received Thanks
RayKhan 2 Payment Received Thanks
Rsr200 2 Payment Received Thanks

No spaces left.

Bump

ken i've sent u a pm mate, hopefully i'm not too late. oh and i will probably be in an audi too

Nice one John, had no other way but Facebook to get ya

as long as you didn't facebook my mom in the process!

All places now gone cheers lads

Only 24 hours to go

Well just got back,I hope everyone enjoyed it I did

Its great tour, very suprise with number of super cars in Prodrive especially the price of each car.
Many thanks Ken
But i forgot to pick up my cap.

I need to speak to Jackie tomorrow as was sick today and she is in charge of that side of things,so when I speak to her I'll post it on here.
Glad you had a good time

yeah, thanks ken for sorting this one! was good to see old faces again, and new ones!

Any pics ?

BTW sorry Barrie, forgot you were going to this

Ray and Gord were busy with their cameras,so hopefully later on today they might put some on here.

[quote name='kenmac' post='608095' date='Nov 24 2008, 09:18 PM']Well just got back,I hope everyone enjoyed it I did [/quote]
Thanks Ken, was very good tour, didn't know Prodrive was into as much as thay are

I have some pic's i will post up later, thanks again for sorting the tour.

Ditto

Cheers for organising it Ken
It was great to see the amount of stuff that they do & hear how quickly they can do it - though I'd draw the line on 20 hour days

I know what's on the top of my Crimbo list now though

Asked my wife for the GT4 AM for Crimbo.....will have to see

Cheers for arranging Ken.....driven past that place many a time on trips to LHR....now I know what goes on in there....

Thanks again....

woops
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