I bought RB5 #286 in 2001 May (after test driving the brand new bug eye STI and the RB5) I was sold!!! I simply went there for a test drive of an Impreza as I had always been a Ford RS owner/enthusiast.

After finding Scoobynet I then discovered a thread had started back in 2000 for RB5 owners and there was mention of starting a RB5 owners club up but no1 had actually done anything about it, nor was there any record of the RB5 build numbers and current/previous owners

I had already started building my own website for my RB5 which I used as a basis on setting up a general RB5 website and after using the SN thread of RB5 owners myself and Gavin Downes set about researching if people would be interested in join a club if we set one up, the feedback was very positive so the club was born as we set about getting it off the ground. Thanks to Paul Hooker and his own designed forum things really took off from there.

5 years on and the club has a solid status in the Subaru community, good ties with Richard Burns family, Prodrive & Subaru UK and most importantly club members that are more then just members, they are very good friends.

I have had some low times with the club, getting to much to handle on my own but luckily some RB5 owners have come on board to the Admin team to lighten my load and let me enjoy the club again.

The moment that marked the pinnacle of the RB5 club and what I wanted to achieve for it happened as I was on the parade lap behind Richard Burns RB5 #001 with his father driving it and looking behind me seeing 40+ RB5's following. (I get a lump in the back of my throat everytime I think of that moment, it was amazingly emotional)
What the club means to me? Its not just a club, it feels like one big family. The club has brought together 2 members who are to get married next year. Although I no longer own a RB5 I still have all the enthusiasm and passion for the club as the day I started it, now we have started the RB320 owners club I have twice the fun!!!