Remotely call getinfo from bitcoin server doing a bit of research on what versions of bitcoin client nodes are using, i have a long list of clients connected to the network, i was wondering what is the best way to get the version - is there a way / script where i can connect to the nodes and request the getinfo packet from ?

Thanks
I think your best bet is to run your own node, and then call getpeerinfo on it.  This will give you a list of all the connected peers, including information like the reported version.  You can also use the addnode option to ensure that you attempt to connect to all the nodes in your list.