@LURK_MODE=OFF
SOL mates:
Mark Dodd <Dodd@el.wpafb.af.mil> asked about Local Club Meetings:
>Assuming that most of us belong to local clubs, what do you do at these
>get-togethers? Our meetings are fairly boring and that may be hurting
>our membership.
In the last 20 years I've belonged to all 3 of the local sports car
clubs: NASCC (mostly racing), ELCC (rally and solo) and the ECSCC
(classic cars, restoration etc.). The ELCC held the most boring
meetings. Every other Tuesday they met to make rules about who could
and could not compete in their events, what helmet they should wear etc. I
found it difficult to believe that a club that had been in existance
since the '50's could still be making rules. The total membership BTW was 16!
Their once a month events, where we actually got to play with the cars,
was just as offical. Not much fun.
The Classic Sports Car Club has got this problem figured out. Most of
the cars in the club (membership ~150) are antiques and are insured as
such. They are under the insurance restriction that they should only be
used for club events, so the club provides every opportunity for their
use. Meetings are held once a month and consist of 0.5 hr of 'buisness'
i.e. what events just passed, what events are coming and where we are
going right now. After that we jump in our LBC's (or ancient Yankee iron)
and zoom off to:
#someone's garage to see their latest project car,
#help someone lift a body off a chassis
#tour a private collection
#tour a custom body shop
#visit the sheet metal guru restoring a '37 Alvis (!)
#visit a local aviation or auto museum
#have guest speakers in to the meeting space:
#lubrication engineer from refinery*
#technical representative from paint company (e.g. Sikkens)
#head of auto restoration from UK museum
#tire engineer from Gooball tire
*I would encourage all of you to get hold of one of these guys to speak to
your car club. It's their job to know what product is suitable for your car
and exactly why. This would have saved a lot of band width lately re: the
"oil for my Frumpmobile's slushbox" thread. After listening to his talk I
went out and got my case of 0W-30 oil for the daily (winter) drivers.
Yes, 0W-30, it gets C O L D here.
In addition to the monthly meetings there are special events (mostly Sunday):
#All British Field meet (This year honouring the MINI!!)
#English Breakfast (spring debut for restoration projects)
#picnic in the park
#Econo run (Mini =32.3 MPG)
#Historic trail tour (conducted as an informal rally, ending with dinner)
#fall colours run
#Last run of the year
And throughout the summer every Wednesday night is an 'icecream run'.
It's more of a social event but occasionally we stage a 'garage
invasion' to provide that much needed 'kick in the butt' to someones
stalled restoration project.
Overall the club arranges for enough events that everyone has an
opportunity to attend a few, and they are geared towards driving the car
and allowing the entire family to attend. It must be working, the
monthly meetings attract 60+ people!
>Please don't take this wrong. I am not against the older club members and
>their spotless "T's and A's".
I never thought of that! A little T&A sure would spice up the meeting!
Sorry couldn't resist.
@LURK_MODE=ON
***************************************************************
*Marcel Chichak Certified Mini Nut | Go in deeper, come out *
*voice (403)466-6004 |harder and come from *
*Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |behind!, That's what it's*
*chichm@supernet.ab.ca |like to race a Mini! *
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'69 Morris Cooper, 39,999.9 Miles and counting!
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