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British Car Drivers Week 2000

To: British-Cars@autox.team.net
Subject: British Car Drivers Week 2000
From: Trmgafun@aol.com
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 22:44:33 EDT
Re: British Car Week 2000  May 20 - 28

Hi British car fans,

I thought I'd get the word out early about British Car Week 2000 to enable 
early postings for next years calendar of events listings.  You will notice 
that both opposing weekends are included this year for more driving time for 
those of you who are more likely to get your cars out and drive them during 
the weekends.  You will also notice that in many cases the word "Drivers" has 
been added to the title.  I've seen this title used by others, and I feel 
that it is a great idea because the week is all about driving our British 
cars.  Either way, it's still the same week.

As many of you may already know, next spring marks the fourth annual British 
Car "Drivers" Week.  This is a world wide event for all British marques with 
the intent that it will continue to grow in popularity as the years go by.  
This idea was prompted by a magazine article written by fellow British car 
enthusiast, Peter Egan, for the March 1997 issue of Road & Track magazine.  
Peters' article centered on the fact that there is a lack of old classic 
sports cars seen driven on roads today, and how much he misses seeing some of 
his favorite classic marque's of the past driving on the roads of his town.  
The British car community responded quickly to his plea, and shortly after 
that article was published, the first annual British Car Week was initiated.  

This "awareness" week is intended for all British car owners to get their 
cars out on the roads in their locality, to have some fun with them, and 
promote them for all to see and appreciate.  While doing so, we'll do what we 
can to recreate the days when these cars were a much more common sight on the 
byways of North America and beyond.  Of course we'll never be able to 
populate the roads with these cars like they once were, but we can make a 
difference for one week per year.  By getting our cars out on the roads at 
the same time during this week, we can create an awareness in our own part of 
the world that these unique, charming, fun cars are still around and doing 
well, thus hoping to create some new or renewed interests in them to help 
keep our hobby and related clubs and businesses going strong.

Very recently in my part of the Country, I've witnessed some changes that I 
hope are only temporary.  One longtime, honorable major event promoter has 
announced that he will no longer be promoting a British car event that has 
been one of the staples of the Midwest for around 23 years.  In another case, 
a local British car club president has announced a merger of his club with 
another group of British car clubs because no one answered the plea for new 
club officers.  I also recently received an e-mail from a gentleman from 
Maryland who is trying to get a British car driving event together in his 
area during next years British Car Drivers Week.  He submitted an article in 
a club newsletter asking for interested people to respond.  So far, he's only 
received one reply, and it was not favorable.  

Are these occurrences early signs of the fate of our hobby, or just some rare 
cases?  I don't know.  I do know the British car hobby seems to be doing 
quite well in other instances, but like others, when I hear about situations 
like these, I can't help but realize how important it is to continue to 
promote the hobby, and hope there will be others who will step forward and 
take over some of the duties that are so important to all of us and our cars. 
 The more people who volunteer to help with club activities, the less of a 
burden on the rest, thus less tendency for burnout for the people who work so 
hard to support our clubs.

In any case, this is a plea for all British car enthusiasts to do what they 
can to help promote British cars and this very important British car 
promotional event.  Let your club officials know about this week.  Get 
together with your club and plan something during this celebrated week, get 
the date listed within your clubs newsletter calendar, post it on your 
internet web page, or simply get your car out and drive it more often in your 
home town during the week.  The most important objective is to have some fun, 
spend some quality time with your car, and in turn, hope to attract some new 
enthusiasts. 

If you're interested in helping to promote this week among the people and 
clubs that support your favorite marque, please contact me at: 
Trmgafun@aol.com.  This would not take up a lot of your time, but simply 
require that you contact the leaders of the clubs that are related to your 
favorite marque, and make sure they are aware of British Car Week and what 
it's all about, and hope they will help us promote it.  If interested, I 
would add your name and e-mail address to a list, and would provide you with 
updates of any information regarding British Car Week that you could pass 
along.  If you would like to post your own British car related event that 
will take place during British Car Week, feel free to let me know, and I will 
post it on the BCW web page for others in your area to learn about.  

This past May, I noticed an upsurge of British cars driving around my home 
town during BC Week as well as some classic German and Italian models that I 
hadn't seen before the week started, and haven't seen since the week ended.  
Maybe we've got some competition!!

Thanks for your time, and hope to see you on the road.  

Scott Helms
Visit the web page:  http://members.aol.com/Trmgafun/britishcarweek.html

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