Ideas for Fall 11' Spring 12'

[Jewels]

I dont know how to get people on track more, just let me know and ill try my best. I tried to provide seats, water, canopy shade, rides when I can. :lol: Any ideas? (I think last year was very successful, lets expand on it).

The MM Alumni that are NASA officials are trying to help this along as well. Justin and Casey have provided a grill to be used at events, and we are trying to get food there too. If we could get an MM Paddock set up close enough to the Tech Shed we'd be able to do a lot, that way we can get food and have DJ's canopy and some chairs and shoot the shit. If you all need space to crash in hotel rooms you gotta let people know. It was never uncommon to have a LOT of people stay in rooms in the past. See Matt Leech about the time he slept on a dresser. We won't necessarily do that to you, but I know a couple of times, nobody has wanted to stay with the married couples, and unless you are told otherwise, we MM women, know how it works, we aren't bashful and you shouldn't be either. If you need a place to crash, then you need a place to crash.

[Sully]

The dresser isn't that bad, I slept on it during hyperfest to avoid being steped on and slept fine...I didn't really enjoy my first track weekend at vir for some reason but hyperfest was awesome and I had a great time...I honestly think the working was what made it so much more enjoyable and the fact that inbetween gridding cars I could walk to the makeshift MM paddock where the people who wern't working were hanging out.

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[G.Irish]

I've been to Tail of the Dragon and it's cool but I don't know that I would recommend it as a MM event. For one, on the weekends it gets really crowded and there are a good number of people driving over the limit. If you go during the week it's much better, but taking time off work or school to do that road isn't the most cost effective way to have motoring fun. If TOTD was part of a road trip to somewhere else that might work out. So for instance, if we did TOTD on the way back from Petit Le Mans or 12 Hours of Sebring or something, that might be worthwhile.

I like the Ariel Atom factory idea, maybe we could do a factory tour somewhere like BMW's plant in SC.

[G.Irish]

Another karting idea is to go to one of the kart tracks that offers rentals for the faster karts and do a sort of MM karting track day. We could rent 2 or 3 karts and do 20 minute sessions. I say 20 minutes because these have about 5 times the power that the G-Force karts have so they're gonna wear you out pretty quick...

[Ken]

Maybe I'm reaching here but it would be nice to see a greater representation from the Northeast area. I find it odd that the club only has three(?) people from the northeast in a school that holds a large population of it. Maybe it's due to word of mouth not spreading far out enough, idk. I would find it hard to believe that out of the the fairly large amount of people from around here that go to JMU not that many are car people. It would just be nice to have a nice northern contigent to do things up here as well, as much as i will try to come down for events 6.5 hours just to get to the burg' is gonna be rough.

Again idk how it could be done, i do try on my end, it would just be nice to see. Just a thought.

[WRXtranceformed]

I personally think the club should come down to Charlotte for a NASCAR event. It's only 4.5 hours from Harrisonburg. I have never been and Lowe's Motor Speedway is within easy driving distance of my house. I can see how many MM'ers I can squeeze into my townhouse and we can go up and rep the club amongst the tailgating rednecks!

[JustinG]

I personally think the club should come down to Charlotte for a NASCAR event. It's only 4.5 hours from Harrisonburg. I have never been and Lowe's Motor Speedway is within easy driving distance of my house. I can see how many MM'ers I can squeeze into my townhouse and we can go up and rep the club amongst the tailgating rednecks!

I want to go to the NASCAR Hall of Fame as well, so if that gets thrown into the trip it would be a great idea, altough on a race weekend in Charlotte I bet the HOF is slammed.

[WRXtranceformed]

Yea there is a Buffalo Wild Wings right in the HOF too so it makes lunch really easy. Speed Street is really fun during race week, they basically shut down all of center city and there are bands, beer tents, fun things to do.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Find a date Lee, im looking for an excuse to go down to charlotte.

[JustinG]

I like this idea, if not an official MM trip im down if a couple other people want to.

[Jake]

Okay, I'm not trying to rain on the parade of ideas here. Just giving feedback based on the past few years of leadership.

i've always hoped for a TOTD trip, but that's basically because i've lived "close" these past years so its easy for me to talk it up. i'd tend to believe that if you look hard enough there are comparable drives in SW Virginia and eastern West Virginia. I've tooled around out there and you can carve it up all day if you map it right with 500% less exposure to police and lane-crossing dumbasses. seems like unless you're content with 33W you have to be willing to do some driving though

We've talked about a TOTD trip before. I've been on TOTD with the Miata group a few summers ago. It's really really fun, but police presence is HUGE and from a "club liability" standpoint, I and the other officers did not think it was a smart trip idea. The potential for fuckup is too great. People wreck and/or die with decent frequency - you must be diligent on the road. 33 West is very similar in style, and you can look at a map to figure out other great roads off of 33 in WVa. I think a day trip cruise could be very do-able and fun without the long drive or liability of the Dragon.

Based on our experiences with people not listening and driving like assholes on MM group drives around HBurg and to VIR, we eliminated all scenic drives this past year as we frankly didn't care to deal with the excessive hoonery that was going on. When you lose people in a string of cars, or follow too close, or whatever, it's not funny. It's irresponsible. This strikes a BIG nerve for me because the culprits (thinking mainly of the VIR trip) continually failed to recognize how their actions and driving style were inappropriate for the setting.

Go ahead and do group drives again, but start small with HBurg back roads (there are great ones everywhere) and maybe 33 West. Realize that the emphasis is on "scenic" and not "winning the race" and hopefully you will do well there.

I want to get some MM karts teams at the twilight kart enduros and what not..

This ties in with more of an MM worker/driver presence at NASA track events. Bring people to Summit and do karting teams! It's cheap and easy and tons of fun.

The MM Alumni that are NASA officials are trying to help this along as well.

Track presence has been fairly strong. It can always be stronger. I'd LOVE to see some students out doing Hyperdrives at the least. Please please please keep working to keep attendance up.

Maybe I'm reaching here but it would be nice to see a greater representation from the Northeast area.

I don't think this is something that can be controlled... I agree, it'd be awesome to see more members in general -- trying to get a "target market" of that part of the country is kind of a difficult goal. But greater marketing/promo efforts to get members would be easily do-able. Kristin mentioned being very interested in pushing the promo side of things, which would be so good to see.

Do some tours of FOW/race shops like back in the day.

We did FOW two years ago. It did not fit in the schedule this spring since we chose to emphasize the competition/track side of things. I enjoyed the tour, but I think if you do it as an "every other year" sort of thing it is more interesting. Julie mentioned the Ariel Atom tour which would be really sweet.

[Jake]

...and personally, NASCAR captures zero percent of my interests. So... you won't find me really supporting that sort of trip over a NASA/SCCA Nationals sort of thing. Could still be fun, just not my thing.

[JustinG]

...and personally, NASCAR captures zero percent of my interests. So... you won't find me really supporting that sort of trip over a NASA/SCCA Nationals sort of thing. Could still be fun, just not my thing.

Go to an actual race, I HATE NASCAR on TV, but going to the race is a diff story. So don't completely write it off til youve been to a race. And if you have been to a race, then well..... :dunno:

[Jake]

...and personally, NASCAR captures zero percent of my interests. So... you won't find me really supporting that sort of trip over a NASA/SCCA Nationals sort of thing. Could still be fun, just not my thing.

Go to an actual race, I HATE NASCAR on TV, but going to the race is a diff story. So don't completely write it off til youve been to a race. And if you have been to a race, then well..... :dunno:

I dunno, I get my fill of drunk rednecks at Hyperfest each year Won't knock it (entirely) til I've gone but other styles of motorsport are more my thang.

[SlimKlim]

Jake and I were just talking about the TOTD thing at work instead of, you know, working. So I guess I'll share my thoughts. To be honest it pisses me off a little bit that people expect the club to be anything and everything but manage to simultaneously ignore all of the events and get-togethers it does offer. If you don't like the stuff we do well then maybe its not the right club for you.

That being said don't think I'm against suggestions and change, I see and hear a lot of good ideas being batted around. Being open to change is important to keeping to organization strong and populated with new members. However, now that that is said, I'm going to squeeze into my bitchy, too-tight alumni pants for a second. We're a goddamn motorsports club. We're not a car club, or a herraflush club, or a drive-around-on-public-streets-like-a-fucktard-with-little-to-no-driver-training club. If you think that somehow you're gonna get 20 hormonal 19 year old college students about to splooge all over their gas pedals through 310 turns in 11 miles without something bad happening, then you're exhibiting borderline retarded behavior.

I'm not ripping on anyone in this thread in particular, and I'm not saying any of this trying to hurt feelings, but this topic keeps coming up over and over again. The reason we do less cruises is because the more we did them the more dangerous behavior and close calls we experienced, so we ended up nixing them. Like Jake said, if it's really that important to the current administration to offer cruises then by all means, go for it. But please start small, keep it local. Brow beat the participants a little bit, remind them why you're there and use a zero tolerance policy for dangerous behavior. I think the best place for cruises is skyline drive. Its heavily trafficked and has low speed limits, which allows for a nice pretty drive, some good photoshoots and the occasional throttle-womp through a tunnel, but you can't really get out of control like you can with 15 cars going balls out down a mountain one right after another.

At the end of the day I stand behind this club 100%. I love everything I've ever done with MM and I don't even know what I would've done as a student without it. I probably spent as much time autocrossing, at the track, fixing a car, or just shooting the shit with someone in MM than I actually did in class. I want to see the club grow and change, but I hope that everyone remembers what kind of club we are, and our new leaders proceed with caution when it comes to organizing any event in the public eye, because nothing will kill this club faster than giving the university a reason to put their foot down.

[D_Eclipse9916]

but you can't really get out of control like you can with 15 cars going balls out down a mountain one right after another.
.

Its fun to reminesce about those days :lol:

[Kaan]

does a switch turn as you move out of harrisonburg? just watch the great hate key words

[JustinG]

Insert Evil Emperor pic with "The hate is strong with this one"

[V1GiLaNtE]

just watch the great hate key words

Oooooohhh God...... hock:

Insert Evil Emperor pic with "The hate is strong with this one"

:twisted:

Think that's about all we get here...

[NTIman]

NASCAR races are fun, but I prefer Richmond to Charlotte. Racing is a little bit better at Richmond, plus less of a drive.

May be hard to do because its early in the year, but how about looking into the Baltimore Grand Prix. That's not that far away and might serve the road course fans well too. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://baltimoregrandprix.com/">http://baltimoregrandprix.com/</a><!-- m -->

Also, as I try to promote dirt track racing when I can, Winchester Speedway isn't a huge hike either, plus it's affordable to go see: $12 for grandstand tickets (last I was in grandstands). Late models are something to see on dirt. Unfortunately, they don't do sprint car racing, which is really awesome to watch.