Suggestions for Next Semester

[Tyler.M]

Hi all,

It seems some of you alums and non-alums want your voice heard on what you would like to the club focus on next semester. That's great! This thread will be a place where all of the (good) ideas will be compiled and discussed. Criticism is welcome, as long as it is constructive.

DJ already mentioned a desire for more educational meetings, which I think is a good idea if we can get enough interest. Much of what we've done this semester has been more visual and not cerebral, and I think this could be apt point of discussion. Let me know what else you would like to see, and what you would like to see more of.

Thanks!

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[premiershine9]

I'd like to know some suggestions as well besides the following which will be in the works over xmas break:

- Educational classroom meetings as a part of our bi-weekly schedule
- 1 to 2 track events visited at least- summit/ VIR
- Ferrari of Washington
- Car Show
- Cruise here and there
- Fundraising event- ran by Tyler and Chris
- Karting
- Possible trip top local drag strip
- update on scoring and getting Top Gear challenges down
- Social events at Quaker Steak and Lube

I'd like to also add that I wish to here some suggestions as well -

also -

.....as Tyler said, positive and constructive criticism here. I feel as though we have been very successful in nailing down our main events this semester and also reaching our goal of expanding the club from around half a dozen to now near 30 active members, not to mention having a great time!

[premiershine9]

I'd like to know some suggestions as well besides the following which will be in the works over xmas break:

- Educational classroom meetings as a part of our bi-weekly schedule
- 1 to 2 track events visited at least- summit/ VIR
- Ferrari of Washington
- Car Show
- Cruise here and there
- Fundraising event- ran by Tyler and Chris
- Karting
- Possible trip top local drag strip
- update on scoring and getting Top Gear challenges down
- Social events at Quaker Steak and Lube
- Possible weekend snowboard trip- MM alumn/ current student overnight in cabin?
.........mass of nothing trip as well during cold days for some social time

I'd like to also add that I wish to here some suggestions as well -

also -

.....as Tyler said, positive and constructive criticism here. I feel as though we have been very successful in nailing down our main events this semester and also reaching our goal of expanding the club from around half a dozen to now near 30 active members, not to mention having a great time!

[Jake]

I feel as though we have been very successful in nailing down our main events this semester and also reaching our goal of expanding the club from around half a dozen to now near 30 active members, not to mention having a great time!

You have. This fall semester has been worlds better than the same time a year ago. Kudos to the four of you for driving more involvement. :thumbup:

Things I'd like to see in the spring...

• Students at NASA track weekends. I think you've got the big first step down now -- you have a solid new membership base and you've talked up all the cool stuff that the alumni are doing. Now get 'em there. Keep in mind, MMers MAKE these NASA weekends happen. Several of us are officials and we can get butts in seats for hot laps around the track. And we might be able to get workers - you never know what will happen if you just ask Laura. I went from having a strong-ish interest in cars and driving the Miata that I bought to driving pace car, working grid, announcing, flagging, and tracking the everloving sh!t out of the Miata that I bought. And it's all because David Goodspeed got a group of us together for a Summit Point weekend and dragged us an hour north to see what this racetrack thing was all about. Seriously.
  
  I'd hate to see any "lost potential" because people just never made it down to VIR or up to SP. We should know about NASA weekends in late December or early January. An officer (just one!) needs to plan on being at each event and bringing people with them. Do not schedule other MM events on the same weekend. Place some importance on having a presence at the events that MM helped get going back when NASA-MA was just a baby.
  
  Earlier prep time for events. This stems directly from the karting thread. Keep in mind, it's harder for alumni to plan to make these events. I know my weekend plans a month or so in advance and the calendar fills up quickly. Had you contacted G-Force earlier, and posted a thread earlier, you might have had more interest. Don't take this the wrong way (because I do admire what y'all have done so far) but having done this prep work before, earlier is better. Talk to G-Force and the JMU facilities people in January to plan spring karting and the car show. Like, call them the week that you get back from break and have dates ready.
  
  Turducken in February. I don't know what more we can do to convince new members that MM is übercool than Turducken. Hopefully we can see a bunch of new faces up at DJ's for this. I (and a bunch of others, I'm sure) would love to get to know the n00bs better and share stories of old times and get them pumped for what is to come. Perfect venue to do that!

Those are my three big things. This fall has been (from what I can see) very, very good and you guys should go have a celebratory beer or tequila shot or something after exams, in the name of MM. Just don't rest on your laurels, have that shot and get right back at it to make the spring even better

[JustinG]

Ditto on the track events. Any incentive we as workers can offer just let us know. Shadow one of us? I am sure Laura would be fine with folks shadowing one of the workers, or even shadowing a flagger at some point during the weekend. Hell offer them free booze.

I am kind of at a loss on how to get them to the track.....not like they have to pay anything. Just seems like a lack of motivation on their part.

Ditto on the event planning as well. I understand the student heavy events can be more on the fly. But it seems Alumni have weekends booked for months in advance..... at least I know I do.

Otherwise you guys have been doing great in my eyes. My biggest want is for larger attendance at track events.

[JPolen01]

I am kind of at a loss on how to get them to the track.....not like they have to pay anything. Just seems like a lack of motivation on their part.

This is where we as officers are struggling. We have made plenty of offers to get people to the track. I offered to bring people to OktoberFAST and only one person was interested but we couldn't make the times work out. Plenty of students voiced interest in the Fall Finale at Summit and then when I announced it at the air strip (when Mischief was there and ALL of MM showed) no one was interested. I don't know any way to get people out there other than telling them how awesome it will be. I know coming from a background with no racing in my family or close friends, I was skeptical about how much fun it would be my first time out. It was awesome though. I don't know if I even watched many races, but I got to go out in an e36 that blew an oil line (that was interesting) and did some laps with Trevor. The most fun was bullshitting around the paddock with you clowns though. How can we make kids want to come do those things?

[JustinG]

How can we make kids want to come do those things?

Rohypnol......I know a guy.....

[Sully]

Karting and maybe just hanging out. One of my favorite things was just hanging out my freshman year at BBQ's or top gear nights like that time a spur of the moment top gear night tunred into 20 people in Jakes living room. I'd like to see it go back to friends with a common interest rather than just a club.

[BFisch06]

Want people to show up? Offer free food. I know, I know, it's a cheap tactic, but hell, we're college kids and it just plain works. Advertise there will be food at whatever track event and I think you'll see decent attendance. From there I daresay 75% will be hooked and want to return out of pure automotive interest. I'm not saying I didn't attend for lack of food, but it might help.

FWIW the drift weekend is THIS weekend at Summit and I'm very interested in going. I've never been to Summit either, so I'd feel more comfortable heading up with some other MM'ers.

[Jewels]

Want people to show up? Offer free food. I know, I know, it's a cheap tactic, but hell, we're college kids and it just plain works. Advertise there will be food at whatever track event and I think you'll see decent attendance. From there I daresay 75% will be hooked and want to return out of pure automotive interest. I'm not saying I didn't attend for lack of food, but it might help.

FWIW the drift weekend is THIS weekend at Summit and I'm very interested in going. I've never been to Summit either, so I'd feel more comfortable heading up with some other MM'ers.

Funny thing about the free food, is that we do offer free food. Alumni usually grill at every event, so we have free food for you college students. But this happens every year, 10 hands go up in interest,and then 2 days before the event its all like, I have a test on Monday, My girlfriend leads me around by the nose , oh my cat's getting skinned that weekend and I have to watch that happen. You guys want to have fun, come to a track event. There's cars, lots and lots of beer, and some of the best people around this area to hang out with. Hey want to know more about Grand-Am, well guess what, our Chief Tech inspector is the crew chief for a Grand Am team, his name is on the fucking trailer cause his son owns the team. Want to meet Grand-Am or World Challenge Drivers- Come to a track event, you NEVER know who's going to show up. Want some free beer, oh we get 2 kegs at VIR every weekend, and also there's beer in the Tech Shed if you know where to look.

Ok, Rant done.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Ok, Rant done.

1. I agree, but it must be insanely hard to try to convince students it is worth going. I am not sure I would have driven +1 hours away for even the closest track if I hadnt already been road racing before I joined MM.

- Food, if we have members coming; I promise the alumni will get a cookout going. Heck, in October we had ~20 people sitting around the grill drinking and hanging out.
- Beer, WE ALWAYS HAVE BEER. JMU students love free alchohol, I think its half the reason I show up to NASA events
- Places to crash, I know this has always been a hot topic; but we have always been able to fit people. I am putting an a/c heat unit in my trailer, so if you have an airmattrress or dont mind the floor; you have a place to crash.
- Ride-alongs or drives; we have Jake, the pace car driver, Maeng, the seasoned and awarded instructor, me, the racer. We also know everyone at the track to provide rides; lets get them in cars. How do we pump this up on campus?

2. Meetings that have interesting things, make sure when someone does a presentation they bring in what they are talking about. I remember toting turbos and flywheels into ISAT for meetings :lol:

3. Stanceworks, ugh, I know. But there is a presence and interest in it. Are there any events coming up in the spring we can get a crew together and go up to one of their car shows? If we can get them going to one event, itll be much easier to try to get them to go to others.

4. Drifting, its popular, lets get a contingent to go out there. I know a few that can give ride-alongs. We also have board members that arent as active with the club, but active in this. John, Sam, etc.

5. As stated, earlier planning. Everyone has touched on this, so I wont go further.

6. Car shows, lets make sure to plan it on an autox weekend(brr-scca typically runs sunday while our car show is saturday). I could bring out a ton more people to do both; then to just get autox and racers to come out to a college car show. I already said I wouldnt bring out my race car after last year's debacle; you have shown us good things. Lets see it in action. If you can pump up people as much as you did for Mischief, and put that energy into the car show; itll be a sucess.