Will the Carolina Region VCA have an active 2011?

[ACR2000GTS]

An end to another year is fast approaching. How many Viper events did you attend this year, how many evets were you aware of, would you like to see more events? All questions I ask myself as I am sitting in the garage just looking at the car during the winter months. I have only been in the Viper community for about three years. As in any club it will be hard to please every single person all the time. When it comes to gatherings I have noticed this:

1. Some are intrested in driving events
2. Some are intrested in just doing car shows
3. Some like a combination of both
4. Some are comfortable just keeping the car in the garage

In any event the Carolina Region as a whole seems to be the least active group on the forum (my opinion, sorry if that offends anyone). The large amount of ground to be covered may be the excuse, but we actually don't have any formal events organized to actually make excuses for not going. Sure we all do our local events, which are always fun, but how nice is it to go to another location and see different Vipers and meet a new group of friends? The main purpose of this posting is to start generating some input and feedback on this forum to have a more active region for 2011. What will it take?

My suggestions, what are yours?
1. Identify Region representatives within the Carolinas that will act as coordinators for Viper gatherings. (Charleston SC, Columbia SC, Charlotte NC, Raliegh NC, NC Coastline etc.).
2. Identify a large enough event for each region throughout the year. Depending on the number of regions, there could be as many as 6 "Viper Roundups". Combine "Viper Roundups" and your local events and the year could be full excuses to get the Viper on the road.
3. Lets start doing something.

 

[jmillsUT28]

Agree 100%! I am not a member of the Carolinas but I live as far east as you can get in TN. So a lot of the TN/AL events are more than 5 hours away from me so a lot of those I can not make. Like I posted in another thread I keep checking this regions forum hoping that a event will be posted. Most of the time there is nothing listed.

Heck, even the Biltmore Estate event this Saturday was not listed on the forum. Which I would think would be a very popular event but to find out there are only 4 or 5 cars going??? I say this is because it was never listed on the VCA. Just my 2 cents. Might not count for anything as I am not a member of this region...

Jon

 

[slaughterj]

The Carolinas region tends to be less active than other regions because (a) people in the club have divergent interests (some for car shows, some for cruises, some for track, some for drag, some for dyno, some for socials, etc.) that can be mutually exclusive, (b) people in the club are pretty geographically dispersed, moreso than many other clubs, e.g., half of the Georgia region is in Atlanta, and (c) many people in the club never attend any events regardless and many people can only attend but so many events anyway.

All of those combined make for limited attendance at the events which are held, so efforts by the club to hold events are focused on ways to facilitate attendance, which include (a) participation by the club at already-planned events, (b) planning a large event in off-VOI years, and (c) some focused events on an occasional basis to get people out.

Also, the club website has just been revamped, which is intended to better get the word out about events and increase attendance.

As for events in any given year, these always include:
1. the Charlotte Auto Fair (spring and fall) for car show enthusiasts
2. monthly cars and coffee events, again, for car show enthusiasts
3. ViperDays at Camden, SC and VIR, for track enthusiasts and spectators
4. MOPARs at the Rock, for drag strip enthusiasts
5. Tail of the Dragon, on the TN/NC border, 1-2x per year, multistate Viper club cruise event
A number of members come out for all those events, and that is a range of events based on a range of interests.

Every other year is VOI, so in the non-VOI year last year was a large Biltmore event, with local cruises worked in, that had 35 or so Vipers from several states and Canada in attendance. I expect in 2011 there will be another large club event planned, perhaps in Myrtle Beach given the interest expressed over the past couple of years.

In addition to all of the foregoing, there are other occasional local events any given year, including cruises in the Charlotte area organized by Don (who was also doing a small Biltmore cruise this year), free dyno days done in various regions (probably one in the next couple of months in the Raleigh area), and occasional social/meal events.

As for identifying region representatives, other than Don for Charlotte, when we asked club members to step up, we got no interest. I think it would be great to have regional representatives, to help organize small local events, welcome new members, etc., but people have to be interested in doing it.

So as you can see, there are plenty of events to attend, and we make a lot of effort to get the word out about them (the new site will help), so if you haven't made it to much, it might be because you aren't making the effort to attend?

 

[ACR2000GTS]

I have actually attended every one of the events you mentioned with the exception of the track days. I have heard the track days are pretty good events. Seeing the website getting updated is great. Not trying to step on any toes, because there is extensive work that goes into planning the events. Just trying to understand if my thoughts are off track or not. Who knows maybe an expectation of 7 organized/formal events a year is good.

 

[Ricketts]

As for identifying region representatives, other than Don for Charlotte, when we asked club members to step up, we got no interest.

I actually replied to the email on the day it was sent out on 12/11/09, never got a reply.

 

[MuscleJunkie]

The Carolinas region tends to be less active than other regions because (a) people in the club have divergent interests (some for car shows, some for cruises, some for track, some for drag, some for dyno, some for socials, etc.) that can be mutually exclusive, (b) people in the club are pretty geographically dispersed, moreso than many other clubs, e.g., half of the Georgia region is in Atlanta, and (c) many people in the club never attend any events regardless and many people can only attend but so many events anyway.

All of those combined make for limited attendance at the events which are held, so efforts by the club to hold events are focused on ways to facilitate attendance, which include (a) participation by the club at already-planned events, (b) planning a large event in off-VOI years, and (c) some focused events on an occasional basis to get people out.

Also, the club website has just been revamped, which is intended to better get the word out about events and increase attendance.

As for events in any given year, these always include:
1. the Charlotte Auto Fair (spring and fall) for car show enthusiasts
2. monthly cars and coffee events, again, for car show enthusiasts
3. ViperDays at Camden, SC and VIR, for track enthusiasts and spectators
4. MOPARs at the Rock, for drag strip enthusiasts
5. Tail of the Dragon, on the TN/NC border, 1-2x per year, multistate Viper club cruise event
A number of members come out for all those events, and that is a range of events based on a range of interests.

Every other year is VOI, so in the non-VOI year last year was a large Biltmore event, with local cruises worked in, that had 35 or so Vipers from several states and Canada in attendance. I expect in 2011 there will be another large club event planned, perhaps in Myrtle Beach given the interest expressed over the past couple of years.

In addition to all of the foregoing, there are other occasional local events any given year, including cruises in the Charlotte area organized by Don (who was also doing a small Biltmore cruise this year), free dyno days done in various regions (probably one in the next couple of months in the Raleigh area), and occasional social/meal events.

As for identifying region representatives, other than Don for Charlotte, when we asked club members to step up, we got no interest. I think it would be great to have regional representatives, to help organize small local events, welcome new members, etc., but people have to be interested in doing it.

So as you can see, there are plenty of events to attend, and we make a lot of effort to get the word out about them (the new site will help), so if you haven't made it to much, it might be because you aren't making the effort to attend?

For the car show enthusiasts, I have been adding some local NC car show events to our event calendar at Calendar of Events - Carolinas Viper Club - The Official Viper Club Website for North and South Carolina VCA Members.

If anyone knows of other events, please shoot me an e-mail or send me a PM here and I'll have it added to the event calendar. If anyone plans on attending any of these events, shoot me an e-mail and we can see if we can coordinate meeting up with other members.

If anyone attends any events and wants to submit an event report or pictures - contact me and we can have it added to the club website.

 

[Ricketts]

Honestly, I think any and all events should be posted here on VCA. Not everyone knows about the carolinaviperclub site. But almost any Viper owner knows about this site, and is frequented a whole lot more.

 

[BigBadViper]

Why don't we hold events on the same years as VOI. Is anyone from NC or SC going this year? Isn't it in Utah?

 

[MuscleJunkie]

Why don't we hold events on the same years as VOI. Is anyone from NC or SC going this year? Isn't it in Utah?

Yes it is in Salt Lake City. Not sure who from the area is going. I believe John is.

 

[Venomiss]

Yes it is in Salt Lake City. Not sure who from the area is going. I believe John is.

We also have VOI11 registration open until this Wednesday September 15th for those who are still interested in going from your area.

If you have questions go to the VOI11.com website or call the VOI hotline at 877-778-6411 (877-77-VOI11).

 

[dodgefever]

From a planning perspective, last year I planned an event for the Outer Banks and announced all the details here. I had to cancel because I had 0 people respond. Not complaining, just stating why this year I've relaxed instead of trying to plan something. I know Richmond Va is a several hour drive for a few of you, but next Saturday is a Viper Vs Corvette Horsepower challenge. You can read about it on the Va forum

 

[MuscleJunkie]

From a planning perspective, last year I planned an event for the Outer Banks and announced all the details here. I had to cancel because I had 0 people respond. Not complaining, just stating why this year I've relaxed instead of trying to plan something. I know Richmond Va is a several hour drive for a few of you, but next Saturday is a Viper Vs Corvette Horsepower challenge. You can read about it on the Va forum

Link please?

 

[dodgefever]

Link please?

http://forums.viperclub.org/virgini...allenge-viper-vs-corvette-sept-18-2010-a.htmlhttp://forums.viperclub.org/north-south-carolina/624707-cruise-outer-banks-may-9th.html

 

[MuscleJunkie]

http://forums.viperclub.org/virgini...allenge-viper-vs-corvette-sept-18-2010-a.htmlhttp://forums.viperclub.org/north-south-carolina/624707-cruise-outer-banks-may-9th.html

Thanks, I've added this to the Carolinas Viper Club calendar for those interested in attending. If your region has other events which could overlap with ours - please contact me via email or PM and I'll make sure our members know about it.

 

[slaughterj]

Honestly, I think any and all events should be posted here on VCA. Not everyone knows about the carolinaviperclub site. But almost any Viper owner knows about this site, and is frequented a whole lot more.

I think the site can be used as a general source of info, with links from there (a) emailed to members to alert them and (b) posted on this site to alert people here. It gets to be a lot of work to go through the efforts of updating a site, updating a forum here, and getting messages out to members, only to get low responses for some events, so we are trying to streamline the process.

 

[slaughterj]

I actually replied to the email on the day it was sent out on 12/11/09, never got a reply.

Hmm, hope you didn't go to junk, send me a PM and let's discuss.

 

[Ricketts]

I think the site can be used as a general source of info, with links from there (a) emailed to members to alert them and (b) posted on this site to alert people here. It gets to be a lot of work to go through the efforts of updating a site, updating a forum here, and getting messages out to members, only to get low responses for some events, so we are trying to streamline the process.

If you guys need help having/getting things posted on this or any site, let me know I'll gladly help out.

 

[slaughterj]

Thanks, if you are regularly in the know for events, that would be very useful - please PM MuscleJunkie so he can add you to the list of those who can add to the club calendar.