Coming from the Sprint forum they use to arrange for usually two weekends a year, usually involving a location with a B&B, bunkhouse and camping facilities, and then usually have two ride outs planned, followed by a few beers to talk B*lloc*s and other bike stuff. They worked really well with good turn outs from members 15 - 20. Not sure if that could be mirrored for a whole forum in the same way, so maybe a track day type / take over a circuit for a weekend thing may be better / practical
The only problem with organising a big event is that to hold it anywhere you would have to pay, and you would potentially need public liability insurance to cover the event, and that means someone has to pay, which unless you have a sugar daddy means you have to charge, which means people will moan and/or won't come - no matter what they promise on a forum - and someone ultimately has to foot the bill. That's why getting a load of people together to go to someone else's event - eg a show, trackday, rally, whatever - is always better as it's already been arranged and there's no loss if people don't go.
and the problems that come with paying means the money needs to be managed.............and we have seen the problems that come with that!
Exactly - not only in who handles the money and whether they can be trusted, but also in what happens when there's a massive short-fall in the coffers and someone has to pay out, usually out of their own pocket. That's why it's very easy to knock those who do it, and to point fingers when it goes wrong, but it takes someone with balls to step up and actually put their thoughts into action. Doesn't it Andy?
You are correct, it is easy to knock some of those who do it...................particularly when there was so much information surrounding the 'goings on', although its good to see a reference to it 'going wrong'! As far as balls go, it does of course depend on what yours or others motivation is or was..................you know using a particular route as a foot in the door for other things for example, ultimately the public, members or not will or have, voted with their feet, havnt they Ant?
True, and it's great to see the DSC membership back over 300 again and increasing month on month; in fact it's doubled since the recovery plan was put into place. But then if you don't bother to stay informed, you're not going to know that!
I'll tell you what though, it's a real pain having to stuff over 300 DOC membership packs into envelopes, label them, put stamps on them and post them all!!!
So staying on topic - having a nice loose collection of people, like members of a forum, is great when it stays just that. Trying to move it on to becoming something a bit more, like organising an event or a trackday (not just joining an existing one) becomes a real drain on resources and a right pain in the backside and not a job anyone would cherish if they're doing it for no return for themselves!
If it was to be a track day, at the weekend and one of our own events Caldwell, Anglesey would be a better option. Donny and silverstone would be way too expensive. Plus you'd have a 98db noise limit. The track day riders forum do a weekend Once a year. Reading through their forum, Anglesey was popular. Camping, no real noise limit and good facilities and a few track configurations. Might be worth enquiring with a tdo as to the cost. Matt
Mention that at your Presidents meeting........you know Hi im Tony from the italian owners club 3865 members, hi in mica from the swedish owners club 2600 members, hi im Ant from er........oops, yeah i know, 300 members
Matt - brace yourself for hundreds of "too far" comments! Personally, it's 300 miles and over 5 hours for me, so I just wouldn't go. Cadwell is bad enough and it's half that!
He he, I think the DSC is in the top ten as one of the biggest membership clubs, just behind DOCGB iirc, and UKMOC is the biggest of them all with over 2000 and would swallow the DSC, DOCGB and SDC quite easily! The UK is the only country which has national clubs; all the others are regional so have sub-100 members, even in Italy. I think Greg from New Zealand said they only had 6 members in theirs! I can dig out the powerpoint presentation from the Presidents meeting to give you exact numbers if you want the actual figures rather than guessing.
Yep. Knew that would happen. They were just suggestions. One of those, or a similar circuit would be best for a td, especially if folks wanted to make a weekend out of it. I could send out a few emails to tdo if folks were interested, enquiring as to price, best times etc. Matt Will log back on when I arrive in bastion and start a poll.
I would vote against any moves to put together events that require insurance, bookings, money and such. The financial thing starts to become too important, and then the "profile" of the new "club" becomes of far more concern to its organisers than the desires of mere bikers (who are merely members). The next thing you know, the Forum organisers will want their own race series and then the regular, every-day biker members will need to look elsewhere for someone who gives a fuck about them. Allegedly.
Donington is pretty much in the middle of the country so would be good for travel from just about anywhere, except the extremes! It's a nice big track so can take more riders, but unfortunately it's more expensive than somewhere like Cadwell or Snetterton and that may put people off. Sorry, I'm sounding really negative on this thread! I do think it's a great idea but until it's put into action it's still only an idea!
you shoulda let it go Ant..... just think if you had focussed your efforts into here say what nearly 2000 or even the ISC 1000 members what a great shout you could of had at the Presidents meetings
