The Audi Club of North America is a club for paid members, run by members who volunteer. As the board of the SoCal Audi Club is currently in transition, and a few of its members have recently resigned for various reasons, I am calling for an open board meeting where all members can offer guidance and suggestions. An open election for the remaining seats on the board should follow.

If you're an Audi enthusiast and live in SoCal, please check out SCCAudi.com. Let us know on this site, or on that site -- if you're a member -- what kind of events you'd be interested in attending, and any other suggestions you may have for our club.

Thanks!

at this point i think we'll take ANY audi events
Being in San Diego, I'd personally like to see these audi events:
Auto-x - qualcomm stadium
Track days - CA speedway

We have quite a few events, I think we've had one a month so far this year. No track days yet, which I guess is what you're really interested in. Thanks for your suggestions.

well put

your dumbass or maced the **** out of you for being a total douchebag jackass.

yes folks, this guy smacks a cab driver then proceeded to spit in his space. now thats... CLASSY

wrong time. wrong place. Southern CA Audi Club needs some help, focus your effort on that bud.

wrong time. wrong place. Southern CA Audi Club needs some help, focus your effort on that bud.

You're in Dr Brian and all SCC members are welcome.

To anyone else seriously considering membership, please feel free to voice your opinions. SCC is great and interesting group and we have a lot of fun.

Dr B., regarding an older topic you posted on the SCC site, we just had a Los Padres drive and that's not too far from Bakersfield. You and the wife should have come out. As this is a large territory to cover, we try to hold events in different areas of SoCal. A few of the board members live in O.C. and drive a couple hours to get to events early. In fact lots of members drive the same distance to participate. So we do have a dedicated group. :)

Nice to hear from you. I replied to you on the SCC site also but I think the current board members are David, Robert and Phil. But you'll have to ask them for confirmation.

Are you an SCC member? I don't think I've met you. You should consider joining, I know we have members who frequent your shop -- Jack, Mark and Jerry to name a few. You'd really enjoy the drives and the track, (and you'd most likely pick up some new customers).
Regarding the SCC board, there are guidelines. You can't just join the club one day and hop onto the board. You have to be a member for a while. Check us out. :)

Officially speaking, David, Riccardo, Phil, myself, and Terry. Jerry just resigned.

There was recently the Anza Borrego drive, there's the julian and palomar drives, last year the border roads drive, etc.

Cal speedway is expensive beyond our budget. Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, and Pahrump are doable, although Cal Speedway is a "work in progress."

We're doing what we can to offer more events than any other chapter. I think so far we've done that, but hope to have more in the SD area...



Robert

Accelerating the timeline for elections has already been brought up. We'd love to see the first elected So-Cal board. In fact, that's what we've been working hard to enable.

like i said, more interested in the track days.
Lot of people out here with money looking for a place to push the limits of their Audi's' without driving 5 hours to Bakersfield.

I'd love to attend.

Thanks Robert! to be specific, I wasn't suggesting an entirely new board. I was suggesting elections for the open spots.

I'm all ears.

It's hard because sometimes blame falls on some when there are actually structural obstacles to doing things that we'd like to do. Whether it's cost or simply a lack of regional facilities, in the end many turn first to feeling that someone's not doing any work. While I think that's not really fair, I do think it's understandable.

If I had a dollar for every time we said we wished we had the variety of tracks that NorCal had, I'd be rich.

Regardless, last year we had 3 track days on the calendar, and that's the goal for each year coming, as well. Hopefully we'll see you at buttonwillow in December...

However, this one is a plain board meeting. We'll have an open meeting soon, whether by telecon or someplace that can accomodate more people than my small space can...

tall, tan and handsome....

I wonder what number of cars the club would have to pull in to break even at Calspeedway. I'd love to drive there with the Audi Club, but know that some other groups end up charging around $700-$800 for a weekend and pull in a huge number of cars. It seems like it would be tough for the So Cal chapter to do without going bankrupt.

It takes a lot of time to put on events. I belong to one of the oldest sports car clubs in SoCal. The Long Beach MG Club, it was formed in 1949. Now I am not as active in it as I used to be, but I remember from the past, how much time it takes to put on an event.

Each event was put on by a different, person/persons. It was not left to the board to put them all on. I put on many TSD rallies and autocrosses. It takes not just hours to coordinate all the stuff, it takes DAYS.

For a TSD rally, you have to plan a route, run the route, several times, write instructions, copy sets, get volunteers to man checkpoints, etc. etc.

You have here just a few individuals, planning everything. Checking with sponsers, getting dates for track events, setting up lodging, food, garage spaces, getting dates for museum tours, getting dates for tech outings, etc. etc.

Before anyone critisizes, they should try just putting together just ONE event and see how it goes.

As for track time, SoCal sucks. Back in my day we had it made. Riverside, Palmsprings, Holtville, Willow, Goleta, Orange County raceway, Ontario, etc. etc.

Now you have Willow and California Speedway. CA Speedway is not much of a road course if you ask me. Ontario was much better.

Enough rant. I think this board is doing an excellent job. You don't have to be on the board, to volunteer to help. I am sure you could find something to help out with.

Greg W.

as you know, the "track culture" in the SoCal membership is still nascent. We still have BIG trouble getting the instructors we need to manage events at buttonwillow, where the break-even point is WAAAYY lower than it would be at Cal Speedway.

Likewise, we'd have to draw heavily on our own instructors to help organize the event, which would further decrease the ranks of those who could play active roles in cars with students.

We're still growing - we'll see a Cal speedway event yet, if not this year or next. That's my gues.

Like doing the infield w/Speedventures at Fontana?
You could use the "big" parking lot for the beginners exercises.
They also have an autocross course.
I did a split event with them and the Porsche club last year, it worked out real well....

1) The board fully supports open elections. They have spent the last year preparing them. Robert has done most of the heavy lifting on that project.
2) One of the issues holding back elections is the question - will there be enough qualified people interested in running the chapter? Real enthusiasts that have the clubs best interest at heart?
3) Although most of the board members have served a long time its not because they are looking to "control" the club. Most of them would gladly step aside if they knew there was someone qualified to step into their place.

- former board member

For those who have been considering joining, this is a great time to come on in and be heard. My comments are meant lovingly with appreciation for all our board does. We have one of the best clubs in the nation. And it's always getting better. I'd really like to see more members get involved. Now is the time. Cheers!

as much as i'd like to get involved now to meet new people, i'm not sure if i'll have enough time.

Hey fellow MG owner! I'm a member of the Southern California MG Club. I have a 73 MGB, what year is your MG?

shoot me an email... bsrpilot at gmail dot com

The Long Beach MG club never limited themselves to MGs. When the club was started in 49', that was the only sports car around.

Probably one of the reasons they have been around so long. Closest I came was a 57 TR3.

The club is still active, but not as much as it used to be. The members are getting up in age, as am I.

But some of the things they still do are:

Provide Race Management for the Long Beach Grand Prix.
Think ALMS and Audis. Volunteer to work and you get in for Free. Of course, you have to work but you do get free time.

Flagging, Corner Workers, Timing and Scoring for the Vintage Auto Racing Association and for HSR West.

Anyone interested in Flagging a corner, let me know and I can send you in the right direction.

Greg W.

Looking forward to a few more track days throughout the year.

Yes, I remembered after I posted this that those people from Bakersfield were probably you people! Lovely wife, I'm spacing on her name. . .Have you been to the Julian drive? It's a few hours from where you live but last year some of us, including Robert and Riccardo who were doing a midnight pre-drive, stayed over in Temecula the night before and it was definitely worthwhile.

I figured that. Mike, I'll stop by your place with Jack one of these days.

the drive. We will have to make it a weekend thing to justify the drive and traffic. I do want to do the Julian run, its so nice. I've been there when there was a little snow. That is also a aggressive drive correct?

It is whatever you want it to be. Last year there was a fast group for those who want to drive "like a bat out of hell" and a less fast group for those who want to drive more moderately and enjoy the scenery.

Read your post on SCC. You should go for Membership Chair if you haven't already :)

That is an incorrect perception. My specific issue is regarding the decision making process of the board specifically in relation to new board members. I really want to emphasize that point. This is not attempt at a coup! While I understand Robert's concern for the welfare of the club in finding qualified board members, my sense is that we do have enough qualified leaders and maybe even some people they wouldn't have considered. A way to find out is to open up elections. That is a moot point since we now know they will be holding elections. But I feel it's important to let people know I do not have anything against SCC board members, personally or otherwise. I feel they do a good job running the club, and on a more personal level I really like each one of them.