UK, USA, Australia GT40 gathering

[gheacock]

What are your thoughts about everyone getting together at the Goodwood festival of speed (July?) or the Monterey vintage races (Aug. 16-18)?

The festival of speed is a great event, but is not a lot of good for a car gathering by a car club. You need original 40's to take your car in and not a lot of people have those. If you want a social then perhaps it could be something to consider. A lot of members go independantly to the club and have a great time. Same with the Revival Meeting at Goodwood. These meets are a bit like Pebble Beach for getting your own car in.

Depends what you want to do ie look and see or go and drive.

Malcolm

[Gordon Levy]

I would be willing to help organize such an event in the States. Monterey would not be a good venue to hold such an event because of everything else that is going on. We can probably do something on the west coast at a track such as Vegas or Phoenix. Thoughts?

[Chris Melia]

Hi all

the UK Kit Car show in April or May would be the best place to see the GT40s we get 25 to 30 cars and many other Kits too.

Chris

[Robert Logan]

G'day Mates !!!!
Well I am almost an Ausie !
Why not meet a the home of the car we all love so much, Le Mans .
Every year Ken Saunders runs a great one / two week drive around the wine regions of France and finishing at Le Mans for the race. I have attended some years ago and it realy is the best fun you can have with your pants on and in the vertical position ( last is only an option and not compulsary ). Ken can even find some seats in GT40s on a share basis. I hope to fly a Roaring Forties GT40 to France for the races in 2002.
Lets go HOME to the place that we had our BEST DAYS !!!
As a side note , next year the feature decade is the '60's and 1046, J7 and J11 and the imortal 1075 are all going.
Talk to Ken Saunders and he will teel you of the 2002 trip details.
Best wishes and put another shrimp on the barby,
Robert

Ooooeeee computer is a bit slow today!

I didn't think that Ken did his Le Mans trips anymore now he wasn't involved with the enthusiasts club. Last one I heard about cost each memeber £750 per head and went down a bit lead balloon like. Although a lot of members do enjoy going you won't get a lot of oogling at club members cars as the race will distract.

Chris Melia's suggestion has merit as there you will get time to spend on a lot of cars and it is I beleive an annual fixture of his club.

Likewise we have an annual fixture at Goodwood Motor Circuit. Go to the Topic on GTD Car Club Membership Reminder and see 25 40's lined up pn the grid. A bit Watkins Glen like but still a few short. Not only could you see these cars static like at the kit car show but here there is a chance to drive them on the only unaltered F1 race track left in the world.

However both our event and the kit car show are already planned as gatherings so really I think the venue should be in the States. Make new ground and get the US fraternity moving along.

I would suggest you use a track where owners can go out and drive their cars in a safe environment yet still put on a great display in the pits. Liase with another appropriate marque of car to help reduce costs and provide some variety. At our track days we now have some serious classic race and road cars taking part. They vary from D type jags to Mercedes 300 SL to Alta F1 and Knobbly Lister Chevrolets. Helps to underwrite the significant cost and makes a great scene.

Then try for a social meal/BBQ in the evening and stay over with a tour planned for the next day for those not inclined to thrash their cars around a race track. Try and fit in a visit to a local factory/museum of interest (Like we all did with RML). Good food always keeps drivers and passengers happy! Get something arranged for wives/partners who aren't interested in only car stuff so they can go and do their thing leaving the die hards talking cars for hours uninterrupted.
Get a speaker in for an after dinner speech or something.

Just ideas. Hope they help.

Malcolm

Many GT40 enthusiasts are also Cobra enthusiasts (myself included).
It would be a natural to coordinate something
with SAAC (Shelby American Auto Club),
They have the contacts, support structure,
deep pockets, and put on a great show.
And they WELCOME nice Cobra/GT replicas!
They move all around the US, frequently including track time.

To be honest, we just haven't had "affordable" GT40 kits available in the US for a long enough time to build up a base of cars to warrant a "stand alone" get together. The US just is too large and the
existing cars too spread out. So until a larger GT40 base gets established (could be many years), it makes sense to "partner"
with SAAC either at national or regional
meets, for GT40 owners to meet and have fun.

This forum is the best way for us kick this
around and hopefully get an idea of what
would work. Comments?

MikeD

[dicktownsend]

hear are a few pictures of the gt40 enthusiasts club visit, to R.M.L hope they work
regards Dick Townsend
[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[dicktownsend]

ONE MORE TIME HATE P.C.
DICK TOWNSEND [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[dicktownsend]

AND NOW FOR NUMBER TWO [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] DICK TOWNSEND PS WATKINS GLEN TEE SHIRT ANYBODY

[Mark Clapp]

The Mid America Ford Performance and Shelby Meet is a terrific all Ford event. It is held in Tulsa, Oklahoma around June 10 each year. Its consists of two days (Thurs & Fri) at Hallet racing circut, which is a 1.8-mile, 10-turn road course running 3 skill classes. Drag races on Sat. and car show on Sun. There is a cruise on Fri. night and a banquet on Sat. night with speakers from Ford, etc. It's been running 27 years now. There would be nothing to organize, we could just attend. Plenty of cobras but only 2 GT40s since 1994, so we'd make a splash! The event is not expensive, $20 registration, $100/day to drive at the track (lots of lap time),etc. I could try to get an email address for info.