Ron Earp
Admin
Dear Members,
Happy New Year and thanks for all the support throughout 2005! I must say, www.gt40s.com has grown larger than I thought it would, no doubt about that. And, thanks to all the fabulous members here on the forum we’re becoming well known for being the best source for GT40 information on the web and are mentioned specifically in numerous places (ClubCobra, FerrariChat, etc.) as being very helpful. We’ve got a unique blend members, owners, and manufacturers here that provide us with a knowledge base that is unparalleled on the web. I’m quite proud to be a part of it all and I’m looking forward to an expanding user base for 2006.
The forum has been fine with respect to cash flow for 2005. With advertising and donations we drew in about $3300 for 2005. Of that we spent approximately $2100 on server fees, software, some hardware, and software support, leaving us with a surplus of about $1200. This is a good thing because my plans are to re-vamp the forum during the first quarter of 2006 with a new forum software package running around $400 when it is all said and done (software, installation, features, setup). Some of the remaining we’ll use to purchase a USB hard drive so that we can back the server up and maintain a local copy, and the rest we’ll save for a rainy day. I think the new software will offer some nice features to you folks like a photo gallery, whilst allowing me to fix a lot of things that halfway work such as registration, validation, and password emailing removing a huge burden of frustration from my shoulders.
I’ve given some thought to opening a GT40s.com Estore so that some particular items of interest might easily be sold to interested parties. I’m still in the “thinking” stage about this, but I’m trying to figure out a way to generate some compensation for time with respect to the forum and this might be a good way to do it. One item in the works already are some extremely high quality 3D GT40 crystals of the like seen here a few years ago, although these are of higher detail. These will be available through the forum and also for folks that contribute donations at a high level for no charge. If anyone has thoughts or ideas for items to have in an Estore let me know. Could be we could offer some of the items that people want such as VIN plates, shirts, patches, valve covers, and whatnot in one central location thus making it easy for the seller and buyer.
So, I am looking forward to a year of growth at www.gt40s.com. We’ve a lot of new things happening in the GT40 industry and I’m eager to see some actual customer cars completed from Superformance, RCR, and of course Roaring Forties – hopefully one of the latter being mine in early 2006!! I’ll be interesting to see how the industry matures and directions in which manufacturers take for the future. And, I’m also hoping that 2006 will see many of the project cars that have been under construction hit the road in anger – good luck guys and keep on working!
Best,
Ron
PS-If you wish to have a new Avatar the start of the new year is a good time to put it in place!!!!
Happy New Year and thanks for all the support throughout 2005! I must say, www.gt40s.com has grown larger than I thought it would, no doubt about that. And, thanks to all the fabulous members here on the forum we’re becoming well known for being the best source for GT40 information on the web and are mentioned specifically in numerous places (ClubCobra, FerrariChat, etc.) as being very helpful. We’ve got a unique blend members, owners, and manufacturers here that provide us with a knowledge base that is unparalleled on the web. I’m quite proud to be a part of it all and I’m looking forward to an expanding user base for 2006.
The forum has been fine with respect to cash flow for 2005. With advertising and donations we drew in about $3300 for 2005. Of that we spent approximately $2100 on server fees, software, some hardware, and software support, leaving us with a surplus of about $1200. This is a good thing because my plans are to re-vamp the forum during the first quarter of 2006 with a new forum software package running around $400 when it is all said and done (software, installation, features, setup). Some of the remaining we’ll use to purchase a USB hard drive so that we can back the server up and maintain a local copy, and the rest we’ll save for a rainy day. I think the new software will offer some nice features to you folks like a photo gallery, whilst allowing me to fix a lot of things that halfway work such as registration, validation, and password emailing removing a huge burden of frustration from my shoulders.
I’ve given some thought to opening a GT40s.com Estore so that some particular items of interest might easily be sold to interested parties. I’m still in the “thinking” stage about this, but I’m trying to figure out a way to generate some compensation for time with respect to the forum and this might be a good way to do it. One item in the works already are some extremely high quality 3D GT40 crystals of the like seen here a few years ago, although these are of higher detail. These will be available through the forum and also for folks that contribute donations at a high level for no charge. If anyone has thoughts or ideas for items to have in an Estore let me know. Could be we could offer some of the items that people want such as VIN plates, shirts, patches, valve covers, and whatnot in one central location thus making it easy for the seller and buyer.
So, I am looking forward to a year of growth at www.gt40s.com. We’ve a lot of new things happening in the GT40 industry and I’m eager to see some actual customer cars completed from Superformance, RCR, and of course Roaring Forties – hopefully one of the latter being mine in early 2006!! I’ll be interesting to see how the industry matures and directions in which manufacturers take for the future. And, I’m also hoping that 2006 will see many of the project cars that have been under construction hit the road in anger – good luck guys and keep on working!
Best,
Ron
PS-If you wish to have a new Avatar the start of the new year is a good time to put it in place!!!!
