CORSA 2012: NECC: Next Year

[Ron Manwaring]

The NECC Lime Rock event got smaller over the years due to the age of the 
cars, their owners and not wanting to run their aging cars on the track 
anymore, but really dropped after the weekend date disappeared. With the 
event in the middle of the week, many do not want to take the extra time off 
from work, especially the car show group. Also, the rules changes prevent 
many from even running a time trial event now even if they want to with 
their street cars due to the need for added safety equipment (third harness, 
etc).

I think the best way to have a total Corvair event is to have the types of 
events that all the cars can participate in. Unfortunately, this probably 
does not include time trials due to the reasons stated above. Please don't 
attack me on that as I love racing, it just seems to be a limited group.

So maybe an idea is to do a 2 or 3 day New England (where the NECC started) 
event like mini convention and have a car show, rally and/or autocross on 
the off BayState/Clarks year and then do the Olympic high speed event the 
other year outside New England for the go really fast guys.

Ron M
CT Corsa



--------------------------------------------------
From: "O'Neill, Brian M CTR US USA" <brian.oneill1 at us.army.mil>
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 3:37 PM
To: "Vairtec Corporation" <vairtec at comcast.net>; "Terry&Alexis Stafford" 
<terry_alexis at yahoo.com>
Cc: <conv-2012 at corvair.org>; <neccexec at corvair.org>
Subject: Re: NECC: CORSA 2012:  Next Year

> To suggest that somehow NECC just gave up on the car show does not tell
> the whole story. Yes, once upon a time the judged show was serious
> enough to earn credit toward CORSA Senior Division status. However, that
> procedure no longer exists. Years back, we wanted to have a
> min-convention with a CORSA sanctioned concours. Bob, if you remember,
> we were required to fund travel and lodgng the CORSA Concours Chair and
> required to use CORSA judging procedures.  Unless, my memory fails me,
> you were in agreement that we should not do that.  In fact, as I
> remember, you then wrote the judges' instructions still in the NECC
> procedures manual.
>
> In addition to what we then considered unbearable financial and
> procedural; support for the car show waned.  It became harder and harder
> to get works to work as judges.  Finding a location as the Interlake
> continually raised their rates. Became almost impossible.
> To say that the loss of the car show has been 'self-defeating' is
> overstating a complex issue.
>
> Although I do not agree with you and terry that we need a name change
> nor do I believe that we should give up on the Olympics which have been
> very well attended and profitable; your idea has merit.  Unbelievable as
> it may be; I have been day dreaming about a long weekend event in the
> off cycle years between Bay State's Clark's show. My plan was for an
> autocross, low key rally and a car show. The event would be focused on
> fun and friendship.  To quote a friend of mine---" Make everything else
> "just for fun.  Not everything has to be a serious contest -- our slow
> drag races proved that."A New England location would probably be the
> most suitable but could move among the northern states.
>
> So, my vision for the path forward is a minimum of one track event in
> 2013 with the hope of a south eastern Olympics and the long weekend
> event in 2014.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: conv-2012-bounces at corvair.org
> [mailto:conv-2012-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Vairtec Corporation
> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 3:09 PM
> To: Terry&Alexis Stafford
> Cc: neccexec at corvair.org; conv-2012 at corvair.org
> Subject: Re: CORSA 2012: NECC: Next Year
>
> Terry provides interesting food for thought.
>
> I like the nomenclature, "Corvair Triathlon" but I would suggest that
> along with a new name there is a need for a new mindset. Just as we were
>
> trying to re-invent the convention this year, we should consider
> re-inventing the signature NECC event.
>
> For a long time the NECC did the track event at Lime Rock in conjunction
>
> with a judged car show that in some years was serious enough to earn
> entrants credit toward CORSA Senior Division status.  In later years the
>
> car show became less formal.  In recent years the car show at NECC
> events virtually disappeared.
>
> There is a great deal that can be said about the age of the cars and the
>
> age of their owners and the diminishing Corvair participation in track
> events.  But the loss of emphasis on the car show and then the loss of
> the car show itself has been self defeating for the NECC.
>
> I would suggest that an annual "Corvair Triathlon" should consist of:
>
> (1) a track event.  Whether it is a high-speed event such as the NECC
> has done for so many years or a reasonably fast autocross such as the
> convention autocross at Stafford Speedway, track events are the
> foundation of the NECC.  However, while some of us may not want to admit
>
> it, an event like the Stafford Speedway autocross is far more accessible
>
> to far more Corvair owners, and therefore far more likely to succeed.
>
> (2) a road rally or driving tour.  The road rally at conventions is
> typically the best-attended moving event, and today more and more
> Corvair owners are participating in AACA driving tours. Maybe we should
> take the hint.
>
> (3) a car show.  Car shows are a big part of why people own Corvairs
> today.  The cars are no longer daily drivers, they are hobby cars, and
> hobby car owners like to go to well-organized, well-run car shows.
>
> If we were to situate such an event in New England, I would suggest that
>
> it become an every-other-year thing, alternating with Bay State's "Fall
> Classic at Clark's."  This would prevent each event from "cannibalizing"
>
> the other and would in fact allow them to support one another.  This, of
>
> course, means that we would be planning for 2014, not next year.  (This
> does not mean that the NECC cannot do something in 2013, it just means
> that it ought not be in New England in 2013.)
>
> As an aside, I have not heard about the road course plans that Terry
> mentions at Thompson Speedway, but I will take it upon myself to ask the
>
> track owner about this.
>
> --Bob
>
>
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