I thought maybe we should start a thread about the Charlotte area monthly meets. I think we had a great turn out down at North Lake Mall the other week end and i think we should start having a monthly meet. Maybe we should have our meet like the thrid Saturday of every month so we dont mess up RRDI's meetings (that are held every 2nd and 4th). Im not completly sure where you all think we should have them but we need to be in a central location, i know we had people from asheville and raliegh and greensboro and SC and Va. Im not sure what everyone would think of having it more north of Charlotte to cater to the out of towners and the easy access? Also i felt like it was to busy and crowed down around the mall area. If everyone would be ok with having it up around Statesville i would gladly set it all up. I could look around and find a restraunt that was just off the interstate that we could legally park at then get a group section to eat so every one does not have to run off looking to fend for themselves. Statesville is not a large town but it is right were I 77 and I 40 meet which would be a direct hit for pretty much everyone.

If you all would like for me to set somthing up somewhere that we could regularly meet at up here in Statesville just give your input on the times and food preference. im thinking maybe have a meet around 3-4 and hang out a while then eat around 5-6. we could do it at places like ruby tuesdays, or logans, or applebees. there are others but that style of food i think would cover all the bases and is not to expensive.

Just let me know what everyone thinks??? we could have the first meet as early as April 15 just need some input and opinions

Thanks Robert

 

how far is statesville from charlotte? like 45 minutes? just curious

 

from down town its like 35-45 mins depending on how fast you go and how traffic is. i can make it down to CPCC in charlotte from where 77 and 40 cross in less then an hour (thats with 8 AM trafffic). I just thought that for the guys from out of town would have a straight shot. like hickory, asheville, morganton, all could come down I 40 east, then the greensboro, winston salem, and raleigh guys could hit I 40 west. and the charlotte and SC crowd could hit I 77 north and Va could come down I77 south. I know some of the people last time had LONG drives and just thought wth the interstates up here maybe it would help them all out.

Just a thought.

 

as soon as i get home i will be coming to these meets so post lots of pics for now.. they help

 

hey man, i would be up for a monthly meet...i would make it when i could, but probably not all of them...but i would do my best to be at all of them...so i'll check back and see...another idea might be doing a mailing list for those who want to do it...i know sometimes i dont have time to check the forums when i check my mail...or a thread is hard to find...

 

true, if we could get everyone that was intrested and get there address we could get like a three month schedule up and then mail it out as wellas keeping the forum going

 

Good idea Rob, quarterly would be a nice interval. The reason this first one attracted the attention and turnout was because it was the first. If you start them monthly that may detract from the novelty of the event and everyone making the extra effort to get together that often.

Since Lauren left Charlotte to get her education I know the rotary meets in Charlotte have slipped some. I think that it would be great to have a growing Charlotte Rotary Owners Org. (CROOsers) in the Charlotte area and with the SC guys to help as well as the rest of us to help y'all should be able to hold a local meet at least once a month. Could also have quarterly Rotary Rallies in NC and SC to give the local groups a chance to drive outside their areas and renew acquaintences with their rotarian bothers. RRDI would definitely be happy to host a quarterly meet around State Fair time. The longer drives are truly benefical to our engines and all moving parts, rotary machines need excercise regularly. We should organize another rally at a location where there is a Blue Angels or Thunderbirds air show performance this year. Jet engines are rotary engines too! They go fast, rev high, make a lot of noise, and have very warm and smelly exhaust.

Lets follow this up and pursue it.

Just my $.02

Bert

 

sounds good to me i would love to see those things, also we need to have a regular crowd of guys in the area. i know that the more often we have them the less people will try to come but it would be nice to have a regular crowd. i think we need a regular place to meet that is always available and on months we can plan a road trip then we should. thats jsut my idea

 

Need to keep this thread up and alive.

With the area and the resources to draw from there should be a strong group of rotary owners in Charlotte. The Triad area is close enough to contribute some talent and I am sure there could be some very interesting weekend drives organized to really get the interest up for a rotary group.

The RRDI started getting word out about our group by printing some business cards and handing them out to all our members. We left them on every rotary car we found parked, passed, or had to chase down, and put some signs up in local hangouts. We started by having a drive-in every weekend at the Char Grill just so everyone interested could make a meeting or two and once we had a core group formed of dependable owners we cutback to twice-a-month drive-ins. It took a while but we also have attracted a pretty lively contingent of RX8 owners that are really car people and enjoy the RX7s as much as their 8s. At some Drive-Ins the RX8s have out numbered the FCs!

Y'all are welcome to come visit the RRDI in Rawley anytime and we'll probably have another summer grillin' and invite everyone to drive over to Jordan or Falls Lake for a get together. We can also organize something up at VIR this fall when the Rolex Cup races come to town and support the Speed Source RX8 team. I saw in RX Tuner that they are also going to field a 20B competition RX8 car in the GT class this year. Now that ought to be something to see.

Come on all comments and ideas are welcome. Join the brainstorm.

 

I would be interested in a meet in Charlotte. I have several obligations in April so post when the event will be. My experience with Charlotte is 85, family in Va. so would need detailed instructions.

 

Just found out that Hot Import Nights is coming to Charlotte in May. Anyone there thinking about going and holding a meet in conjunction with that event. Never been to HIN so don't know if its just a ricer convention or a serious car show but thought I'd mention it.

 

so what is the hot import night?? never been to it, any one have info on it