Meeting: Driving Event Committee
Date: 12/11/2006
Location: The Common Man Restaurant, Concord, NH
Attendees:
Jeff Wasilko (Audi Club), Paul Royal (Audi Club), Erik Wensberg, Dana Dion, Laura Fallis, Brian Sachs, Mike Dion, Jim Viall, Tania Brice Coffin, George Bixby, Mike Francis, Alvin Legerlotz, Alan Legerlotz, Gordon Geick, Dick Cadieux, Bruce Smith, Mike Cooney, Mark Viola
Minutes:
The Meeting was called to order at 6:30
As the first order of business, Alan Legerlotz announced that Gordon will be taking over as the Driving Events Committee Chairman, but he would still be a part of the DEC dealing with tactical aspects of driving schools.
We then went around the table and everyone did a brief introduction.
Items from the agenda (distributed prior to the meeting by Gordon) were addressed next.
1. Meet the new Board and hopefully a SEC representative can attend.
<this was covered as part of the Introductions>
2. Review minutes from last meeting.
Minutes from the last minutes were approved by vote.
3. Finalize mission statement draft.
Gordon read the mission statement as he sent out. Approved by vote.
4. Review positions for next year- DEC Chairman, Registrar, Tech. Chair., Chief Instructor, ADSS chairs., Instructor registrar, IDP Chief, Secretary, etc…
· DEC Chairman – Gordon
· Registrar – Alvin, Tania; Brian volunteered to answer questions of potential participants
· Instructor Coordinator – George, Tania; Rich Davis had expressed interest to Gordon prior to the meeting. George and Tania have expressed interest throughout the year.
· Track Liaison - Alan
· Tech Inspection – Dick, Jim Vaill, Laura
· Chief Track Instructor – Bruce, Dick, Gordon, Mike Cooney, Ed
· Control – Erik and Mike as primaries, Bruce and Dick as backups
· Chief ADSS Instructor – Dick and Bruce
· Street Survival Coordinator - Bruce
· Instructor Development Coordinator – Gordon, Jeff Smethers, Peter Proach, John Cloutier; Suzin Koehler
· Club Race Coordinator – Dick, Mike Franics, Mark Viola, Alan
· Chief Steward (Day of the Event) – Alan, Mike Cooney offered to backup
· Driving Events Publicity/Marketing – Gordon, Dana, Brian, George
· Sponsorship coordinator – George, Laura, Brian
· Classroom Instructor – Gordon, George
· Booking Insurance - Alan added this while taking minutes, it was not discussed as a position, its listed here to ensure that it doesn’t get missed
5. Minis on Top and Mini ADSS.
Minis very interested in mini only ADSS. Sponsorship folks should look at getting sponsorship for this. Minis on top has limited time/availability so we’re trying to figure out how we can get involved. Can we sponsor, or do a demo, or make some sort of gesture to get our name out there and contribute. Do some sort of “on site” marketing? Schedule the Mini ADSS for after the Minis on Top event.
6. Confirm track, Club Race, Street Survival, ADSS dates.
4/13 – Cabin Fever
8/23 – Summer Heat
10/26-28 – End of Summer
Street Survivial should be scheduled for Mid May (Saturday is preferred to Sunday)
We will have Instructor ADSS day for April as usual. ADSS dates will be for weekend before track event for each event.
Bruce suggested that we think about swapping 7/6 (an open date at last meeting) for 8/23? We discussed this possibility and put it to a vote… it was voted down; we’ve decided to stick with what we have for committed dates.
7. Subcommittees
· Sponsorship - details George and Laura
· Marketing - review groups/forums to contact, North Atlantic Audi Chapter-Jeff Wasilko, promotional material, banners, e mail brochure, poster.
· Tactical/organizational/job descriptions
· Educational/classroom
· Budget, overhead, break even points. Mike will help out here.
· Tech Inspection
· Mini - David Thibodeau, Pete Basiliere, (Marcus Glysteen, Peter Bergwall, Matt Cerne, Mike Cooney and Doug Baxter).
8. Fees and registration opening date.
Mike Dion ran some numbes and shared them with everyone. Our break even is 72 students per day for a one day event. Break even is about 150 students for a 3 day event. These numbers take into account an 10% increase in costs for an event (Track Rental, Insurance, etc…). The break even for an ADSS event is 24 students.
Jeff indicated that he has two dates 10/17-18 during which the Audi club would like to team with us to do some collaborative events similar to “street survival” geared at teens/new drivers. Typical charge for Audi events like this is $100. Jeff also said that Audi runs 2 winter driving schools at Tim O’Neil’s facility. Paul said that the outside perspective is that we’re a well respected club with a focus on safety and event quality. He’s heard that from people outside the BMW circle. Paul and Jeff’s club really wants to work with us on an event.
George suggested that we share calendars for web sites and instructor lists for both track and ADSS.
When we open registration it should be for all of our events simultaneously. We need to get our schools open for registration by 2/1/07
9. Mentor program - Tania, Paul
Tania is asking for volunteers. She has permission from Boston to copy their program. Boston provides mentors for participants up to their 3rd time, Tania suggests covering people through their 2nd school. Tania will work the registrar to assign mentors to participants.
Paul suggests having the newbies and mentees meet for 10 minutes early in the day so they can tour of the facility (classroom, restaurant, false grid, bathrooms, etc…)
10. Driving school surveys and professional flaggers.
Q: Professional Flaggers discussion, can we cut costs?
Q: Can we do an ADSS with Speedway Safety in return for some ambulance service?
Q: Can we get professional flaggers instead of flaggers?
There was a discussion about flaggin in general. Dick indicated that flaggers cost about $3000 per day. Erik said that he prefers students flag for educational aspects. Mark pointed out that people don’t want to flag and there was more discussion about issues with flagging… the fact that people don’t want to do it and that they don’t show up on time. Level of experience was also mentioned as a problem, Gordon mentioned that fatigue of novice flaggers can be an issue and he thinks that 18 flaggers are not necessary and that 8 can do it. Mike Francis said that in his experience during incidents, the best flagging is done by students… our “professionals” are simply paid, not “professional” in his opinion. George mentioned that at other tracks (lime rock and Watkins glen) students need to do *something* educational, even if they’re not flagging. George thinks that not having students flagging is a dis-service to them because they’re missing out on the educational aspects of it.
Gordon decided that we’ll form a committee to discuss flagging. Paul indicated that students participating with respect to flagging gives them a “stake” in the school.
Mike Cooney said that new students should have a serious classroom discussion about flagging; more than we do now. Erik and Mike Francis both said that they currently give people a flagging pre talk in the van before flagging.
Jim suggested that maybe we can have people sign up for corners.
Jeff indicated that by not having students flag, they can spend more time in classroom learning.
11. IDP
Gordon said that we’ve graduated 3 or 4 people over the past year. Jeff [from Audi] is interested in joining as a participant. Gordon wants to dispense with the voting policy regarding candidates and just get anyone who’s interested enrolled into the program.
Gordon needs help with the program and is having trouble getting enough people to help. Certified people need to be available and meet the criteria. They should talk to Gordon for more info.
12. Waterville Valley
Dana said that SEC is talking about a Waterville valley event. The SEC would like to put together a “fun rally” on a weekend with some input from the DEC on the rally portion of the event.
Ed asked [via pre-meeting email]: “What does the SEC having in mind? Timed Autocross? Gymkana?”
Dana mentioned a Concours as a possibility at such an event as well.
13. Mount Washington
Ed wanted to attend the meeting, but couldn’t make it because of work. He sent an e-mail with information about this event: He said that we need 20 cars and this is a fun type run, with safety stressed, not a “10/10ths” run up the mountain. Eric pointed out that the number of participants will probably fall out from all of them interested. George mentioned “catch cans” and how cars are different at higher altitudes and that participants should keep this in mind.
We need to make sure the cars are safe, prepared, and ready to run a hill climb. Safety equipment is definitely required, but we’re not sure if its full SCCA trim or “vintage” preparation.
14. Profile Editor
This is a matter for the Board meeting, not a DEC item.
15. Manager for the registration web site (motorsportreg.com).
Alvin will do this. Mike Dion has access and will help as well.
16. "Day to day" managers for web site, update DEC, IDP pages.
Paul wants committees / individuals to manage their own pages and control the content on those pages. Bruce asked *how* people can update the content themselves… Paul needs to make this information available.
Brian is volunteering to work with Paul on the web site format to put some “sizzle” into it. Dana said that he’s been helping Paul and pointed out the work that Paul has done to get the web site where it is now.
17 New Business…
Bruce indicated that the Board will require a budget to be prepared for each event, and that it must be available prior to each event, so it can be reviewed by the board. This is for all club events, not just DEC. Shortly after each event we’ll need to reconcile our financial figures against the budget and present them to the board.
Bruce announced that an initial Board meeting will be called prior to the Holiday party and will include Gordon, Cassandra, Laura, and the elected board.
Mark Viola asked how we can find new venues for slow speed driving events. He said that an event occurred at a Toyota dealership.
Mike Cooney suggested a “meet and greet” with instructors to have a mid winter/pre season event to talk about how to instruct, role playing, etc… Boston has done them down at East Coast Aerotech and people liked them; a number of people at this meeting had attended the Boston events in the past.
Mike Dion had a question about the Boston event and whether or not money was made or lost. Bruce indicated that some money was made and that there is a planning meeting on 12/20 at which time we’ll find out the outcome.
George asked whether or not he has our permission to go ahead and invite Porsche club novice students to come to our events, but not have to pay our additional fees to become members and potentially attend our events as a discount. Discussion took place where Alan said that our insurance requires that all students must be members and the outcome was that Gordon would check into our insurance requirements. The overall feeling was that the Porsche folks shouldn’t be treated differently than everyone else because we’re open to all people and if we discount one group, we’ll have to discount for everyone.
Dana made people aware of some social events… The Holiday Party 1/27 at CR Sparks. A Fun Rally 6/24 done by Marty Callahan
Gordon suggested a DEC meeting mid January – 1/15/2007 at the Common Man in Concord.
The Meeting was called to a close at 8:50pm
Action Items from the meeting: