Originally Posted by clee
Is that an end to the Club shop?
going back a few years i used to attend cold sunday meets at santa pod rwyb,rtoc stands at Trax,monthly local meets good old days i would be willing to take on a more active role there is to much sniping after events Steve and Dawn did well with Blyton all considering recession etc etc
i think its more a case of people in general being less contented with their lot in life at the moment, for many people life is getting to be a day to day struggle and that angst and downbeat feeling is bound to spill over once in a while.
it seems a shame things aint working out. i love going to places and seeing a five!. im still a newbee on here and only know alot of people on here by there user names and from talking on the phone etc. my point is i think theres alot of members on here that are new and dont really know the older members? i think there needs to be some smaller meets here and there to actually meet people and get the fives together. no mater what the car looks like etc everyone has different tastes.i know theres alot of people who like o.e fives but we need all kinds to come together just to have a giggle and bring the fives out
as soon as my five is sorted i will get out as much as possible to meets,events
The south east have 2 meets a month at different locations. The TNT crew have regular meets and I'm sure they have a few up north too.
If there's not one near you then start one, it takes 5 mins to write a post with a date and venue. Don't expect a massive turnout immediately but keep the locations close and dates consistent and word will travel.
Phils meet is in the crappest club ever but it has off street parking and beer. Nuff said
Interesting seeing this from the other side of the coin so to speak.
I help run the 21toc.
There are two of us. There used to be more but dwindling numbers doesn't necessitate large committees.
Is the RTOC dwindling in size in terms of memberships ? I suspect so - not based on the events or due to events, it is more likely to be due to dwindling cars on the road ( as already pointed out )
I for one don't know who the committee are and what they do. Is this information publicly available ?
I have noticed in my tenure helping with the 21toc that things seem to go round in cycles , bitch , moan , events , happy , status quo , bitch , moan , repeat till fade.
You can only organise events and if noone wants to attend then try something different ? 1/4mi used to be the rage around these parts from what I read, but there seems to be a select minority of people doing that now ? ( Briggsy ? Glenn ? ) More guys seem trackdayers or just good old fashioned OEM drivers.
Personally I find the RTOC quite a stale environment with the same questions beings asked on the boards ( normally by me ! ) and quite a clique of people. If you havent been in RTOC since the 5 GT was a concept then you are not from round these parts and can be shunned
Certain members however in its defence have been superb ( to name a few : Briggsy, Robbo, Big Steve, Blunty , Glenn ) but its taken me a number of years to try and break in.
I honestly dont know how to make it easier for noobs to break into the club / spirit / scene , but I do know I am not the only one who finds the place hard to break into. For me the RTOC is slowly becoming more of a community than a resource. Might be due to the time I have been on here.
I think the only thing I can say in certainty is the RTOC is shrinking in size because of less cars on the road and less people willing to take them on.
personally I think The Good Ship RTOC needs to realise its not the all conquering behemoth it used to be and maybe find other events, interests, or even possibly realise that you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink.
Heaven knows I tried hard on the 21toc.
( as ever there are exceptions to this - this post isnt meant to offend. Just trying to help )
I have donned my flamesuit in anticipation
https://www.rtoc.org/club/?show=committee As it was a couple of weeks ago.
Lomo was SAR. Whether he'll return we don't know, his new business was picking up and leaving no spare time.
Blunty just suddenly left with no explanation.
Thanks Ian.
ooohhhhh i'm gonna post
I'll be honest, I don't have have time to play cars anymore. Sold my toys many years ago! and just have my 225 for fun now
but..... few things i've noticed, but maybe i'm wrong, if i am I don't care but...
a) the more boards/sections we have, the less people seem to want to write/read/look - the old RTOC had that box that we still get but there was only a small number of actual subsections so threads didn't get lost etc
b) we're very spread out, ok not as much as some EU countries, but I like many have forgotten how many times I've got up and driven across the country, but when certain CM members can't be bothered to turn up to events in their own areas.........
c) Miller has done lots behind the scene and kept the club going..... but if we can't see/hear/abuse him in public, well he's just a name on a hidden section that only a few can see; Mark, Rach and Bruce where always here, (sometimes too much) cracking the banter etc etc
d) People can't take a joke... god look back at the old (oh god I sound old like Sparkie!) days and we us'd to be ripping it out of everyone/thing/car and it was all a joke, everyone got one, we had a laugh...now everything is too serious...
god I can still remember a member asking me to open the bonnet on my Turbo 2 so they could see the engine.... Funny as FCUK when all they saw was a steering rack!
I wish I had more time etc to come to events, as I really do miss them. Perhaps I'll drag my fat arse up to Scoffs if I can afford the petrol
Moggy
oh and btw - i must hold the record for pissing people off and getting banned, re-instated and banned again... or did Kenobi or TK finally beat me??? LMFAO
Miller attends all majour shows.
6 hour drive each way aswell.
but how many members attend the shows??? this isn't ago at Miller he's a top bloke, but he, like the rest of us has his hands tied with lack of time, but he doesn't really post on the 'main' site, but is very 'active' on the 'committee' site, excellent, but you need to lead from the front, if people don't know you are here, they don't know who you are!
or if Marts in front, we'll all stand to the side as his farts still brings tears to my eyes!
I think the expression was "Same meat, different gravy"
https://www.rtoc.org/boards/showthread.php?t=13358
Positions are always advertised when required and current ones will be once the requirements are finalised. Some of the old threads below... Not much interest though...
SAR
SHOP KEEPER
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY
Ashy, not sure why you linked that thread of Steve's, but this isn't another 'shake up' esque thread mate, nor have I got any axe to grind.
If it was, you know me well enough by now to know I'd be blunt & to the point and say so.
As said, it's just a genuine question.
You have to admit it covers the same points that have been, or will be, raised in this thread.
Also, thinking about it, it might be good to hear Steve's thoughts on it as since starting that thread over 2 years ago now he's been on both sides of the fence.
Perhaps it proves the cycle theory that andybond mentions.
just another thought, newbie's take the club for what it is, they dont know any different. it seems to be the longer serving members that notice the change so maybe it should be them that offers to help get the club back to the 'good ole days'?
i do feel that members with a role should be more careful with what they post, after all, they are supposed to be the people that normal members should look up to. although they have opinions too, they shouldn't come across as being biased as this can reflect as being an opinion of the club so maybe that's why then dont post as much.
i dont see why miller etc should have to post, i've seen him at every event i've been to over the last few years, sometimes coming in both his and emma's cars. if he's only posting on the committee boards, then he's doing his job and may not have time for general banter or being dragged into repetative threads.
possibly another title could be added in the blue bar above with 'committee' detailing the heirachy so to speak.
back on topic tho, surely the committee should work as a proper hierachy. members relay what they want to area reps, area reps discuss amongst themselves and then pass on the info to the committee who makes the final descision for bigger events, possibly bring in poll threads with simple options that comments cant be added, or is that already used?.
imo area reps should be the ones that bring the locals together and organise the convoys working in with other reps on larger events.
i haven't stepped up for any roles in the past for the above reasons, i haven't attended many events lately but i am on the boards daily so if i can help out in any way on that side of things, i will
Yes i met miller for the first time this weekend. A nice chap! Id rather attend than post anyways...
X2
i doubt it will ever be like the 'good ole days' - purely due to amount of r5's on the road. - reorganise and galvanise is more likely to succeed.just another thought, newbie's take the club for what it is, they dont know any different. it seems to be the longer serving members that notice the change so maybe it should be them that offers to help get the club back to the 'good ole days'?
But has anything changed since Steve's thread? Has there been a shake up? Is one needed? There were some great ideas mentioned in that thread, but nothing ever materialised from them, so either all is good, or the 'can't be arsed' attitude was also evident back then.
Anyway, as I keep repeatedly saying, this thread is about club/Committee morale.
I don't think a shake up is needed but we need people to fill some roles for sure......
I'm new to the club too, so far i've been made to feel very welcome even though I was the mechanic for PCS and many members don't like Mike Wilson for what ever reasons. I was expecting to be tarred by the same brush as Mike and I was abit worried about joining up to be honest but i've been treated fairly, thanks
I have put my name down for a few local events, the meet for the young lad who is seriously ill, the RR day at EFi and the curry night to get to know people. I already know one person from the club in person who is a sound guy (Al Gresty, met in person) and I have messaged and had messages from others in my area to meet up locally and had a very good response which has made me feel alot more welcome in the club
I believe this is the secret to any sucessfull organisation, if members can make good contacts in their local area you are more likely to get a bigger turn out to events, people are going to want to come as a group then it's alot easier to talk to others when they are there. (been there done it)
I now have my own workshop in the Poynton area just outside Stockport, I would welcome any member/new member to come and visit anytime to see whats going on with my 5 or 19 etc.. And if any committee members would like to point members/newbies in my area my way to get introduced they'd be more than welcome.
As with any club and organisation people will have their differences and as already mentioned fuel prices, children, work etc... plays a major part in people getting to meets these days but because they don't turn up this doesn't mean they don't care about the club it's just their circumstaces don't allow it sometimes.
I know not everyone is like myself, I'm just a really easy going person who like to meet others and have a bit of car chat.
with regards to the club shop it has been fantastic that parts like the dial overlays have been able to be reproduced and hats off to those who have got it this far but....
whilst i know its nice to have a not for proffit approach to keep prices down i recon it would be a lot more useful to people if it were run for a reasonable profit by someone like mike who could offer a lot more service and repair parts, and also used/refurbished parts, it would help him to sell his wares and help keep the club active as people would want to be part of it for the shop facility
maybe allow non members to purchase items but at a slightly higher price and put that money back into the clubs coffers
thoughts
Im a new member and recently went to ND to track the 5 with a mate and we camped also. TBH we didnt talk to anyone until the saturday afternoon when i blew the head and spun out with the fire afterwards.................... i had the best part of 50 people stick there condersending noses into my engine bay having a chuckle/telling me ive got it all wrong etc etc etc. Out of the 50 odd people that came and had a laugh at us, 4 people introduced theirselves and offered tips or a hand or tools to help me complete all the repairs. Pretty dire id say as far as community spirit goes. The event was good and was run pretty well from what we could tell with the RR being a nice touch.
But as far as im concerned it might have well have been a "normal RWYB trackday" but if a few more of the snotty herberts that looked down their noses at my motor when we got towed back to the pits had decided to help it would have felt more like a "renault turbo festival"
As for me im a complete extovert so introducing myself wasnt a problem, and we got about quite a bit so personailitys were not a problem.
Some random hungarian guy came up to me and gave me a t25 to give to blunty when i got home and i ended up having a 1 hour chat with the guy and had a right royal piss up with megabytes and the french lads, wish the same could be said with my fellow countrymen!!!
The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.
not a moan or a bitch just a few observations during my experience regarding being a RTOC newbie on my first meet
Rsturboron, GT matt, megabytes and the dutch guy were the saints and their help was much appreciated.
as with any club and organisation people will have their differences and as already mentioned fuel prices, children, work etc... plays a major part in people getting to meets these days but because they don't turn up this doesn't mean they don't care about the club it's just their circumstaces don't allow it sometimes.
I know not everyone is like myself, I'm just a really easy going person who like to meet others and have a bit of car chat.[/quote]
amen to that....
amen to that....
prase the lord .. even if it's just jesus in the seat
well said
with regards to the club shop it has been fantastic that parts like the dial overlays have been able to be reproduced and hats off to those who have got it this far but....
whilst i know its nice to have a not for proffit approach to keep prices down i recon it would be a lot more useful to people if it were run for a reasonable profit by someone like mike who could offer a lot more service and repair parts, and also used/refurbished parts, it would help him to sell his wares and help keep the club active as people would want to be part of it for the shop facility
maybe allow non members to purchase items but at a slightly higher price and put that money back into the clubs coffers
thoughts
This man, speaks a very good line..
I hear you bud I came with two really nice guys with 5s to pod and I really tried and have been trying to get new members and they just don't want to know for this exact reason an the new members we have don't even wish to comment on posts because of worries being shot down by the other members.. As I said on the day to all the great guys I met feel free to pm me I will gladly help anytime.. Were all in the same boat so let's all keep it afloat.. Just mop..Im a new member and recently went to ND to track the 5 with a mate and we camped also. TBH we didnt talk to anyone until the saturday afternoon when i blew the head and spun out with the fire afterwards.................... i had the best part of 50 people stick there condersending noses into my engine bay having a chuckle/telling me ive got it all wrong etc etc etc. Out of the 50 odd people that came and had a laugh at us, 4 people introduced theirselves and offered tips or a hand or tools to help me complete all the repairs. Pretty dire id say as far as community spirit goes. The event was good and was run pretty well from what we could tell with the RR being a nice touch.
But as far as im concerned it might have well have been a "normal RWYB trackday" but if a few more of the snotty herberts that looked down their noses at my motor when we got towed back to the pits had decided to help it would have felt more like a "renault turbo festival"
As for me im a complete extovert so introducing myself wasnt a problem, and we got about quite a bit so personailitys were not a problem.
Some random hungarian guy came up to me and gave me a t25 to give to blunty when i got home and i ended up having a 1 hour chat with the guy and had a right royal piss up with megabytes and the french lads, wish the same could be said with my fellow countrymen!!!
The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.
not a moan or a bitch just a few observations during my experience regarding being a RTOC newbie on my first meet
Rsturboron, GT matt, megabytes and the dutch guy were the saints and their help was much appreciated.
Your not alone mate.Im a new member and recently went to ND to track the 5 with a mate and we camped also. TBH we didnt talk to anyone until the saturday afternoon when i blew the head and spun out with the fire afterwards.................... i had the best part of 50 people stick there condersending noses into my engine bay having a chuckle/telling me ive got it all wrong etc etc etc. Out of the 50 odd people that came and had a laugh at us, 4 people introduced theirselves and offered tips or a hand or tools to help me complete all the repairs. Pretty dire id say as far as community spirit goes. The event was good and was run pretty well from what we could tell with the RR being a nice touch.
But as far as im concerned it might have well have been a "normal RWYB trackday" but if a few more of the snotty herberts that looked down their noses at my motor when we got towed back to the pits had decided to help it would have felt more like a "renault turbo festival"
As for me im a complete extovert so introducing myself wasnt a problem, and we got about quite a bit so personailitys were not a problem.
Some random hungarian guy came up to me and gave me a t25 to give to blunty when i got home and i ended up having a 1 hour chat with the guy and had a right royal piss up with megabytes and the french lads, wish the same could be said with my fellow countrymen!!!
The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.
not a moan or a bitch just a few observations during my experience regarding being a RTOC newbie on my first meet
Rsturboron, GT matt, megabytes and the dutch guy were the saints and their help was much appreciated.
Happened to me too. I think you have to break into the groups. Ambush them with questions. Then you are good as gold with them
< waves at Robbo >
Everyone avoids you Andy standing there in your string vest and pink leather hot pant's
You asked for my number big boy. I dont know what you wanted it for ?
As said a lot of the time most people are in big groups, its easy for a little group to come join in with a big group rather than getting a big group to move around the place, even though on previous events we have tried moving around seeing who is out there.
Red October did have a chat with you for a while, im sure I said who I am, apoligise if I didn'tlikewise with everyone else I try and chat to at events, think people recognise me more than I recognise them, but always have a good chat whoever they are. And then get told im too loud as well by some people
Quite. We've gone round this loop a number of times over the years. We've got the opposite of growing pains. Incidentally, I think it's necessary to have these threads periodically as they are part and parcel of that cycle.i doubt it will ever be like the 'good ole days' - purely due to amount of r5's on the road. - reorganise and galvanise is more likely to succeed.
In any case, the lynchpin of this club is the website, if it went down due to lack of maintenance or lack of payment to the hosting company etc then we're fcked. If we lost all other club facilities/committee members (good as they are), it's imperative the website is the last thing to fail. Is there anyone in charge of safe-guarding that?
Last edited by Trevhib; 04-09-2012 at 17:58.
Ian looks after that part doesnt he ? ( and does a good job as well ! )
I would support some money being spent on the Website whilst we have some?
really the best way for newbies to break into the rtoc groups is to turn up to the quieter local events and introduce themselves as when your at a bigger event many people tend to hang around with the people that they know, its not being ignorant or part of clique or anything to do with being in the inner circle.
We really should be looking after the new guys abit better not taking the piss when they lift the bonnet
I think so Andy, and it's a good job for us that's it's been him as he has been constant over many years as others have come and gone (or so it would appear from an outside perspective).
i remember my 1st ND, i hate talking and meeting new people but i walked around with my beers chatting to everyone.. tricky, miller, rach, mart, billy, tom6'6, colin, dan, logg, french guys, lee bowman, babs, etc.. i think i talked to everyone but was pretty smashed in the end.. everyone was sound as a pound, apart from billy, he was a cnut
and still is
Just wanted to add that any committee member past or present who was ever serious about their position has my full respect. It must be a virtually thank-less task.
The door swings both ways though - I walked around the campsite Friday night with the 'olympic torch', meeting & greeting new people, but some of those came across as ignorant sh1ts who couldn't be bothered to hold a conversation, and would've rather I fecked off.
Likewise, I was helping a couple of lads on the Saturday morning with signing on, trying to point out Dawn to them, etc, yet one of them thought it better to start being sarcastic about my help, so I left them to it.
I must be getting soft in my old age, as wind back 10 years or so & I'd have lamped the cocky little sh1t
Anyway, as I say, the door swings both ways - You get out what you put in.
Bang on
Over the next few months I met a few local members, and when they invited me to the pod for a rwyb, I gave it another go. Because I knew a couple of people 'in the loop', I soon I got to meet more members, and before I knew it I was making some great friends
.....everyone was sound as a pound, apart from billy, he was a cnut
and still is
Always was, always will be. Don't like it? Tough titties
I slightly disagree Iv seen lots of thanks but it must be wiped out by the bad comments I just think we all should be a little less defensive at peoples comments as that is all they are just comments i don't pay £25 for a bad vibe and moans I have Facebook for listening to people's moans and groans and that's free.. I joined for like minded men and woman with coman interests were all successful adults and all have goals so let's reach them togeather.. No one in this group should be negative to another members ride just look at the VW crew this weekend they came from all over Europe and enjoyed there weekend.. We are an ever shrinking group and it's getting smaller everyday (mike put up a picture of another smashed 5 today) and I think that's sad as said before Iv tried to get new members and they didn't want to know because of past reputations and it just worries me that if they were to join today and read the past months comments on the pages would they have second thoughts? The guys Iv met so far have been great to meet and the help on hear is second to none and has saved me £££££ can we not just move forward instead of constantly talking about the past it's gone finished over with!! Let's look forward if forwards not away possible for you then surly it's time to call it aday? What's happend to that positive mental attitude guys? Just mop.. Moan all you like to me I have leather skin like that old bird off benidorm
Sorry you had that experience i wish id spotted you, i didnt realise anyone blew up on the day other than the hungary guys waterpump, i helped the gordini guy a tiny bit with his black ts water leak but he was more than capable on his own, and most of friday night i spent helping Big Steve with his fuel tank leak. i didnt see anyone having that sort of trouble i would of offered a hand, we (alex and i) couldnt stay the sat night.Im a new member and recently went to ND to track the 5 with a mate and we camped also. TBH we didnt talk to anyone until the saturday afternoon when i blew the head and spun out with the fire afterwards.................... i had the best part of 50 people stick there condersending noses into my engine bay having a chuckle/telling me ive got it all wrong etc etc etc. Out of the 50 odd people that came and had a laugh at us, 4 people introduced theirselves and offered tips or a hand or tools to help me complete all the repairs. Pretty dire id say as far as community spirit goes. The event was good and was run pretty well from what we could tell with the RR being a nice touch.
But as far as im concerned it might have well have been a "normal RWYB trackday" but if a few more of the snotty herberts that looked down their noses at my motor when we got towed back to the pits had decided to help it would have felt more like a "renault turbo festival"
As for me im a complete extovert so introducing myself wasnt a problem, and we got about quite a bit so personailitys were not a problem.
Some random hungarian guy came up to me and gave me a t25 to give to blunty when i got home and i ended up having a 1 hour chat with the guy and had a right royal piss up with megabytes and the french lads, wish the same could be said with my fellow countrymen!!!
The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.
not a moan or a bitch just a few observations during my experience regarding being a RTOC newbie on my first meet
Rsturboron, GT matt, megabytes and the dutch guy were the saints and their help was much appreciated.
The icing on the cake was on the sunday morning me and my mate were retightening the head bolts when two guys in their thirties came over deep in conversation, LEANED PAST ME and stuck their noses in the bay talking about my turbo the walked off again without ANY form of communication both waring RTOC tshirts!!!!!!!!!!!! i could have knocked them out.
Thirties!!! Couple of young members then!!!!!
i dont believe this is an rtoc thing, i believe its the whole scene, the people who put the most in are now steping down due to other commitments etc and the younger blood just arent bothered. i dont/wont offer as its a massive commitment and i just cant spare the time, fair play to those that doi am a believer in "if your going to critisise atleast make it constructive" but to be honest i dont give a rats ass what people think of my car, i built it for me and i love it. im sure the future of rtoc is safe due to the peoiple that still continue to put the hours in, and i for one applaude you and also say a big THANKYOU to the committe for keeping the club going and help with keeping my c1j running.
I agree and for some time I have been trying to, but no-one will take any!I would support some money being spent on the Website whilst we have some?
I think it's that the people who know what they're doing are on such big money already they don't need more, it's time they're short of. And understanding Scoff's customised work will take some of that and does not interest anyone.
I've been in touch with the programmers of a couple of very big vBulletin websites and they both said the said about the problems they had with upgrading customised older versions of vB.
I have (or had) another programmer with a full working copy of this site, the new version 4 site, and the older backup site *. Alas, he ran out of time to do more, his main job expanded a lot, his wife is pregnant with twins and then his servers glitched. Three months went by..... He's sold his sporty car and bought and estate, a double pram and a shed load of baby gear, now mostly fixed his servers and plans to put ours onto one of it's own that can be left running for developers to poke at with sticks and not have any chance of damaging this live site. At least that's been the plan for the last few months.
It's been like this for the last four years. Hire someone. They make a good start then weeks go by and months and then strong words have to be used. Hire another programmer.....
* (not the even older asp site for which I might have hired the original programmer to de-infect it and make it available to developers for extracting ideas and data.)
Thanks for having some thoughts on this area and making suggestions.
The prices in the club shop as it is are making a profit. Members get a discount from those.
Would Mike want to do the RTOC stuff for free? Even a small fee per order might put some of the prices beyond the interest of members and from non members there'd nothing left to return to the club from the deal.
Mike already has a on-line shop. I don't expect he want to run a part of it for free as a service to RTOC members?
He might do if he could use it to promote some of his own items?
Gotta be in his favour as well as ours.
So perhaps he could operate the RTOC on-line shop as it is. Accept the shop emails, etc, deal with the ticket sales. Sell some of his own items from there with members discount.
There'd be some vested interests that clash with club members vested interests. Eg, the Raceland manifolds we did a that low low price. Sills, the carb kits, various other bits directly vie with Mike and other sellers who make their living from what they can make.
The members prices are at or near cost to us. So that would have to stop? We give new members and additional £5 off shop items.
I very much agree that it would be a good thing to have a professionally run RTOC shop jammed with loads of parts that members need. Might make it very easy for them to find what they want. But if we hire someone with their own shop, already doing all that for their own profit then they'd have to make less profit to sell out stuff for free + some kind of salary.
Who creates the Forums for Cliosport & such like? Can we not just get a new on like that made & fill in the gaps with some copy & paste??
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