Ultima Owners Club
Discussion
highflyer said:
Hi Pet
PS not everybody want's to rag the arse off their pride and joy at a track day meeting.
No offence Russ, but that is a stupid comment. No one has to rag the arse off their car on track, that's not the purpose is it? It's a place to see what the car can do, if you want to, at a pace that suits you. If you want to "rag the arse off it" I guess you could, but I've not been on a track day where owners of decent cars do that.PS not everybody want's to rag the arse off their pride and joy at a track day meeting.
Edited by highflyer on Saturday 9th May 17:17
Even if youdont want to take it on track, it's still an opportunity to meet and tyre kick if that's more your bag.
You simply cannot explore the performance of an Ultima fully and safely on the road, so I'd personally far rather do that on track.
My 2 pence for what its worth…
I do remember ‘Ultimatum’ (sp?) from when I was first looking at Ultima’s and certainly saw value in the content. However, I don’t think a ‘traditional’ owner’s format (with AGM’s etc etc) is not going to suit the Ultima community.
Pistonheads clearly offers a format that a lot of people are comfortable with and accessible from all parts of the world which is increasingly important. Fair play to them, it performs its function well enough, although its lost a lot since Teds day in my opinion.
However, other than providing a forum it doesn't do much else for us. Increasingly I only come to this forum, with rare visits to one or two other, I don’t really find a lot else that interesting.
On top of that I beginning to find he advertising especially annoying. Recently I have noticed inline adverts starting play video with sound and that has resulted in me turning adblock plus back on (which is in itself a PITA). I understand the reasons for advertising, cost have to be covered etc. .
I think it’s time that we had our own website, something that we as a community owned and controlled. Where we could control the feature and functions (like a forum search that actually worked…) A place where we can contribute tech articles (for instance how to measure bump steer), build progress blogs (all in one place rather than scattered across the web) and a gallery that allowed us to post pictures in a sensible format (where has the pictures thread gone?)
I understand Facebook (and other such) have their uses. I personally will have no truck with Facebook and again, we as a community would not own the content nor have any real decision on how its presented or used.
Yes it will cost money and time, no doubt. But we all spend huge amounts of time and lots of money on ours cars, I submit that some form of subscription would be we a small price to pay for a resource that I think could be save us (and prospective builders) a lot of both…
I do remember ‘Ultimatum’ (sp?) from when I was first looking at Ultima’s and certainly saw value in the content. However, I don’t think a ‘traditional’ owner’s format (with AGM’s etc etc) is not going to suit the Ultima community.
Pistonheads clearly offers a format that a lot of people are comfortable with and accessible from all parts of the world which is increasingly important. Fair play to them, it performs its function well enough, although its lost a lot since Teds day in my opinion.
However, other than providing a forum it doesn't do much else for us. Increasingly I only come to this forum, with rare visits to one or two other, I don’t really find a lot else that interesting.
On top of that I beginning to find he advertising especially annoying. Recently I have noticed inline adverts starting play video with sound and that has resulted in me turning adblock plus back on (which is in itself a PITA). I understand the reasons for advertising, cost have to be covered etc. .
I think it’s time that we had our own website, something that we as a community owned and controlled. Where we could control the feature and functions (like a forum search that actually worked…) A place where we can contribute tech articles (for instance how to measure bump steer), build progress blogs (all in one place rather than scattered across the web) and a gallery that allowed us to post pictures in a sensible format (where has the pictures thread gone?)
I understand Facebook (and other such) have their uses. I personally will have no truck with Facebook and again, we as a community would not own the content nor have any real decision on how its presented or used.
Yes it will cost money and time, no doubt. But we all spend huge amounts of time and lots of money on ours cars, I submit that some form of subscription would be we a small price to pay for a resource that I think could be save us (and prospective builders) a lot of both…
I'd be happy to pay a small annual subscription to either a club or a dedicated website, if someone is willing to organise it.
PistonHeads Forum is very limited and is exactly what it is - nothing more than a forum, which is also predominantly geared towards just solely building/maintaining. As mentioned in previous posts, not all owners use PH, or on a regular basis and I for one, only browse every now and then.
A club, or an Ultima owners website that is controlled by 'Ultima' owners would at least gel more owners together by bringing in much more of a social aspect. Regional owners could get together with a quarterly meet somewhere, or trips to shows/events. It would be nice to have more of a reason to get out in the car more often and meet up with other like-minded owners and see their cars too.
PistonHeads Forum is very limited and is exactly what it is - nothing more than a forum, which is also predominantly geared towards just solely building/maintaining. As mentioned in previous posts, not all owners use PH, or on a regular basis and I for one, only browse every now and then.
A club, or an Ultima owners website that is controlled by 'Ultima' owners would at least gel more owners together by bringing in much more of a social aspect. Regional owners could get together with a quarterly meet somewhere, or trips to shows/events. It would be nice to have more of a reason to get out in the car more often and meet up with other like-minded owners and see their cars too.
I've read this topic with some interest as I have in the past been a Director and Chairman of a local Car Club, having been responsible for the running of the Club and MSA motor sport events. The Club was finally wound up back in 2002 due to a distinct lack of interest - bearing in mind this was a local Car Club (and one of the oldest in the country), running local events for members with all makes of cars? Running any form of Car Club and/or events takes a whole lot of time and effort. Even today, most Car Clubs will totally depend on a very small number of 'very' dedicated hard working enthusiasts to give up their free time and effort for the benefit of their members. Often without any thanks!
I've also organised and run my own track days at Goodwood for many years. Even though these were run out of season (so not much use for Ultima owners) it was often very difficult to secure just 20 clients twice a year?
IMHO, Ultima owners are spread far and wide (even world wide these days), have very different interests and use their Ultima's in different ways. Some prefer to go on tours, or attend shows, whilst others (a few at least - including me) are more than happy to get on track in their pride and joy, provided we can pass the noise test?
I would suggest that to try setting up a Club to suit the majority of Ultima owners would be nigh impossible - as has already been tried. Of course we have this PH forum and whilst this may not be used by everybody, it is free and can be very informative. I've also just clicked on the link to join the Ultima Owners Group on Facebook (thanks Ult-Jim), but I have to confess that I hate Facebook - so I'm not sure if this will be of any use at all to me.
However, I for one and I sense many others on here would welcome the opportunity to receive a monthly email circular on all things Ultima, builders hints, tips, tricks, modifications, reminders on events around the country/world, where Ultima's and their owners will be in attendance, including local meets etc. More of an Ultima Community, rather than a Club. But this would still take time and effort for someone to put together and manage and based on my past personal experience, I would not wish that on anyone!
Perhaps in light of the Factory's new take on the Factory Open Day (a good idea), Ted and the team could set up an opt-in owners monthly email circular to cover the latest updates, news and upcoming events and see how this develops? Just a thought.
I've also organised and run my own track days at Goodwood for many years. Even though these were run out of season (so not much use for Ultima owners) it was often very difficult to secure just 20 clients twice a year?
IMHO, Ultima owners are spread far and wide (even world wide these days), have very different interests and use their Ultima's in different ways. Some prefer to go on tours, or attend shows, whilst others (a few at least - including me) are more than happy to get on track in their pride and joy, provided we can pass the noise test?
I would suggest that to try setting up a Club to suit the majority of Ultima owners would be nigh impossible - as has already been tried. Of course we have this PH forum and whilst this may not be used by everybody, it is free and can be very informative. I've also just clicked on the link to join the Ultima Owners Group on Facebook (thanks Ult-Jim), but I have to confess that I hate Facebook - so I'm not sure if this will be of any use at all to me.
However, I for one and I sense many others on here would welcome the opportunity to receive a monthly email circular on all things Ultima, builders hints, tips, tricks, modifications, reminders on events around the country/world, where Ultima's and their owners will be in attendance, including local meets etc. More of an Ultima Community, rather than a Club. But this would still take time and effort for someone to put together and manage and based on my past personal experience, I would not wish that on anyone!
Perhaps in light of the Factory's new take on the Factory Open Day (a good idea), Ted and the team could set up an opt-in owners monthly email circular to cover the latest updates, news and upcoming events and see how this develops? Just a thought.
While fellowship and building/maintenance aid are international, club activities are necessarily regional. I'd love to see a US-based Ultima club, particularly one with organized events in different areas of the country. I don't know that the number of registered cars would support that sort of setup, but it would be great to have.
If club organization and/or website work is necessary on this side of the pond, I'd be glad to help out as needed. For now, though, I was very pleased to find the Facebook page the other day.
Ken
If club organization and/or website work is necessary on this side of the pond, I'd be glad to help out as needed. For now, though, I was very pleased to find the Facebook page the other day.
Ken
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