Ultima Owners Club UK
Ultima Owners Club UK
Author
Discussion

steve.sammut

Original Poster:

36 posts

253 months

Tuesday 18th October 2005
quotequote all
Its about time we got the UK club going again.

After Donnington I was impressed with the owners enthusiasm for these incredable machines even though we didnt have an offical parking space!

I am prepared to give a hand with the southern end of the specrum but would need a bit of WEB mastery from others to get this ball rolling. Is anyone else up for this. I also am quite good with accounting and company set ups and am willing to advise on this side!

Cheers guys
regards
Steve

timsta

2,779 posts

275 months

Tuesday 18th October 2005
quotequote all
I'd be keen.

Last time I joined the club went all quiet. Never did get anything for my fee.

Was it something I said that caused you guy to disappear?

edfoxuk

203 posts

259 months

Tuesday 18th October 2005
quotequote all
i'd be on for the midlands side of things.

we need a web site, anyone suitably qualified?

eddie

Ash Bash

1 posts

251 months

Tuesday 18th October 2005
quotequote all
Out of interest how many Ultima owners are there in the UK? What size club are we talking about? I don't own one myself but i will. Ive been on this forum as a non member for at least a year and its great reading through all the different posts. I would suggest someone snaps up the domain name www.ultimaclub.co.uk or .org soon. They are available from www.easily.co.uk

mclark

582 posts

265 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
But can't we get the site off the original guy, he had ultimaclub.com.

I can get someone with web skills if needed.

Come on it's about time, what about help from the factory?

Michael

pb3

1,064 posts

275 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
I would be interested in the East Anglian side of things, and I am sure Tuxman and GTR-Gaz would be very interested too (guys shoot me if I am wrong).

I guess the only thing is that PistonHeads is now really the main port of call (and I am addicted to it, there I said it). But I agree we need a lot more organisation as Donington only goes to show with the complete parking mess. Although I would think that had the factory had the usual spot we would have been a lot better off!

Anyway I will be interested in seeing how we go from here. I also was disappointed with the return on my club membership fee for which I cancelled the direct debit only to find I was too late for this year; what have we been paying for?

Graham-P

1,548 posts

275 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
I had an email from the Ultima club about a year ago stating that there were a few changes to be made and that they would get intouch with me when it was all sorted, but todate I've heard nothing. I think the website is updated periodically.
I think the biggest let down, when it comes to parking as a 'club', is Stoneleigh, a big show, and where do we park??? in some poxy little car park!! No wonder only three or four turn up!
(another little rant over)

Graham.

Crazy of Cookham

740 posts

284 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
Would be pleased to see it again, unfortunately do not have the skills for website. It would be nice to have somewhere to host events, technical details, Le Mans visits etc.

gtr-gaz

5,281 posts

275 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
I think you will be lucky to get a response from the the factory on this!

Even the owners club link on their website is now invalid (and Stigs build diary links are no longer there btw )

My computer skills amounts to doodle squat, so would be unable to help on that front, but I would certainly support a club by turning up to as many events as I could.

Something along the lines of www.phea.co.uk would be ideal.

Gary


GTRMikie

874 posts

277 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
I think it was Pistonheads that killed off the old club. Owners preferred to air views and make contact on this forum rather than through club meetings or articles in Ultimatum, the club newsletter. People used to complain about the club here but did nothing to help organise things and it slowly died.
Are we talking about a "genuine" club here, with subscriptions, AGMs, regalia etc. or just informal get togethers, pub meets, run outs etc.? The latter has the most chance of being successful. All it needs is for someone to post "lets meet up at such and such a place (with a large flat car park!) at such and such a time on such and such a day" Even if it's pi**ing down with rain you can still turn up in the everyday motor, as long as there's a pub attached to the car park! I'm prepared to do this for the South East.

mhussa

93 posts

272 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
From what I remember you had to be a "paid up" member of the club to login to the website. The PH forum allows anyone to participate (including dreamers like myself).

Setting up a website is not a problem (I've tinkered with XaraX, Fireworks and Dreamweaver to build websites) getting someone with enough enthuthiasm to see it through busy/slow periods thats what would make or break it.

The K-1 attack has a good example of an independent forum.

www.attackforums.com

tuxman

9,011 posts

267 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
the truth is we pretty much have a club here on pistonheads don,t we ? have to admit it would be nice to get better parking at events and have days organised were we could all get together a ultima track day would be a great event ,noble manage it with great success ,i would be happy to support any club events but having tried to organise a couple of events i now how difficult it is to get people to attend .simon

>> Edited by tuxman on Wednesday 19th October 19:14

edfoxuk

203 posts

259 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
ANY COMMENT FACTORY?

ditto

614 posts

269 months

Wednesday 19th October 2005
quotequote all
yep im up for this and will also help out in the south if i can.
I also paid money into the last club and got nothing in return, i wonder where all the money went?
Keith

eliot

11,995 posts

283 months

Thursday 20th October 2005
quotequote all
Running clubs is a thankless task. Lots of effort from a few rewarded with indifference from many. The guy who runs the Dakar club (and hence why we had a spot a donnington) really works hard to keep it going.

cliveg

199 posts

273 months

Thursday 20th October 2005
quotequote all
gtr-gaz said:
Even the owners club link on their website is now invalid (and Stigs build diary links are no longer there btw )


The site is still there, but much cut down. www.ultimaclub.com/. A few people in the north west meet up from time to time, but I'm with Tuxman, GTRMikie, Eliot et al - running a club can be hard work, particularly if you try to organise frequent regular meets. PH works well as a discussion forum and because the forums are free (thanks Ted) its much easier for people who are just thinking of buying an ultima to get involved. Its probably also the easiest way to organise informal occasional meetings as GTRMikie suggests.

>> Edited by cliveg on Thursday 20th October 09:20

gtr-gaz

5,281 posts

275 months

Thursday 20th October 2005
quotequote all
Thanks to the factory for putting me in the picture and good news about the parking arrangements for next years shows!

I suppose we have to ask ourselves what benefits a club would give over this forum?

I have been out to some event/show etc most weekends this year. All through the Ultima and East Anglia forum, so could not have done more.
6,000 miles in one year is not bad going for an Ultima

Gary

stig

11,823 posts

313 months

Thursday 20th October 2005
quotequote all
Well, seems that Pistonheads has become the new 'home' for the Club. No bad thing really and I'm really happy about the activity we have on here these days (just check our posting rate against the other so-called 'marques').

I'm happy to setup and build a new 'PH Ultima Club' website (not just UK centric either), but would really like feedback from you lot about what you want to see on it (and whether you want me too or not of course)? This will help the structure (which is v.important in the planning phase).

So, if you want me to do it, I will. But am more than happy for anyone else to take it on if they wish?

Anyway, let me know how you feel about it?

usagtrman

263 posts

289 months

Thursday 20th October 2005
quotequote all
From my point of view I agree with most of what's been said. I too was a member of the club and was dissapointed by its demise. Although being from the USA I was not able to attend any of the events but I looked forward to my copy of the the Ultimatum to see what you were all up to. I can certainly see why the club declined though...it must be very hard to get material for the newsletter and organizing outings and events is a lot of work. I know that setting up our little USA Ultima Club Gathering is actually a fairly big job for me. Mark K has graciously donated his time and server space to host our USA Club site and although we do have a forum.....we certainly all visit and post on PH a lot more. We don't have enough cars on the road for many regional meets but we do try to get together with each other when we can. I for one have made numerous friends from our yearly meeting and enjoy putting faces with the names. I think Stigs offer is quite generous and I for one would support the effort. I like the factorys' attitude twords the clubs....participate and comment as an equal member. If this new club is open to owners and enthusiast from the USA......count me in.

Brad Z

mhussa

93 posts

272 months

Thursday 20th October 2005
quotequote all
To remove this dependancy on individuals having to do everything I'd like to suggest extending the concept of "posting" to different areas.

For example you could have a Builders Tips section where anyone can post a pearl of wisdom they discover while building their car(s) (and there are loads on this forum but have to be searched).

Someone like yourself can administrate it to ensure duplicates aren't posted. The idea could also be extended to:

- Meetings (anyone can setup a quick meet themselves if they're in the mood)
- Group purchasing
- Build site links
- Members gallery with pics, or call it the Readers Drives section(ahem), or "Mines bigger than yours" section.
- Tried'n'tested suppliers (maybe add a rating system to ensure its fair).

Making this type of functionality interactive would be excellent because its handled by individual members and decentralises the burden of responsibility from a single individual (starting to sound like a politician).

If there's anyone here with the history and the know-how to do it tis you stig.

oh and not forgetting a link to this well attended and civilised forum.