Car DRIVING clubs

[TeaVR]

Anyone know of any driving clubs, focused on.... going for a drive (not meeting in car parks and opening bonnets)?

The sort of club where you'd go for a day's driving through Wales together.

I'm sick of trying to organise events myself.

[bumskins]

I entertained looking for such a thing a year or two back, however after a couple of months only found the sort of thing you mention.

Even groups named "XYZ Drivers Club" are amazingly cringe-inducing affairs that appear to only ever drive to car parks, badly-park their freshly 'detailed' cars and then snap a load of over-filtered photos for Instagram. Gave up in the end, at least you know what you alone will do when driving your car, don't have to worry about any over-zealous idiots attracting unwanted attention when doing potentially naughty speeds.

[Riley Blue]

TeaVR said:

Anyone know of any driving clubs, focused on.... going for a drive (not meeting in car parks and opening bonnets)?

The sort of club where you'd go for a day's driving through Wales together.

I'm sick of trying to organise events myself.

Motor clubs all over the country do this, often for older vehicles though more recent cars do take part. Each probably organises only one or two such events a year so you'd have to do a bit of work to find all the dates/venues. Search their calendars for 'scenic tours' or 'touring assemblies' which are navigational events of around 90-120 miles.

Here's my local association of car clubs, others cover the rest of the country:

https://www.emamc.org.uk

[TeaVR]

bumskins said:

I entertained looking for such a thing a year or two back, however after a couple of months only found the sort of thing you mention.

Even groups named "XYZ Drivers Club" are amazingly cringe-inducing affairs that appear to only ever drive to car parks, badly-park their freshly 'detailed' cars and then snap a load of over-filtered photos for Instagram. Gave up in the end, at least you know what you alone will do when driving your car, don't have to worry about any over-zealous idiots attracting unwanted attention when doing potentially naughty speeds.

This is exactly what I found.

I respect each to their own rule, but I'm amazed that there isn't more interest in a club which does something like "Every Sunday morning, meet at XYZ, and off we go for a drive".

I've organised so many such driving events with friends, but it always get complex as people have family commitments etc. However, if the pool of people was large enough, there could be a drive out every weekend for those that could attend.

[TeaVR]

Riley Blue said:

Motor clubs all over the country do this, often for older vehicles though more recent cars do take part. Each probably organises only one or two such events a year so you'd have to do a bit of work to find all the dates/venues. Search their calendars for 'scenic tours' or 'touring assemblies' which are navigational events of around 90-120 miles.

Here's my local association of car clubs, others cover the rest of the country:

https://www.emamc.org.uk

Yes, I agree, many driving events seem to be focused towards older classic cars. Maybe people with modern cars are not interested in finding good roads and touring the country? Surely that can't be the case?

Thanks for the link. I'll have a look.

[LG9k]

I've been organising monthly drives with the S2000 owners for about 18 years now.

Up early on a Sunday morning (start at 6.30am so you've at least got the chance of some clear roads), 65 miles or so drive to a cafe for breakfast.

We do a 180 miler once a year around the solstice, starting at sunrise.

I'm sure other clubs do similar things, or maybe they don't?

The biggest problem these days is if something goes wrong/people drive like dheads - the organiser can end up responsible.
Good organisation is required - use sat nav routing, make sure people understand how to behave etc etc.

[GeniusOfLove]

I have discovered that unfortunately, as PH itself shows, being "into cars" is 90% for complete tossers and/or weirdos. When I was dating I didn't tell anyone about my interest because it's seen as ever so slightly worse than turning up in a Jimmy Saville T-Shirt and a NAMBLA baseball cap, because everyone knows that people who are into cars are mostly massive tts.

If you just like driving rather than mincing around and being a peacocking bellend then it's largely a solo affair, although if you're lucky you can find a few friends who are actually into cars and driving rather than brands and marketing, and go on trips.

The previous posters S2000 club sounds good, but I think things like that are rocking horse poo.

[Riley Blue]

TeaVR said:

Riley Blue said:

Motor clubs all over the country do this, often for older vehicles though more recent cars do take part. Each probably organises only one or two such events a year so you'd have to do a bit of work to find all the dates/venues. Search their calendars for 'scenic tours' or 'touring assemblies' which are navigational events of around 90-120 miles.

Here's my local association of car clubs, others cover the rest of the country:

https://www.emamc.org.uk

Yes, I agree, many driving events seem to be focused towards older classic cars. Maybe people with modern cars are not interested in finding good roads and touring the country? Surely that can't be the case?

Thanks for the link. I'll have a look.

I see you're in the SW so: https://www.aswmc.org.uk

I'm on an event on Sunday in my '63 Riley but cars range from a 1938 Austin to a 2022 Kia Nero (whatever that is) and 14 of the entry are post-2000. Navigation is using tulip diagrams so you need a navigator and 'fast driving' is discouraged so they may not be your 'thing'.

[TeaVR]

LG9k said:

I've been organising monthly drives with the S2000 owners for about 18 years now.

Up early on a Sunday morning (start at 6.30am so you've at least got the chance of some clear roads), 65 miles or so drive to a cafe for breakfast.

We do a 180 miler once a year around the solstice, starting at sunrise.

I'm sure other clubs do similar things, or maybe they don't?

The biggest problem these days is if something goes wrong/people drive like dheads - the organiser can end up responsible.
Good organisation is required - use sat nav routing, make sure people understand how to behave etc etc.

Good on you! Makes me want to buy an S2000! It's almost worth buying a specific brand just to meet like minded people.

It's a shame that such driving events are so focused around brands

[J4CKO]

Track day ?

Cant think of anything worse than driving in convoy with a load of other Fiesta ST owners on the road, one on its own is bad enough, thirty of the fkers popping and farting along with loads of stickers in the window is too tragic for me.

Its like cycling, I go on my own, cycling in a group I find a bit annoying.

Maybe I am just a bit of a loner ?

[Earthdweller]

The z4 forum has quite a lot of runs posted and some are whole weekend/multi day events which are a mix of socialising and driving

I’ve done a fair few and it’s included the Scottish isles and Nc500 as well as lots around Northern England/Scottish Borders

And they aren’t daft/idiot driver’s but people who whilst happy to make progress drive sensibly/responsibly

Equally there are “breakfast meet” events listed where you can stand and admire everyone’s cars

Most of it does seem to be northern/Scottish based though with little happening in the south/south east

[Truckosaurus]

I think whenever anyone sets up a semi-organised regular drive out (there used to be several PH based ones) as soon as it get popular it goes 'offline' to avoid attracting undesirable types.

Also, one person's 'mild hooning' is another's Anti-Social-Behaviour.

There seem to be plenty of road trip tours around, but seemingly many have a barrier to entry in having to have an exotic enough motorcar to be allowed in.

[TeaVR]

Earthdweller said:

The z4 forum has quite a lot of runs posted and some are whole weekend/multi day events which are a mix of socialising and driving

I’ve done a fair few and it’s included the Scottish isles and Nc500 as well as lots around Northern England/Scottish Borders

And they aren’t daft/idiot driver’s but people who whilst happy to make progress drive sensibly/responsibly

Equally there are “breakfast meet” events listed where you can stand and admire everyone’s cars

Most of it does seem to be northern/Scottish based though with little happening in the south/south east

Busy looking on Autotrader for used Zeee4
Busy looking on Rightmove for house in Scotland

[TeaVR]

Truckosaurus said:

I think whenever anyone sets up a semi-organised regular drive out (there used to be several PH based ones) as soon as it get popular it goes 'offline' to avoid attracting undesirable types.

Also, one person's 'mild hooning' is another's Anti-Social-Behaviour.

There seem to be plenty of road trip tours around, but seemingly many have a barrier to entry in having to have an exotic enough motorcar to be allowed in.

All good points.

The only road trip tours I know off are 'pay to attend' types. I'm doing the Alps next year as a paid event. I don't mind paying as I know there's a tonne of organisation, but what it would be nice to find groups where it was more informal and more frequent

[fozzymandeus]

If you’re not fussy about make or model of cars you want to drive along with, may I suggest a huge car club that gathers every day between about 0730 and 0930 on the M4 near Bristol? Thousands of cars all in close convoy. Just what you’re after.

Seriously though, I’m confused why you’d want to go to a car meet where you drive all the time; surely the point is to meet people with a car interest, hence all the pub car park destinations. Driving somewhere then driving home, you might as well just find a random busy road.

[threespires]

Many car clubs run scenic tours often under the banner of the HRCR.

This event is on 25 June around Lichfield and Cannock Chase. I don't think one needs to be a car club member to enter

https://lichfield41club.co.uk/cannock-chase-classi...

[TeaVR]

fozzymandeus said:

If you’re not fussy about make or model of cars you want to drive along with, may I suggest a huge car club that gathers every day between about 0730 and 0930 on the M4 near Bristol? Thousands of cars all in close convoy. Just what you’re after.

Seriously though, I’m confused why you’d want to go to a car meet where you drive all the time; surely the point is to meet people with a car interest, hence all the pub car park destinations. Driving somewhere then driving home, you might as well just find a random busy road.

It's not about driving all the time. It's about driving routes, enjoying the roads, stopping for a coffee, chatting and making friends.

I enjoy driving - I don't dislike looking at other cars in carparks, but driving great roads with company has much more appeal. Surely, that's what Clarkson, Hammond and May did back in the day and that was very popular.

[CraigyMc]

I used to do Lotus runs with SELOC a good few years ago, but stopped doing them when I saw some absolute tttery starting to happen regularly on them.

One particular instance sticks in my mind. It was as much the driver's reaction as the actual car driving.

I was behind a hard-driven elise on a country road. It turned off the road at a fork (a right turn, so cutting across the carriageway) at about 90mph -- this with oncoming traffic doing an emergency stop to avoid a big nose to nose incident.

I asked the elise driver about it when we'd stopped at the destination and he gave a sort of "IDGAF" shrug and mumbled about not being that close to crashing.

That sort of reaction / that sort of person -- I don't want to be on the road with them, never mind being in a convoy.

It's not that I drive slow. It's that I don't take mental risks and others do.

The old trope of "everyone driving faster than me is a maniac and everyone driving slower than me is a moron" applies.

I'd rather be on a road without traffic at all than be in convoy.

[Riley Blue]

fozzymandeus said:

Seriously though, I’m confused why you’d want to go to a car meet where you drive all the time; surely the point is to meet people with a car interest, hence all the pub car park destinations. Driving somewhere then driving home, you might as well just find a random busy road.

You can do both e.g. on a scenic run we meet for the start then drive maybe 30-40 miles to a morning coffee stop for a half-hour break before heading for an hour's lunch halt adding another 30-40 miles. Afternoon tea is perhaps 30 miles further and the finish maybe 20-30 miles further still. All the locations are somewhere of interest e.g. a country house, museum, steam railway and there's often refreshments at the start, finish and coffee/tea stops.

[TeaVR]

Riley Blue said:

You can do both e.g. on a scenic run we meet for the start then drive maybe 30-40 miles to a morning coffee stop for a half-hour break before heading for an hour's lunch halt adding another 30-40 miles. Afternoon tea is perhaps 30 miles further and the finish maybe 20-30 miles further still. All the locations are somewhere of interest e.g. a country house, museum, steam railway and there's often refreshments at the start, finish and coffee/tea stops.

Exactly this 👍