TVRCC - Yes or No?

[Andy JB]

I've been a member for 16 or so years & like to think i have a balanced unbiased view on membership.

I do find local club meets a tad cliquey with processional club runs, although i have attended a few to give my support but not so much of late. The best is hearing about fabulous club runs after the event that no one knows about except a few......

National events are normally well organised and enjoyable although infrequent. Millbrook was good this year but could have been much better with limited options eg the mile straight wasn't available because 'the club simply didn't ask for it' which limited the day to the Alpine circuit & high speed bowl - which were great but difficult to fill a day. Catering was painful & lack of side interests such as part suppliers, specialists or even TVR themselves!

I find the magazine of interest and a decent read but could be improved very easily... and yes i have contributed articles in support. The website well...

The club valuation service is a useful addition for insurance purposes. Some discounts are useful such as NEC classic car show entry discount, events at larger race circuits often non-TVR related etc.

So all in all it has value & interest to a minority audience. Perfect No. Use it or lose it - I'd rather keep it & appreciate the folks who give up their time for for the benefit of others to enjoy the marque.

[Tyre Smoke]

Yet from reading your post I feel you wouldn't miss it if it wasn't there.

[Stever]

Tyre Smoke said:

Millbrook that's 237 miles and four hours away from me? Nah, not interested.

Was it a week day or weekend? Week day would have been a non starter with work commitments and I'm not sure I'd spend 8 hours of my weekend to drive around a test track. But, yes i take your point.

I still don't think I'm missing anything. Perhaps I will go along to the next local meet and see what it's about these days.

Don't you like driving your car(s)?

I appreciate Millbrook is some distance from you, it was a weekend event but I could only attend the Saturday and only an hour and a half each way for me but I would have gone further for that it was quite a treat. I have done North Cornwall on my own early Saturday morning and back Sunday (but admittedly only once) the drive was the best bit especially the North Atlantic Highway A39.

As someone else said Millbrook wasn't perfect for reasons stated but maybe with some constructive comment it can be improved upon if they do it again?. It's a small price to pay even if you only get a small amount out of it, I'm very appreciative of the effort people put in but it clearly doesn't work for everyone. What else are you going to do with your spare time?

[David Beer]

Um Read this and thought most clubs seem to be losing it. TVRCC once told me that my article on how to change a Griff 500 brakes "took work away from advertisers" - I kid you not

They also protect the advertiser, the truth about my problems were blocked from print.
Oh well, the mustang is fab !

[Tyre Smoke]

Stever said:

Tyre Smoke said:

Millbrook that's 237 miles and four hours away from me? Nah, not interested.

Was it a week day or weekend? Week day would have been a non starter with work commitments and I'm not sure I'd spend 8 hours of my weekend to drive around a test track. But, yes i take your point.

I still don't think I'm missing anything. Perhaps I will go along to the next local meet and see what it's about these days.

Don't you like driving your car(s)?

I appreciate Millbrook is some distance from you, it was a weekend event but I could only attend the Saturday and only an hour and a half each way for me but I would have gone further for that it was quite a treat. I have done North Cornwall on my own early Saturday morning and back Sunday (but admittedly only once) the drive was the best bit especially the North Atlantic Highway A39.

As someone else said Millbrook wasn't perfect for reasons stated but maybe with some constructive comment it can be improved upon if they do it again?. It's a small price to pay even if you only get a small amount out of it, I'm very appreciative of the effort people put in but it clearly doesn't work for everyone. What else are you going to do with your spare time?

The problem is, or was, the TVRCC would have viewed Millbrook as a roaring success and given no attention to any constructive criticism. There was always a 'your committee knows best' feel. Seems not much has changed.

[richard sails]

Andy JB said:

I've been a member for 16 or so years & like to think i have a balanced unbiased view on membership.

I do find local club meets a tad cliquey with processional club runs, although i have attended a few to give my support but not so much of late. The best is hearing about fabulous club runs after the event that no one knows about except a few......

National events are normally well organised and enjoyable although infrequent. Millbrook was good this year but could have been much better with limited options eg the mile straight wasn't available because 'the club simply didn't ask for it' which limited the day to the Alpine circuit & high speed bowl - which were great but difficult to fill a day. Catering was painful & lack of side interests such as part suppliers, specialists or even TVR themselves!

I find the magazine of interest and a decent read but could be improved very easily... and yes i have contributed articles in support. The website well...

The club valuation service is a useful addition for insurance purposes. Some discounts are useful such as NEC classic car show entry discount, events at larger race circuits often non-TVR related etc.

So all in all it has value & interest to a minority audience. Perfect No. Use it or lose it - I'd rather keep it & appreciate the folks who give up their time for for the benefit of others to enjoy the marque.

Hi Andy,

I don't know who told you we did not ask for the mile straight but that's not true, we did try and get the mile straight again, however this time it was not available to us to hire,

I was a little disappointed too as I had good fun on it last time, I managed to get my exhaust so hot after several back to back runs that the rubbish 'carpet underlay' type insulation under the tunnel started to smoulder and then began to burn, Luckily I was able to put the fire out with a water extinguisher from the concept one building before it got hold.

The many side attractions we had were not possible due to the covid situation, however there was plenty going on in the hotel on Friday and Saturday evenings and the Bletchley visit on Sunday was a good day out before the long drive home.

If you like your runs a bit quicker there are plenty of us that also like to do that too, I always tell people to try all the nearby regions as they all are quite different and people tend to migrate to the ones that do the stuff they like.

[richard sails]

Tyre Smoke said:

The problem is, or was, the TVRCC would have viewed Millbrook as a roaring success and given no attention to any constructive criticism. There was always a 'your committee knows best' feel. Seems not much has changed.

I don't think that's at all true of the present committee, they are always interested in ideas, suggestions and opinions.

[Tyre Smoke]

So Richard, sounds like you are on, or close to the committee, are there any technical articles in the magazine now? Or is the view "no, we mustn't take work from our advertisers" or another reason I heard, "we don't want to be responsible if our members injure themselves or mess something up"?

Because I really don't want to join a club that each month gives a write up of yet another run to Haynes Motor Museum or Minehead Sea Front or endless adverts and how Bob Smith is rebuilding the servo on his Grantura with Magnum lolly sticks and UHU glue.

[porterpainter]

Tyre Smoke said:

So Richard, sounds like you are on, or close to the committee, are there any technical articles in the magazine now? Or is the view "no, we mustn't take work from our advertisers" or another reason I heard, "we don't want to be responsible if our members injure themselves or mess something up"?

Because I really don't want to join a club that each month gives a write up of yet another run to Haynes Motor Museum or Minehead Sea Front or endless adverts and how Bob Smith is rebuilding the servo on his Grantura with Magnum lolly sticks and UHU glue.

Sprint tells me that Richard is the Chairman of the TVRCC. Thanks Richard for providing some feedback.

[richard sails]

Tyre Smoke said:

So Richard, sounds like you are on, or close to the committee, are there any technical articles in the magazine now? Or is the view "no, we mustn't take work from our advertisers" or another reason I heard, "we don't want to be responsible if our members injure themselves or mess something up"?

Because I really don't want to join a club that each month gives a write up of yet another run to Haynes Motor Museum or Minehead Sea Front or endless adverts and how Bob Smith is rebuilding the servo on his Grantura with Magnum lolly sticks and UHU glue.

There are exactly the same number of technical articles in the magazine as are sent in by the members, there is no policy not to print technical articles it’s just not many are written. The editors are constantly asking for technical articles.

Many times people say “I wrote a really good article about changing my brake pads and the club refused to print it” however when asked to re-submit it they have accidentally deleted it and can no longer find it.

We are able to check and verify any technical content to ensure it’s accuracy, we print what the members write. Last month the magazine had a really interesting article on how to build a 40% Chimaera, whilst technical and interesting admittedly I don’t expect many will go out and build one.

If anyone reading this wants to write up something technical then go ahead, make sure you email it to [e-mail] and [e-mail].

Edited by richard sails on Thursday 25th November 00:03

[DarkMatter]

As an ex-TVRCC member, and currently a PCGB member, I was recently given a copy of Sprint magazine which included a write-up on the Millbrook event this year. I enjoyed reading the magazine particularly because it lacked the corporate/business content of Porsche Post.

[bad company]

I’ve been a member in the past but found it disappointing. The magazine was ok but the local group runs to a pub or something really didn’t appeal.

There were discounts advertised on the club site which weren’t available when I tried to use them.

[Tyre Smoke]

Richard, thank you for taking the time to engage on this thread. Could you, or someone, PM the contact details of the Devon RO so I can perhaps go on their next run out to see if it's changed much?

[TarquinMX5]

Tyre Smoke said:

Richard, thank you for taking the time to engage on this thread. Could you, or someone, PM the contact details of the Devon RO so I can perhaps go on their next run out to see if it's changed much?

You have email (can't find a way to PM).

[Tyre Smoke]

Thanks mate! Seen it. Not replied as instructed!

[TarquinMX5]

[richard sails]

Tyre Smoke said:

Richard, thank you for taking the time to engage on this thread. Could you, or someone, PM the contact details of the Devon RO so I can perhaps go on their next run out to see if it's changed much?

Yes, no problem

All the regional meetings are here;

https://www.tvr-car-club.co.uk/uk-regions.html

I would suggest you check out all the regional meetings within reach, they all have a different style and organise different things.

[Gazzab]

I’ve had another email inviting me to join the Racetech Direct TVR owners club. £150 pa with a 10% discount for parts, priority access to offers and unlimited access to their technical support.

[LucyP]

That doesn't seem like much of an offer, unless you buy a lot of parts that you can't get anywhere else.

They claim to have Autoglym soft top clean and protect on offer for £16.35 plus vat, plus delivery. Amazon have it for £14.81 including vat, and delivery, if you have Prime, which most people do.

[Gazzab]

LucyP said:

That doesn't seem like much of an offer, unless you buy a lot of parts that you can't get anywhere else.

They claim to have Autoglym soft top clean and protect on offer for £16.35 plus vat, plus delivery. Amazon have it for £14.81 including vat, and delivery, if you have Prime, which most people do.

Yep I don’t think it’s a great deal. I suspect that a lot of the parts are items like Ford Granada CV joints or whatever that are available via local motor factors for less money. I am not sure why it’s called a club. It’s not.