Club Arnage

I can see the headlines now

"Sad day as Club Arnage closes its doors."

A spokesman was unable to confirm rumours that (insert appointed name here) accidentally spent all of the funds at the poo bar! Although one onlooker at the saturday night festivities did comment "The CAers did seem to be in higher spirits than usual, in fact, most of them were actually drinking champagne this year instead of the usual cheap crap!!!!!!!!"


< Note - This is a new topic formed from earlier threads split out and moved from the original 'Fundraising Commitee' thread - Steve >

 ;D From the drinking exploits I've witnessed…….I think AA representation might not be a bad idea for some CA members.

Whilst its a good idea I think it needs careful consideration, and the person that goes needs to know what to say.  The site belongs to GF and I think he needs an input into what is said about it, and the fundraising which s done.  On that basis I think it is essential he is on the committee, because at the end of the day the site is his toy!  If he disagrees with the committee it is up to the committee to either persuade him otherwise, or adjust plans to find common ground.

If someone is going to go on to RLM then I think they need to know what they are going to say.  I think possibly what is needed is a more basic meeting with Hindy to look at the issues in more detail.  After all RLM also struggles for funding and at the end of the day both organisations are trying to do the same thing, which is to bring a great race to the english speaking world.  It might be that there can be greater links, and better understanding of the issues facing both, and potential solutions.  So could the forum be linked from the RLM website?  Could forum members come up with some pre-recorded content for the radio station?  etc

Collecting money at the race would have to be done at some secure location.  Hindy had offered to sell Club Arnage t-shirts and again maybe that is something for consideration, probably more for next year though.  Collecting cash though is more difficult, and has greated responsibility.

I think an RLM interview would be a great idea but it has to be the right person. I would suggest a high profile member (rules out about 95%), someone with unrivalled Le Mans knowledge (rules out me) and someone who we can rely on to be enthusiastic (rules out Andy Z  ;D ).

We won't do ourselves any favours by sending someone along who moans about everything.

Actually Dave Davies would seem like the best option, being that it's his site, although he might not want to get that involved.

I would agree, but it's also about the busiest week of his year...  :)

And a forum regular would be good. I'm afraid I become completely tongue tied in front of a mike - see last year's Sebring vid  ::)

The person who sprang to mind when I was thinking about this has posted just above you. ;)

Ohhh, motormouth himself.  ;D ;D ;D

Gets my vote...

In all the time I've known him I've never actually heard him talk about motorsport!

He has got the perfect face for radio though and he's certainly not backward about coming forward  ;D

To address Chrisga's point.  I was thinking more along the lines of getting the CA name out and what we're about - getting the web address on air etc.  I think if we go in guns blazing asking for money this could be fatal.  We can leave that to the fundraising committee to address that later - but swelling our membership numbers on here has to be key - more members, more money from whatever ventures are agreed upon in the future.

Isn't it time you left for Aberdeen??  ;)

I was going to say, this limited web access seems pretty unlimited at the moment

Maybe you should do it Rob??

Oh I fogot, you can't can you, you're not allowed to go this year!!  ;D 8)

On a slightly serious note though, I would be more than happy to help in any way. I managed to hunt Hindy down with Amazing Randy at Sebring to get us all a mention, but Le Mans would need to be something pre-arranged as security is a lot tighter.

Whilst getting them to the DfH party on Friday night might seem a good idea, I think it would need to be something that is recorded and then broadcast on Saturday or Sunday as that is when the majority of listeners will be tuned in. Also, a live broadcast might advertise the party a little too much which could (a) attract a load of gatecrashers, and (b) Upset the ACO.

Best record it before you go then, you're f*ck all use once you get there  ;D ;D

I did rather assume that one wasn't going to be asking for money on-air, but I think the problem is explaining to the audience why they need to go to this site in the first place.  Those listening at the circuit will hear the site name, and then forget it about 60 seconds later.  Those listening on the internet may access the site, but will then find its all quiet as most of us are at the race!

Promotion on-air needs to be supported by promotion in the campsites, so people hear the plug on the radio see people wearing TShirts, Polo Shirts and see the flags flying too.

I think that if the immediate problem is solved there needs to be a long term approach, as I say possibly in association with RLM.  Rather than emailing the studio perhaps those watching online could be encouraged to post here, or maybe the site could be made easy to use with a mobile (if it isn't already - haven't tried) so regulars could access it from the race?  Combinened merchandise?  Who knows!

I'm not unenthusiastic, I just can't get worked up about the race these days...  ;)

I think Hindy is intending to cover the arrival of BigH on a bike, he seemed quite keen on the idea when JPC and I spoke to him at Orlando Airport in March. It's another chance for a CA mention on air I guess, but the focus should really be on H's journey and the Save The Kindey Fund.

Begging for money on air for a fan's internet website is just not the done thing. It needs to be a two way deal. Some subliminal advertising of polo shirts, lanyards etc would work with the right gear. The guys behind the N138 Teeshirt Co seem to be doing ok don't they?

How about using that airtime to announce a fund raising event then? Have an auction at the Poo bar meeting on the sat night for example  and split all proceeds 50-50 between the CA fund and BigH's noble cause. I'm sure everyone on here can find something to donate.

Anyone care to donate a new liver?

I think these posts all indicate why we need a fundraising committee! 

There are lots of good ideas but they need to be harnessed properly and moved along so that they work well, give a good impression of CA and reflect the "branding" that we want.

An auction on the day is a good idea but most of us have enough today over the next four weeks to get ourselves to the circuit.  It's a great plan for another year but I doubt it could be pulled together successfully for this year.

The immediate problem is solved, now we need solid plans for the future.

One other factor we must remember is the difficulty in trading off the name of the ACO and the 24 hour event - the ACO hate this being done and have taken pretty draconian action against those making money out of them in the past.  Given GF's media status he will be very keen to avoid getting on the wrong side of the ACO. 

I'd donate mine but I've no doubt it will be shot by then.   ;D ;D

t.

Well how about starting an auction section as a sticky in Sell or swop. CA might be safe for now but the big fella on the bike deserves all the help we can give him!

Club Arnage – Awareness - " Getting the name out"

I agree totally with the above,  it is important to make people aware of the Club.

Last year I was asked a lot about the club, I even tore off the front cover of my CA Le Mans guide to hand to some guys.

May I suggest a flyer, A5 size, to promote the club and site. It can be easily done, by someone designing one and we each print out 3 x A4 sheets. – Giving 6 x flyers.

If everyone gave out at least 4 over the weekend then that would mean

4 x a bloody lot = a bit more awareness and a web site people may visit and join.

Worth a try, I think. - Simple and quick

Views please..

Oh a form to design, it's like Christmas come early.

Good idea though

Why, oh why when i said a form to be designed - did I instantly think of Robspot   ;D

Obviously the discovery of our little financial problem has come at a bad time, given that our best marketing opportunity (to put it broadly) is just a month away.  Some of the suggestions (like nopanic's) are very time sensitive.  Personally, as this idea is not directly money-generating, I'd say we should go ahead but without anybody being able to take responsibilty at the moment it's problematical.  How about producing a draft of something along these lines for committee approval once it's formed?

Doris (where the hell is she BTW?) has had some CA business cards done. They simply have the website address on them and say "See you at the Poo Bar 9pm saturday". They're cheap to make, easy to keep about your person and we could all buy some to give out.

I have just used VistaPrint. You can have business cards made for free. 250 are made to a pre defined design but you can have blank ones. the only cost is £3.95 for posting them. Main problem is they take about a month to arrive.

She is without interweb access at the moment.

T.

I'm not sure blank ones will be much use, probably better to have something printed on them, even if it costs a little more.

I happen to be the DfH treasurer, and will have a safe place (as in a fixed safe in a car) for cash in Le Mans....

I think the small flyer / business card idea is good, considering the time and cost it would require to get in place for June.

(But please lets not create an eyesore or 'litter' like the T.W.A.T.S stickers everywhere......sorry T.W.A.T.S, but it is great you manage to get them onto the race cars.......but on all the signs and posts, etc round the circuit does you no favours!)

I have not been a masive poster but generally look at the site most days.

I am happy to offer to produce business cards and i will post them out to where ever they need to be.

if someone does the design to a size of 85mm x 55mm

as to quantity i can easily say that 500 would be no problem if we need more i may need to get more card

turn around would be about a week.

Let me know if this will help

ANdy

As a lurker on these forums I offer the following (hopefully constructive) observations:

1) There is a core of folks who know each other and each others business affiliations. In particular the GF role is an issue in this thread  - a somewhat mythical figure from where I sit (yes I did see his post in the original dire straits thread, and 140'ish post count). But until there is some clear delegation to a committee (as per mgmarks post on first page) things are speculative. (Fortunately not rudderless - the amount of energy & goodwill on this site restores a lot of faith, and self evidently it is coupled with tons of wisdom & experience.)

2) For 3 years I have wondered how to be a card carrying or flag waving member. Obviously not the centre of any gatherings to date but am about to start 'outing' myself with a lanyard! The point of this: on the business card theme my thoughts would be a A4 size (colour) print of the logo that those of us with enough glass in our vehicles stick in a window. If someone with access to the artwork could make a version available would be handy - something like the postcard size version at the end of Ch22 of the (draft) guide. An agreed place/size/format to add our nicks would be useful, together with adding the URL to attract new members.

I may be missing the point somewhere along the line, but what are we trying to promote?

Club Arnage is a fourm, and has little news or feature content so why would people want to support it unless they are already in the fold.

I think the best means of long term funding has to be branded items like the polos and ticket holders plus donations to download the guide. Rattling tins to try and get people to donate I fear may not generate much.

Another thought, I know and understand GF's relutance to use sponsorship on the Web site, but maybe the CA guide could have some support from outside companies, along the lines of the old Michlien guide that used to be sold a few years ago.

'Club Arnage guide brought to you with the support of Playstation' kind of thing.

Y'see you lurkers should speak up more often  ;D

Posters in cars is a really good idea...and avoids litter. 

I think that the flyer and or business card idea is a really good one.  However, if we're going to do it then we need to get a method in place for how this will be agreed! So, can we have some more volunteers (if there are any) for the committee and its gang of helpers?  The priority is to get this in place and up and running if any of this stuff is to get off the ground.

You're getting into very dangerous territory there as the guide contains a lot of official ACO info and there's no way they would let us sell advertising on the back of their event without them being involved in it.

As for what are we trying to promote, we have many good ideas about raising money to run the site, mainly from merchandising, and surely the more people that know about the site the more sales we are likely to achieve.

It's only a web forum at the moment but if we raise enough money then maybe the front end of the site can be developed more.

A quick knock-up of a business card could be something like this. Obviously I have only used the logo off the site header and the resolution isn't good, but that also raises the question of who has the original art work and can we use it.

I'd change it to 9pm on Saturday -maybe "during the race" or "of race weekend" so they're usable year on year.

Artwork shouldn't be a problem. GF has copies, and I think Paddy "re-did" the logo for the t-shirts and stickers so shouldn't be a problem.

I like the business cards as I've often been asked "What is this Club Arnage that I keep seeing everywhere"

I also like the idea of a printable, A4 or A3 sticker/poster that we can add own own screen name to to put in the car so we can recognise people on the way to and from the event.

I think we need to get the ball rolling as far as sorting a committee is concerned so that these things can be put into practice, a way of funding them can be arranged and the volunteers can be allocated specific tasks. We've got less than four weeks now until some people head for the circuit so we haven't got long!

Hi All,

I have created new business cards for this year.  They show the same pic as the t-shirts (in blue), have the web address at the bottom, and say "See you at the Poo Bar 9pm Sat 16 2007".  Perhaps someone who was at he Wokingham meet upload a copy?  I would if I had the right tools for the job.

Dx

Small correction. GF told me last year that DJet had the original logo, but DJet never responded to my emails. That's why I had to redo the artwork (for the flags), and as a result I have it in vectors now.

:)

Club Awareness -

Remember – KISS -  Keep it simple S*****

The idea of printing as a flyer was to keep cost down, speed and simple

No posting, very little organisation.

All we have to do is design an A4 sheet of paper, which you can cut in ½ and 2 x A5 flyers

Each can print as little or as many as they want

Fold it put in your back pocket and hand out to people who comment about your great CA t-shirt.

My normal conversations, happen on the ferry, supermarket or at the bar.

Simple again.

I do like business cards, but not as quick and simple (this time) – Time is a big factor

Poster for car -  Great idea, (can be home printed)

I even like the web address in the back window of BobU disco  (see below)
I’d pay for one of these and put in my motor,
even the CA logo would look good

But time may be a problem

(http://www.clubarnage.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6896.0;attach=3525;image)

I see the logic now!

How about splitting some of this off into an "ideas" thread?  There are some great ideas around but given the timescale I'd imagine many of them are difficult to implement with the correct amount of consideration etc. but will be worth the committee having sight of at a later date. 

Posters are perhaps a go'er for this year and maybe buisness cards but a very valid question for the committee and for GF is "what do we want to achieve" - do we just want to pay the sites way or to take over the world.  We really are pissing in the wind until this is resolved. 

I've said it before but it does warrant saying again - the ACO are very twitchy and any marketing ideas need to be considered carefully to avoid getting on the wrong side of them. 

I agree, we have to very careful about the use of any image or branding etc regarding Le Mans. ISTR an entire book run was pulped because the required permission was not sought.

However if the permission is gained and the ACO understand that it is not for commercial profit and do not demand a cut, then we would be in a very strong position sales wise.

A seperate thread would also be a good idea otherwise some of the better ideas may get lost.

Sponsorship of any kind is a double-edged blade. It is both a blessing and a curse in pretty much equal measure. The ACO watch what we do (yes it surprised me too) and they actually like to read our discussions and are supportive of what we are trying to do. We get away with all kinds of things that a commercial site would not, and if the ACO see *any* sponsorship on CA we will get 'lumped in' with all the other Le Mans commercial sites and we would lose that priviledged status and the latitude that it gives us to speak our minds freely.

Over the years I've seen other fan sites come and go. CA remains because we keep it strictly an enthusiast's site run by folks who just love Le Mans. As soon as we take a penny of sponsors money, we start on the slippery slope.

I am very pleased to read all the good ideas in this thread. We don't need a fortune to keep CA going just enough to pay our bills. There is so much goodwill out there for CA (not JUST the forum regulars)  I'm sure we will quickly put ourselves into a financially secure state and ensure out long term future.

I must admit whilst fundraising is admirable and can help, what is needed is a regular source of income that will continue year on year. I think this should be done from within the site and its members.

I belong to another non profit car based web forum where most of the forum content is available FOC and anyone can contribute, but there is also a 'club lounge'  where subscribed members can enjoy more personal and private chat. The subscrition is just £10.00 per year.

I would suspect that you would find more than enough people to contribute £10 pa to enable the site to continue. This would be simple to run and not very time consuming. This could be set up as a club and a small committee appointed. This would enable a clubs and societies bank account to be set up which would be free of bank charges. The Flying Baguettes actually has its own account on this basis to fund the trip to le mans

Events and initiatives could be run to provide funding extras or enhancements.

Righty ho, I'm going to have a go at splitting and trimming the "Fundraising Commitee" to move and add the 'ideas' threads to this topic.

He goes ......


update - done

Hi all

without knowing the exact figures: my best guess is that we need around 600 - 700 £ per year to rent a webserver strong enough to run the forum and a contract with unlimited traffic.
As far as I know our current problem will be solved by donations, for the future I suggest the following:

- £ 2.00 surcharge on the annual CA T-Shirt Sale
- £ 0.50 surcharge on stickers and lanyards
- £ 2.00 download fee for the CA guide
- £ 1.00 for successful sales in the "Sell or Swap" forum
- similar surcharges for other CA merchandise, e.g. Polo's, hats, underwear ;D

I think all of the above combined should raise enough money to pay the server bills and keep the site ad-free

... and what about selling CA BBQ accessories ;D ;D ;D

I agree with Werner and others here: keep it simple. There's cash coming in and cash going out. If you can't pay the bills with your sales, you can either try to increase sales by extending your reach, but it's much easier to raise the price of the items you sell. No one will have a problem with that. This way Club Arnage can remain what it is and leave it to the fan to discover it.

IMHO

I would agree with Werner and Pieter's comments, and nopanic's K.I.S.S theory.

This would keep the site within GF's preferences, it would be nice to keep the relaxed atmosphere of the site as it is.

It does not surprise me that the ACO keep an eye on this site, and you do not want to piss them off. Nothing would finish this site off quicker than a copyright case in the courts.

We are just trying to find ways to pay the server costs, let's keep things in perspective.

As for new members, they have found the site before, I estimate that over 50% of the regular posters today, were not members when the site changed it's format, let alone before that.

But I do agree that business cards would be an excellent idea, I'm asked several times each LM about the site, and I bet most of the people you tell the address to forget it by the time they get back to Blighty.

Could we not produce a calendar, using photos taken by some of the more photographically talented members, again with a surcharge for the CA coffers? Unlike baseball caps, and T shirts etc. It can only really be used for a single year, thereby giving the opportunity for annual cash injections?

Cool idea, I would buy one.  :D

KK and I were talking about this and I think he may have mentioned it to GF.

There is a slight difficulty in using the pro's photos in that they get accreditation for media purposes only and using the pics for a commercial calender (even one for a good cause) is outside of that purpose.

Punters can of course take photos but their tickets restricts them to taking images for personal use....

KK's suggestion is that we could run a motorsport photo competiton with him and GF (and others perhaps?) as judges and the winning entries could then be used as fodder for the calender.  It doesn't overcome the copyright problems but hopefully there wouldn't be too many issues generated.

Well, CA's personal to me!!  I think a competition is a great idea myself.  And - with all due respect to KK - would be nicer if it was a place for amateurs to strut their stuff, rather than professionals. For the lads, how about a 12 *rs*s of LM callendar? ;)

A grand idea - not an expert, but if we are to use personal photos taken by individuals, presumably copyright isn't so much of an issue, provided that the photo(s) is credited to them, together with a statement on the calendar somewhere that unauthorised reproduction is not permiited without the permission of the owner, and providing a contact address if people wish to seek such permission?

MG Mark

I can be misunderstanding, but Anita mentioned KK as a juror, not a contester. Or do you mean by strutting the stuff we all judge the taken photo's?

I've had a quick google,

A3 printed colour calendars to hang on a wall cost some pounds to make. IF we got 100 made, and sold them for £10, even after postage there would still be some pounds for CA :- we should be looking at a server fund contribution similar to that from the T shirts and stickers.

Not that I'm volunteering, well, not yet. ;)

A sample of what is available can be seen below.

http://www.thedigitalprinters.com/calendars/images/a4_port_style3_large.jpg (http://www.thedigitalprinters.com/calendars/images/a4_port_style3_large.jpg)

No, I understood her pefectly well!  I was agreeing that it would be better to keep professional pics out of a calendar.  I think KK as a judge is a great idea.  Whether the Big Cheese would have the time, I don't know...

Nick, I think this is precisely the kind of thing the Fundraising Committee would look into - the logistics and costs of following up all the ideas.  Back in the days when I did this sort of thing for a living, that's the nightmare with callendars - they have a very short shelf-life and can be a loser if you're not careful.  Still could be fun though!

The issue (and it's a bit of a non-issue IMO) relates to photos taken within circuits - the entry ticket says that as a punter you agree to take pics for your own personal use and not for commercial use.

Arguably using them for a calender that is being sold is not personal use and as such you would require the consent of the rights holder (usually the circuit owner - possible even the sponsors who's logos are on the cars!). 

However, mainly circuits and rights holders are not that bothered as long as someone is not making vast amounts of money out of them and they are not shown in a negative context.

I think it's a great idea, one for the committee to consider, it would perhaps require a close date of say 15th October to give time for judging and then going to print in time for them to be ready as Christmas prezzies. 

Hi,

I think it's a great idea.

Regarding subject matter, it should not necessarally be just cars.  It should create the experienced atmosphere that we experience every year. So if that the CAer's on the Fiday gig, the same goes for the Poo Bar or even campsite scenes. Obviously the cars as well where appropriate.

The 'photos I have seen taken during darkness are generall awesome and do convey atmosphere.

Does anyone have any views?

Jeery

PS, I just can't wait much longer for me to be there.

I have press passes and so my photos I can do as I like with. If there are any the club want for a calendar they are more than welcome. Most of mine are taken either at the start of the parade or from the inside of Indianapolis, Mulsanne or on the Mulsanne straight.

Maybe we could try a calendar with a small insert like this. The larger photo could be of the cars and the insert could be used to show the atmosphere such as DfH party, campsites, podium etc.

See, I misunderstood your post. ;) Foreign language and all you know. ;)

I think following the letter of the detail - your photo's are yours to do as you wish for within normal media and NOT for commercial use (i.e. advertising, commercial works etc.), you would require additional consent for these purposes - as I say above, in reality unless there is bad publicity or masses of money around it's hugely problematic but it's enough for most of the pro's to be twitchy about. 

I also agree with whoever said that a calender should include atmosphere shots, IMO it should also cover different tracks and events - it would be nice to have some mix and match rather than 12 (or 24) pics of cars on the track at Le Mans. 

By the way Lynx....you're banned from the competiton anyway - no pro's! 

I probably didn't put it too well.  I get the lingo thing alright.  I bumped into somebody back in England and said "pardon" to them without thinking and said "merci" to somebody in a shop. Aaagh!

1) It would be great if the cover were the "alternative" LM official poster - but I suspect copyright probs

2) Maybe we could put some reminders against dates e.g. Jan 1 start packing, June 20th remember to order next year's tickets

3) I guess our "calendar" of racing events is a) published too late to include and b) copyright - otherwise would be good to include that

Yes, it was a struggle to get outline dates for series in December, let alone in time to print a calendar.  But certainly we know the Classic date already, if nothing else.  My mind's wandering now (as ever) but I wonder if there's a way of adapting the existing calendar to include a pic each month which could be downloaded and printed off?  On top of the spiffing idea of having a nice printed one of course.

Can't help thinking the easiest way to raise funds is for CA to become a ticket agency.
The obvious selling medium is Ebay. Work out how much tickets cost, mark them up realistically, and sell them as a "buy it now", that way we also eat into the money grabbers that operate there.

A CA bank account can be opened, payment via paypal only (will have to account for their charges!)
All members can purchase that way too, therefore people get the tickets they want and boost the CA coffers at the same time.

Bearing in mind that the ACO know about us, it shouldn't be too much trouble to sort out.

That's an idea Robbo, but the capital outlay would be astronomical, unless we sold tickets that had been allocated but not yet paid for.....

Maybe rather than acting as ticket agents, if we sold 20 tickets at £25 mark up, we'd earn £500 without having to get embroiled in the whole ticketing game.

Nice idea though it may be, reselling tickets at over-face is not something we'd want or be able to do to fund the site on a permanent basis.

I think the "No profiteering" rule shoukd apply to CA as a whole and not just to the members. We have all had a moan at sometime or other about the ripoff prices charged by the agencies. Some of us use MRI Ticketmaster etc every year and pay the extra. That is their choise and is one way of ensuring allocation of requested tickets. The agencies are in it to make money and pay wages, whereas we are a group of Le Mans/motor racing enthusiasts who do it for the love of it.
We only need to cover our costs and there have been some great fund raising ideas suggested without going into ticket sales.
The fund raising for charity is a seperate issue and I beleive it should be kept seperate from covering running costs

Part of the big attraction of CA is its non-profit sell or swap section.  For myself, I think a "give if you'd like to" approach is far better than acting as an agency with all the investment costs and risks it could entail.  It's the way I got into this - I sold a ticket at face value and look what a great bunch of people I've got to know as a result.  I think it could be really off-putting not to say a logistical nightmare.  It's something for the committee to discuss, certainly but personally, I'm agin it.

I think buying and selling tickets is a very bad idea for a number of reasons. 

We don't need to make a vast amount of money to cover our costs and we have enough ways of doing that and alternatively enough people who'll put their hands in their pockets and donate. 

I'm looking forward to a nice calendar* for next year though - get snapping boys and girls  ;D

* clearly a decision for the fundraising committee and I'm not trying to bypass them already but I will sulk if they don't go ahead with the idea! ;D

What about asking those with tickets posting in sell or swap area to pay an admin fee to CA for the posting.  There is always a lot of additional traffic at this time of year compaired to the pistonheads and beermountain
forums.

The CA Calander idea if a runner and given the blessing of the ACO, could it include pictures of previous years as well as this?

For what its worth I think selling tickets may be more hassle than its worth and would go against the CA way of thinking IMHO.

I know I'm on the committee now and can put this forward there but would be grateful for others' thoughts.  If my attempt at getting CA bookings in early and all in one lump so we can be together in '08 works out - how about charging everybody a pound or two for the privilege next year?

Hell yes.

Absolutely Termie! For a foolproof way of getting the tickets you want it is a very small price to pay!

My idea goes one step further than this.

The best way to regularly raise the money to keep the server running would be to charge an annual membership for certain special privileges, namely the ability to purchase tickets through Club Arnage. I'm not for one minute suggesting that we become a ticket agency but I think we have enough interest to make an approach to the ACO.

Plucking numbers out of the air I reckon we could go to them and say we want at least 200 camping tickets (numbers and locations as specified by us) and 300 GA's. We would like ACO discount prices on the GA's if possible but we will pay full price for the camping tickets. The only thing we want is a guarantee that we will receive exactly what we ask for (i.e. 100 MB, 20 bleu, 50 HA etc.). Point out that all orders are from people who already order directly with the ACO and instead of 100 orders to deal with they will have only one.

At our end people have to get their orders to us by June the year before (so we would be looking at starting for the 2009 race) and then confirm and pay for their order by the end of November. We can then confirm with the ACO and pay from the Club Arnage account.

Someone from the committee would then collect all the tickets as early as they become available and they would be sent from England first class recorded delivery (charged for on top of the tickets).

Logistically it requires a spreadsheet with all order details, someone to collect and bank the cheques, someone to liaise with the ACO (Hi Debs!), someone to pay the ACO, someone to collect the tickets and people to send them out from the UK.

If the committee see any mileage in this idea then I would be happy to collate orders and send out tickets.

As for the membership fee, I reckon most people would be happy to pay £10 a year and an extra £5 for postage (seeing as the ACO charge around €15 anyway) to guarantee their ticket allocation and early delivery.

Just an idea!!!!!!!!!!!

Love from RobTheReject  ;D

Rob,

Although I'm new to CA, I think thats a great idea.

Based on past experience with obtaining tickets from the ACO as a member and from UK ticket agencies, this has got to be a better way of doing it.

Hope the commitee sees it that way as well.

Afterall, from earlier threads elsewhere, it seems the ACO view this forum so they know us as a club and the number of CA members that attend LM. I would think they would go for it.

Jerry

The '08 bookings have to be in on Friday so it's too late to do this for this year.  It would need to be something we carefully looked at for '09, and will be something we can mull over in the closed season.

I suggested the "Ticket Agent" thing a while back.  I suggested that those of use that were members could effectively donaote our unwanted allowance to the "Club".    For example as ther are two ACO members in our group but we only need 6 Camping and 9 General Admision Tickets.  So in effect we have a spare 6 Camping pass and 3 General Admission Tickets.  I'd be quite happy to pass on the unwanted discounts to the CA fund.

The big  problem I see are.  Is the cost.  Assuming the tickets on average cost €50 then the value of an order outlined by Robspot would be €25000.  Plus there are those of us that require granstand seats.  It would be quite an undertaking.   

On the plus side though if we assume none of us are ACO members and we chaged the standard price. For the  300 GA tickets this year we would have to pay €55 and sold at €61 giving a profit of €6 per ticket  or €1800 more than enough for the cost of the server. 

t.

The big problem is logistics.  This is a guess based on one bill you've all so kindly helped to pay, but we maybe need £1000 (as a round figure) a year.  The committee was set up to help raise this.  Now we are getting into the realms of big jobs, big outlays and consequent big problems!  Of course it's not up to me to say no but I think Nopanic's "Keep it Simple" technique is apposite here.  2 or 3 pounds for the earliest possible reservation is one thing.  Turning ourselves into an agency is quite another and will need a good deal of thought.

I agree it will need a great deal of thought and it may prove to be too difficult but what's the one thing we all have (well most of us) the most trouble with? It's getting the allocation we asked for and not having to resort to the ridiculous prices of Just Tickets, MRI or worse still *bay.

It's something for post Le Mans ponderance though.

Agree 100%.  On the other hand a) I have always reserved my tickets for the following year during PQ and b) I have always got what I asked for.  So hopefully my little scheme should work... But you never know, do you?

Frank Boughs Knob!!
That's not a nice realm to get into, I'd say...
H

I agree.

The way I see it for 2009 tickets you are 'donating' a couple of hours of your time to the CA cause. If 20 folk use your service @ £2 each that is £40 for the server which is better than nowt and involves no obligation on the part of CA, nor financial obligation. There is very low risk to anything - at worst you do not receive/submit someones application and they have to send it in to ACO themselves. (Hence the low reward.)

But the ticket agency runs into high risk problems if the allocation is incorrect - somebody lands up blaming CA for ACO problems. Let alone huge cash flow issues identified by others.

As said, I also think the tickets Idea is good but should be restricted to known CA members with some sort of reliability record, and not the general public. This should restrict any complications and avoide people selling them on *bay. I think some sort of agreement would be needed by the ACO. A definate commitment would be needed by the recipients, which shouldnt be a problem, however with out an upfront agreement from the ACO, it could all fall apart and land every one in a very difficult postion.

That narrows it down a bit!!

F

A while back I saw some reference to a memorabilia auction at the DFH party on friday? is this going to happen? if so I have an item - framed autographs on a page from a 72 73 British GP (Mass and others) and pictures of the Tyrells. It's in my loft getting dusty, would donate it to a worthy cause.

The auction will be taking place on Friday night, but it will be for Charity rather than the CA Server Fund.

OK I'll dig it out, any other items donatated

We're still collecting goodies, Will try to post a list of it next week, so people can already consider on what they want to place bids. You can understand that we can only go with COD for the auction, so I guess it is fair to prepare you for it by announcing a list of items. :)

Suffice to say it will be worth bringing your Euros!!  :)

The items I heard from so far are definitly worth it!

CA umbrellas?  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I'm selling my signed GE ticket on ebay. If it goes for any sensible amount I'll make a sensible donation to the CA server hosting fund, if not, it goes in my son's scrap book.

 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120133809057 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120133809057)

What about a generic CA t-shirt that could be available all year every year? Still produce the LM specific ones each year of course.

The generic t-shirt could of course consist of a LM / sportscar theme.

Could also apply to a car window sticker. That way all members could advertise the club whilst they drive around. The window sticker would appeal to more people perhaps becasue it does not damage the paint and can easily be applied to and removed from company cars, vans etc.

The committee are looking at all things merchandise, but until now, we have put it on the back burner, as to produce and stock different styles/colours/sizes of apparel and other merchandise would require significant financial outlay.  Our initial objectives were:

1:  to raise sufficient funds to keep the site alive in the short term
2:  to build up a reserve to keep the site alive in the medium term

After that, we could then look at longer term initiatives.

However, we have been directed towards a site that seems quite reasonable cost-wise for small or even individual items, and it is currently being investigated.

As far as 'generic' shirts go - the polo shirts produced by JPC this year were non-year-specific, and very nice.

As far as car stickers go - we did some several years ago - still got mine on the car!!

(http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a266/delboy9/DSCF0463.jpg)

I'm not advocating we do the same again - these didn't go down too well with the ladies   ::) ::) ::)

Del

Have a look at Cafepress (www.cafepress.com). It's possible to start a CA shop for no outlay at all - they run the site and supply the goods - all that is required is to upload the designs etc. and decide upon which of the merchandise to offer the designs on.

Another site I frequent uses them and the quality of the goods is excellent and the printing very good - they arrive quickly and with the $/£ rate at the moment people buying from them get a very good deal.

Just a thought ...

Only problem with Cafepress is, they are situated in the US of A. This drives up the sending costs (checked them out for some DfH-apparel).

Agreed, but with the current exchange rate that's offset a fair bit ...

Only because most of us have yet to meet a real man on that basis.  24 seconds would be more like it...

I like the look of the CafePress site for a possible calendar though as all the other sites I've found have ludicrous minimum quantity orders.