Sent you a pm, Bob

Del

Sorry Slash - promised to mgmark now!!

Del

Ah well......into the bin then.

There was a scramble for these a while ago.

Flag was made 'famous' in 2007 after a rain shower then strong gust of wind (not my photo).

I have just been emptying my caravan as it has been sold, and came across my old CA flag.

As I do not attend Le Mans these days, I'm offering this to the first person to give me £10 which will cover postage and the remainder to charity (poppy appeal).

It is an original one, in good nick (no holes) although may need a bit of a wash.

Cheers

Del

Although donations were not called for in the new guide, I would like to thank the six people who DID donate a total of £40.58

These proceeds will be added to our charity fund in due course.

Del

I cannot comment on the number of downloads, but the donations:

There were 15 (only) donations ranging from £4 to £23, giving a total of £204.02.  The small change is due to the conversion of 3 euro donations.  There may be the odd additional donation later, but it is unlikely.

This total compares (sadly) with £311 in 2014 and £338 in 2015.

Del

They automatically overwrite the oldest file once the card is full - this is obviously a constant process.  A recordable segment is usually a given time span and can be set on the device.  Mine is set to 3 mins  Any segment can be marked as an 'Event' (simply by pressing a button on mine), in which case it is transferred to a different folder on the card and will not be overwritten.  Most devices are fitted with a sensor which detects a prang - in which case the previous 30 seconds (or so) of recording plus the following 30 seconds are also automatically written as an 'Event' and will not be overwritten.  It is only these files in the 'Event' folder which have to be manually deleted - on mine this can be done on the device itself or on a PC.

And for Kev's edification, I'll take myself out of the 'moron' classification - you can see the camera tucked behind the mirror, and the satnav in the bottom left corner of the photo.

Del

Some have batteries.  The trouble with batteries is that these devices have to operate in a very wide temperature range, and batteries are not good at that.

The one I went for has a capacitor which holds enough power to write the last block of data away to the memory card should the supply fail, for whatever reason.

Del

Hi Steve

I did a lot of investigation before buying mine 14 months ago.  The best place to get a lot of info and comparison is dashcamtalk.com.  I eventually settled on the Panorama G (now the Street Guardian SGZC12SG), because it provided all the facilities I wanted, is one of the few out there which can handle a decent-sized memory card (most are max 32gb), and I got to speak to the developer and the distributors (Jokiin, and Jon and Nico on DCT), all of whom were very helpful.  One of the most important properties is HD recording.  When you are at a closing velocity of >60mph, number plates are very difficult to read, and whilst there are occasions that recordings are a bit dodgy even  for the 'G' (low light conditions etc), it is one of the best, especially the Mk 2 version now available.  Once you decide on full HD, then a larger memory card is almost mandatory, as a 32gb card gives you less than 4 hours recording.

Not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for.

Del

All stickers now claimed.

Del

Yes Doris - some left.

You'll need to PM me an address - the one I have for you is somewhat out-of-date.

Congrats, btw, on surviving on the clipper - looked a lot of fun.

Del

I bought a pretty decent one 14 months ago after some yoof slid into me on a single-track country road (I was stationary at the time).  "Your word against mine, guv - you ain't got no witnesses".  Cost me £400.

I did quite an exhaustive analysis of what's out there and what facilities are available (such as parking sensor, full 1080 HD, larger memory card), and bought one which gives me everything I wanted for £130.

Had a couple of near misses which were interesting to watch after the event, and also caught out the mechanic at my local Audi place doing 43mph in a 30 area.

You don't have to do a big mileage to warrant one - the prang I had was less than 2 miles away!!

Del

PS.  You can get systems with  two cameras for fore and aft recording.  I also know of one 'enthusiast' who also had one each side of his vehicle!!

D

We tried promoting the club and the guide in a single sheet, double sided flyer back in 2008.  I handed these out to people to give out/leave around on the various ferries that year - see image below. Sorry, I can only display the Front as the whole flyer is too big for the forum s/w.  The back had a few more topical pics and explained the Guide in more detail eg a pic of the table-of-contents.

There was no significant surge in membership - in fact in the 3 months June/July/Aug, there were 165 new members in 2007 but only 137 in 2008. 

In any organisation there will be a small minority of members who are active, and in the current membership of 2300, many are totally inactive, and the majority have signed up and made less than 5 posts.  I know some of that 2300 are no longer with us, and others have signed on simply to try to buy tickets being sold by members.

Personally, I do not think that the Guide is the core of CA, nor does it sustain CA.  The core and sustainability is the friendships and relationships (yes, even marriages) that have been made over the years, whilst the guide is a service provided by a few of the members.

I do agree, however, that the guide is (now) the only 'public' face we have, but to use it to actively promote the club and attract new members - I do not think so.  What is the purpose of CA??  In its heyday (in the noughties), CA was the social networking between like-minded people.  Unfortunately, other systems like FB came on stream, and many people now use that as the 'audience' is a lot wider than the sportscar-oriented folk on CA.  Having said that, some people post the same information on both CA and FB.

To me, CA is still the hub of information regarding endurance racing, and is the main contact and reference point with the many people I have got to know over the years. 

Very few of the new members actually 'stay' and get involved - you, Aricus, are an exception, and more power to your elbow.  New, active members are more than welcome, but the main question is what benefit does the club get out of increased membership?

Del

Ian

'Proper' cheque in the post to you (honestly guv!!)

Let me know it arrives OK.

Del

Whilst looking for the CA cheque book today (I haven't used this since May '09, so it was temporarily 'lost'), I found 5 CA stickers as in the image below.  I commissioned and paid for these myself, and forgot that I had some left.

They are 3" x 2.25", sort of textured glossy finish, and are sticky on the back via a peel-off backing sheet.  I had one on the windscreen and one on the back window of my car for several years (positioned outside the swept area of the wipers!!), so they are quite durable, even though they are on the outside.

If anyone wants one, it will cost you a minimum of £2 which, after postage, I will donate to the Charity fund.

Contact me via PM if interested.

Del