Thread: NicoClub Sponsored Nissan National Convention: 2010!!!

Well, that sounds like a ton of work! Don't hesitate to ask if you need help with anything. Sounds like an exciting plan.

Ugh, I started to reply and then it logged me out and I lost my long-ass response.



I'm behind Torry 1000% with this. It's a necessary shift. Like it or not, our community is changing. Between cars being taken out of service because they're old, cars being taken out of service because they've been in accidents, cars being sold to people who don't care beacause all they want is cheap wheels, and finally the newer "SE-R's" being sold to a different non-performance-oriented audience, we aren't growing here! Ask anyone who's been in the community for the past 10 years (all 7 of us) and you'll see what I mean. As I stated in the link Louis provided, many have moved on to other models of Nissans and Infinitis as well. Look at Torry... from B13 (I think) to B15 to G37.



As far as contacting Nissan/Infiniti, I already have and am awaiting a response. Torry, you know, anything you need, let us know. We're here to work with you and try to get a base of loyal convention-goers to build on for the future. I've got a huge database of vendors that I think we might share so that the same vendors will see us for two consecutive years and realize we're here to stay and they'll be more likely to help us out with donations and raffle prizes.



As far as memories of previous conventions, here are my cliff's notes:



2000: the near tornado, Mike's blue drinks, and the asian squat. the horribe roadsigns and directions. being told by the hostess at IHOP that there would be a bit of a wait at 3AM. some crazy drinking downtown



2001: organizing it, ugh. another near tornado. paying for everything out-of-pocket hoping to get my money back. getting Nissan to bring a Spec V to the meet n greet. driving home through the baltimore tunnel with 15-20 SE-Rs side-by-side and slowing to 20MPH and then just letting rip



2002: complaining that my cd was skipping on that bad crack on the back straight on the track touring the North American Test Facility. Ass hats. heavy night of drinking followed by showing up to the breakfast buffet with beer-in-hand still drinking



2003: the drive: leave work, drive Thursday night, sleep 4 hours, drive all day Friday, track day Saturday, drink Saturday night, picnic Sunday, leave early to drive home, drive most of the afternoon/evening Sunday, drive Monday, back to work Tuesday



2004: Nissan's dream garage. the posh Embassy Suites that we didn't deserve. the crash on the track butchering Kojima's oil filter trying to get it off



2005: got married, no convention



2006: organizing it again after promising never to put myself through that again, ever. pissing everyone off by screwing up the directions to the picnic site



2007: registration shutting down a month ahead of time. all rentals in the instructor group with the exception of 1 or maybe 2 SE-Rs. deer on track. bump drafting on the highway on the way back to the airport. throwing a handful of change into the one of a billion toll booths between the airport and hotel and continuing to drive hoping it was enough



2008: EVERYONE promising to be in Vegas because it was going to be the BEST convention EVAR! and no one showing up borrowing money from all of the regions to make it happen. reaching into my own pocket prepared, once again, to help fund it. walking up the strip watching everyone collect those stupid cards and watching Wes put them in people's cars as they drove



2009: economy + eye cancer for the wife + no job for the wife = no convention



2010 and 2011 I am looking forward to. We, as a community, need to get behind the idea and embrace it. We've come to the point that we can no longer sustain a convention based on SE-Rs alone. As much as I love my SE-R and the community, it's not what it once was.



Remember my writeups of the conventions Torry?



2000:

kieranlavin.com



2001:

kieranlavin.com



2002:

kieranlavin.com

It took me forever to find the picnic area.

I was one of those se-r's in that group. I can't remember if thier was another one. Good one though I was so nervous cause I was leading the pack of all these se-r veterans who had way more track time then me.

I can't wait for the next convention. It motivates me to do more to my car.

Kieran, thanks to you too for the support.

And I had a B14, B15, and V36. Never owned a B13. And if it counts, I had a B310 before the B14

I'll definitely be in contact with you regarding the vendors and sponsors. I'll also once again be contacting all of the advertisers on NICO too. Hopefully with this much lead time, I can get more companies interested than I did this year. We can both worth at getting NNA's help, but I think we all know they don't tend to support much anymore on the enthusiast side of things. But I'm sure we both have tons of contacts to at least try with (I know I do).

We've also got the backing of Import Alliance, which to those of you unfamiliar with them, put on one of the largest import shows/track days in the country. And the owner is a Nissan guy, and has already told me he'll do what he can do to get the word out and get sponsors for us.

NICO also is now partnered with Nissan Sport Magazine, so I intend to work with them as well on the event and sponsorship.

So anyway, we have a lot of stuff in the works for next year as far as sponsorship and promotion, so hopefully it'll go off without a hitch.

And thanks for the links to your summaries of the earlier conventions. I would definitely like to use those on the website. Do you know anyone who has any more convention write-ups? I can try to fill in with my own stories, but trying to remember them in detail might be difficult. I'll search through the old mailing list archives too and try to piece together stuff.

And FYI, I think the asian squat was 2001, not 2000. I seem to remember that taking place shortly after Robert Burnes gave Kojima a cigarette, because Mike said "I'm going to die from this tornado anyway, so I might as well smoke a cigarette."

2009:

Another near tornado (I'm starting to see a trend?). Finally meeting ShawnB in person (doesn't look so scary! ). Parking lot party until 4am. Track cherry busted with Marksr20 behind the wheel of Jamie's car, all while still drunk/hung-over from the parking lot party Oh yeah, and who can forget: "Road America/I-95 Corridors, the SR20's grim reaper"

2007

You should been out with on Tybee Island Saturday night. It wasn't a "near tornado," it was the real deal. We thought we were all going to die.

I want to make this comming one bad ......I will be there if I have to take the wrx, but my car should be ready

Road America with Crazy Joe driving the sh*t out of my Classic.

If he blows up the motor, that will be the perfect excuse for a VE.


I was in the running on that "longest drive."

From Houston, it was a 2,200 mile round-trip TEST-DRIVE with Roebling Road in the middle. I picked the car up at the body-shop on Tuesday night, was at my mechanics on Wednesday morning for a few last minute fixes, and left Wednesday afternoon for Savannah. This test-drive on a vehicle that had been wrecked and had not been on the streets since March 2007.

My revived Classic tested A-OK.


I'm not scary. It is only my inner Barbarian that is scary. And I usually keep him locked up in the basement.

The parking lot party rocked! Drinking, ahem...smoking, and talking mad sh*t until the wee-hours of the morning. All while surrounded by tons of bad-ass vehicles.

Roebling Road race course....................

Waaaaay too much fun.

See you guys in Wisconsin.

Torry- my internet at work is down as is our network (since yesterday morning!). I've run out of things to do here so I'll put something together for 2003 to present or at least what I remember. Feel free to use the early ones. I received somewhat favorable response from Nissan and I need to follow up. I'll let you know