when is the 5er fest gonna be in the westcoast?

[Shawn D.]

Why not just do it in the Denver area? All you booze hounds aren't going to like SLC much.

Are you volunteering? If nobody there is volunteering, that'd be why not.

[robeyff]

I live on the edge of the east coast - the next town due east of here is Casablanca - I'll drive/hitch-hike/fly/bum a ride to wherever 5erFest 08 is. I seriously don't want to miss another one.

Maybe when the location is firm I'll just move there.

[C.J.]

Wasn't 5er Fest held in San Diego one year? And wasn't turn out for it sorta low? I'd rather have it somewhere away from the coast, close to some good twisty roads, and somewhere that isn't too humid. Reno, Vegas, and Denver all sound good. I don't know how I can help coordinate anything, but I'm willing to help out in any way possible.

[Shawn D.]

I live on the edge of the east coast - the next town due east of here is Casablanca

Methinks this one is closer.

[robeyff]

I live on the edge of the east coast - the next town due east of here is Casablanca

Methinks this one is closer.

Wrong, oh enlightened one - google it up and check the coordinates - Dour el Haitat (little south of Casablanca) is actually right on the grid.

[Brian in TN]

[Wiseguy]

I see your popcorn and raise you a pound of beer-battered bacon

[johnnye23]

Lets go here, the creeper races would be awesome. You can swim right Tammer ?

[robeyff]

I would pay to see someone roll their otherwise-bound-for-crusher E28 rolling shell down that mama and into the deep blue sea

I'll start a "Help-a-Brother-Bail" thread to pay off the greenies (E28 in marine ecosystem ) and the bondsman.

[Wiseguy]

I am SO down for that creeper race!!!!!

[C.J.]

Dude, I'd totally bomb that hill on my longboard. Jody, you in?

[Kenny Blankenship]

Oh...nice to see this lively debate since I've been busy having my car fixed.

I don't think Salt Lake City would work unless you want a dry garage party...much as it won't affect me it will most everybody else.

Again, rest assured we will consider a lot of aspects in considering the site and we will try for the most popular...but...we also have to consider the makeup of the team and their logistics so it's possible the most "popular" site may not be the site chosen. Remember this year we tried Texas and it didn't work out so Tennessee was chosen. Think I was thrilled? Things happen.

I should also interject that "West Coast" really means "in the Pacific or Mountain time zones"...

Monterey is being considered and is on the coast...another excellent suggestion

and somewhere that isn't too humid.

I assure you there is no place humid (at least humid and 85 degrees) around these parts...

[Bryan in SB]

There was an event in '04 in San Diego, and we all had a ball. It wasn't as large as the '05,'06 and '07 events, but we've seen this event get bigger every year.

As part of the team who worked on '04, I can't stress enough what Shawn has mentioned regarding steppin' up. There is an INCREDIBLE amount of self sacrifice in time and energy to put on one of these events. My wife, who is a very patient person when it comes to my automotive obsessions, was done with it, and she wasn't even involved. It takes almost a year of full time involvement to plan it, and there has to be a large team of willing volunteers. These volunteers have to be well connected in order to keep costs down, have to be able to get the job done, and have to in effect HERD CATS with the members here.

I'd like to see a venue where the weather is pleasant, an inclusion of a track and see BMW Corp. involved to some degree. Hopefully, we can get all three!

[landspeed]

Oh...nice to see this lively debate since I've been busy having my car fixed.

I don't think Salt Lake City would work unless you want a dry garage party...much as it won't affect me it will most everybody else.

Again, rest assured we will consider a lot of aspects in considering the site and we will try for the most popular...but...we also have to consider the makeup of the team and their logistics so it's possible the most "popular" site may not be the site chosen. Remember this year we tried Texas and it didn't work out so Tennessee was chosen. Think I was thrilled? Things happen.

I should also interject that "West Coast" really means "in the Pacific or Mountain time zones"...

Monterey is being considered and is on the coast...another excellent suggestion

and somewhere that isn't too humid.

I assure you there is no place humid (at least humid and 85 degrees) around these parts...

During your stay in Vegas, maybe you could do some scouting since I have no idea what I'm looking for.

[SD45T-2]

Lets go here, the creeper races would be awesome. You can swim right Tammer ?

ill donate my car for that!

[Tammer in Philly]

Lets go here, the creeper races would be awesome. You can swim right Tammer ?

Yeah, but that'd probably be a 40-mph face-plant into the water. Ouch!

-tammer

[some guy]

Why not just do it in the Denver area? All you booze hounds aren't going to like SLC much.

Are you volunteering? If nobody there is volunteering, that'd be why not.

I don't really know what all would be involved. If we are talking about coordinating with a hotel and dealership, that isn't too tough. I definitely know some great drives to do in Colorado. Colorado Springs may be even better than Denver. There is a dealership there that supports CCA and it's about an hour from Pueblo Motorsports Park, so a track day could be a possibility if anyone was interested. The dealers in Denver are cool, but it's farther from the track. The track may not even be on anyone's priority list.

If people like the Colorado idea, I would be happy to do whatever I can. Maybe we need a poll with the top 5 or 6 cities and see what everyone wants to do.

[Shawn D.]

Why not just do it in the Denver area? All you booze hounds aren't going to like SLC much.

Are you volunteering? If nobody there is volunteering, that'd be why not.

I don't really know what all would be involved. If we are talking about coordinating with a hotel and dealership, that isn't too tough. I definitely know some great drives to do in Colorado. Colorado Springs may be even better than Denver. There is a dealership there that supports CCA...

There's more involved than I know (and I've been an organizer for five of the six 5er Fests). If you're involved in that CCA chapter that you mention, that's a big start. If not, they might be less likely to help out an "unknown" person.

Here's some of what's involved in arranging (which is why you need a team):

1) The host hotel w/ event rates

2) The Friday evening opening get-together

3) The show area

4) Photographer for the panoramic photo

5) Tech sessions

6) Sponsors

7) T-shirts

8) Saturday evening banquet

9) Garage party permission from the host hotel

10) Sunday drive

11) Autocross (includes location, timing equipment, competent volunteers with autocross experience, insurance)

12) Insurance for the event

13) Publicity (magazines, internet)

14) Internet site

15) Volunteers to help with each of the above

I'm sure I've forgotten something and I'm also sure I can't really convey the difficulty involved with some of these.

[shifty]

Perhaps next year (for the '09 Fest), I'll be in a position to be an organizer. You all do SUCH a great job and have a lot on your plate. . . but, I think I could do a lot of that if we were having it locally (that would be KC for me).

The point about not having 5er Fest ON THE COAST is a valid one. Having it in the center of the country makes for a monotonous venue and crowd of people every year. Having it west of the middle one year and east of the middle the next year is spectacular. The only people that really have to drive FAR are those in New England and southern FL. The rest of us don't have a big corner to drive around to get across the country.

If things have already been spearheaded and the ball is rolling for a venue around NV, then perhaps we can sit tight and ask that these organizers just provide us with periodic updates as things begin to start moving.

I, for one, am fine with anywhere in the country. I just calculated my days of leave, and I'll have 36 days of terminal leave when my enlistment is up. That means I can start my leave about 10 days before our wedding day and won't have to go back to work after that. So, the whole month of May is open for me. I would be planning to start a new job at the beginning of June, so as long as it's in May, I think I can make any venue.

[some guy]

Why not just do it in the Denver area? All you booze hounds aren't going to like SLC much.

Are you volunteering? If nobody there is volunteering, that'd be why not.

I don't really know what all would be involved. If we are talking about coordinating with a hotel and dealership, that isn't too tough. I definitely know some great drives to do in Colorado. Colorado Springs may be even better than Denver. There is a dealership there that supports CCA...

There's more involved than I know (and I've been an organizer for five of the six 5er Fests). If you're involved in that CCA chapter that you mention, that's a big start. If not, they might be less likely to help out an "unknown" person.

Here's some of what's involved in arranging (which is why you need a team):

1) The host hotel w/ event rates

2) The Friday evening opening get-together

3) The show area

4) Photographer for the panoramic photo

5) Tech sessions

6) Sponsors

7) T-shirts

8) Saturday evening banquet

9) Garage party permission from the host hotel

10) Sunday drive

11) Autocross (includes location, timing equipment, competent volunteers with autocross experience, insurance)

12) Insurance for the event

13) Publicity (magazines, internet)

14) Internet site

15) Volunteers to help with each of the above

I'm sure I've forgotten something and I'm also sure I can't really convey the difficulty involved with some of these.

No, you pretty much nailed it. I knew there would be a lot involved, but I didn't know how much. I have no idea if the other Colorado locals would be hip to make it happen. Maybe Shifty's idea on KC sounds better!

[ElGuappo]

What I know is that there is a group of people here in NorCal that are more than willing to put real time and effort into all the things listed, but we have asked for some info on the past fests for comparisons to present for insurance and just overall magnitude of the event.

I hope I am not speaking out of turn, and I am certainly only speaking for myself, but I think there may be a feeling of "we don't want to let it out of our control" amongst us out here in the West.

We keep being told that we need to 'Step Up' and 'Make it Happen' and all that schtuff......There are plenty of smart, able and willing people out here that can make this happen if the process is opened up a little bit, some of the mystery removed.

I mean NO disrespect to the guys who have put this event on these past years, you have served our community well.....The portion of our community that has a chance in hell of attending anyway. I was excited about the prospect of it being in Texas this year, and while I understand completely that it was out of your control what happened with that, when the event moved another 800 miles East totally killed ANY possibility of me (and I am willing to bet MANY of the other Westerners chances of attending).

I have to admit that I am a proponent of starting separate East and West events. We here in the Nor Cal group regularly host events where upwards of 25-30 cars show up. I realize that this is not anywhere on the scale of 5erFest, but its not liek we have the same 25 cars showing up each time too. I would say we have the same core of about 10-15 guys.

My push for having separate events comes not from divisiveness towards the community, but rather I cannot see how it would hurt to have MORE events to bring us all together. Everyone raves about how awesome 5erFest is each year, why the hell not have 2?! If the 6er guys can do it (and they ostensibly have a smaller user community than e28ers do) then why the hell can't we? I think there are plenty of guys who are willing to attend 2 events per year, and more guys who would attend an event thats more geographically convenient.

I will cut my rant short here. But suffice it to say that I am passionate about having more user involvement in the process. The whole exists to serve its members, not the other way around.....We make up the whole, and whatever the hell enough of us want to do, we CAN.

Jay3

[Shawn D.]

I think there may be a feeling of "we don't want to let it out of our control" amongst us out here in the West.

Did you mean you think the feeling is amongst us out here in the East (i.e. that us in the East don't want you folks in the West to have it)? Well, your suspicion is invalid. I have never known any of the organizers to have expressed any such thing.

My push for having separate events comes not from divisiveness towards the community, but rather I cannot see how it would hurt to have MORE events to bring us all together.

Having more events won't bring us together more than a single 5er Fest. The total number of folks going to a 5er Fest would increase, but each would probably be smaller and more divided.

[dez528e]

I can see people forming factions over this sort of thing if there were 2 events.

I'm willing to donate a website and hosting for next year's event, if it's needed.

[ElGuappo]

Shawn: I meant the feeling of 'not letting it out of our control' is coming from the East, from the ones with the control.

I cannot see how more events can divide us. If anything, I think that the way things are going the community is going to split geographically anyway, cause many of us out West are tired of not having access to the Big Event.

The bottom line is Events are going to happen out here, because we want them to happen. We are a fun a diverse crew out here and we like to get together, and things are coming to a head now. The 5erFest is just serving as a vehicle to shed light on a problem that has been brewing for a while.

Fear not dez, this community will not divide, we all share a common love, and for the most part are easy going people that just like to get together and talk about our cars and stuff related to said cars....This isnt the roach after all, the Exodus was to protect us from that sort of crap.
Of the people, Bye the people, For the people.........

Jay3

[landspeed]

Is this the first fest to allow E34's? I've got friends with E34's bugging me.

[Shawn D.]

I think there may be a feeling of "we don't want to let it out of our control" amongst us out here in the West.

Did you mean you think the feeling is amongst us out here in the East (i.e. that us in the East don't want you folks in the West to have it)? Well, your suspicion is invalid. I have never known any of the organizers to have expressed any such thing.

Shawn: I meant the feeling of 'not letting it out of our control' is coming from the East, from the ones with the control.

That's what I thought you meant. A person has a right to feel however they want, but I'll say again that none of the organizers of any of the 5er Fests that have been held over this way (five out of the six) has ever expressed that attitude, so what you're feeling is something you're generating, not us. I speak from experience, having been an organizer on all of those five -- our discussions are always frank and we don't hold back on what we see the issues are. Whether during a conference call or over beers, not wanting West Coast folks to have it has never come up in any manner.

[C.J.]

The problem that I have with 2 events is that even if they are held at different times of the year, just trying to get off work for one is a hassle for most people. Plus, you have to remember that many of us are still in school, so they would both have to be during the summer for most students to go. And, I'd really rather see everyone at 1 event, rather than see some at the 1st event and others at the 2nd.

[Jeremy]

The problem that I have with 2 events is that even if they are held at different times of the year, just trying to get off work for one is a hassle for most people. Plus, you have to remember that many of us are still in school, so they would both have to be during the summer for most students to go. And, I'd really rather see everyone at 1 event, rather than see some at the 1st event and others at the 2nd.

Besides which, I just totalled my credit card charges . . . and it cost me somewhere in the mid $500 range to attend Chattanooga this year. Mine was only a moderate drive (1000 miles each way or thereabouts). Most people would not be able to afford the time off or the cost to attend for 2 events. In that case, you'd have one group at the "western 5erFest" and another at the "eastern 5erFest". There would likely be some crossover, but not a lot. How many of you west coasters came out east these last couple years? I think I can count the number on one hand. Same goes for the 04 event, how many east coasters made it out there? As the event gets bigger, more will make the trek, but not if they have one closer to home.

As for you guys being held out of the loop, I can't speak to that directly, but I really don't think you were. We had one west coast member on a few of our conference calls this year so he could get an idea of how things worked. It's a fairly open process for anyone that makes an effort to be involved in it. As for "reliquinshing control", remember that this event has gotten better every year, so there's probably a small amount of anxiety relating to handing over 100% control all of a sudden. This event has developed a bit of a reputation, and none of the organizers want to see it's present status diminished in the future.

Which isn't to say anybody thinks you guys can't handle it, but try to understand where some of that resistance you may feel is coming from. Everybody that's worked on these events wants to be sure that the next one is at least as good as the last, and they work hard to ensure that.

That said, I'm still recovering from this year's event, so if certain people have been a bit slow to respond recently, remember that the big push at the end takes a bit to recover from before you want to really jump back in again.

Jeremy

[C.J.]

Jeremy, I really hope that the first thing you did to recover was sleep for a very long time .

And yeah, I forgot to add that the cost of attending one event is rather large, since you have to figure the cost of registration, gas, hotel room, beer, swap meet stuff, food, bail, etc. I don't think my budget could handle going to 2 meets.

[Bryan in SB]

Folks, there is no magic bullet. With one Fest that rotates throughout the States, there is not going to be any way to satisfy the demands of all. The fest will need to continue as it has, moving throughout the states which has worked well, or divide it.

Each has its pros and cons, and with division, there will need to be two of everything. This of course will invariably invite comparisons between the two and possible riffs. Of course it could also provide two killer events without any problems. The thing to remember is, a split may change this board and its members quite a bit. Are we ready for that?