So the Ginetta Owners Club ?
Discussion
"The Ginetta Owners Club " . So is it led by a guy with his own objective and his lap dog mate" but geeeee*******
I think" but I am a nobody, it could do with a breath of fresh air. And become an owners club of new and old ( Owners ) !!!! and not a promotional mag for the factory !!. he appears to aline him self/club to the factory, but with no regard to the owners of over 80%+ of older cars (Walklett designs). The mag"s and current leader/club views appear to have lost their way and have forgotten the history , loyalty, passion and longevity of the OWNERS!!!!!!
I think" but I am a nobody, it could do with a breath of fresh air. And become an owners club of new and old ( Owners ) !!!! and not a promotional mag for the factory !!. he appears to aline him self/club to the factory, but with no regard to the owners of over 80%+ of older cars (Walklett designs). The mag"s and current leader/club views appear to have lost their way and have forgotten the history , loyalty, passion and longevity of the OWNERS!!!!!!
I think you are going to have to explain this one to the rest of us.....
The GOC Chairman published a plea in Newsmag 112 for MEMBERS to tell him what direction/activities they want the club to engage in, so I would suggest "Mr Winner" joins the GOC, and then makes sure that the committee knows what he wants.
As for the future, you have to accept that, if the GOC is to flourish at all, then it has to engage with the people who are now charged with responsibility for developing the marque, and that is LNT. How many original G4s and G15s are left in circulation after all these years I don't know, but it will be a lot less than were made (which is less than you might think), and will be dwindling all the time. Ginetta made just 72 G21, so there won't be many of those around - and a production run of c.150 G32s is not enought to sustain an owners club purely on the marques history (apart from a handful of G33s, most of the other models are likely to be in single-figures).
The G26/G31 series cars are now popping up in salvage yards, and change hands on the online auction sites for pocket-money, which is not a good sign that they are especially popular among enthusiasts, so expect these to gradualy disappear as well.
So - like it or not, the future of the GOC depends on the success of the company in the hands of LNT. People who cannot accept that can join the Historic Ginetta Register, but why not join both and keep a foot in both camps?
The GOC Chairman published a plea in Newsmag 112 for MEMBERS to tell him what direction/activities they want the club to engage in, so I would suggest "Mr Winner" joins the GOC, and then makes sure that the committee knows what he wants.
As for the future, you have to accept that, if the GOC is to flourish at all, then it has to engage with the people who are now charged with responsibility for developing the marque, and that is LNT. How many original G4s and G15s are left in circulation after all these years I don't know, but it will be a lot less than were made (which is less than you might think), and will be dwindling all the time. Ginetta made just 72 G21, so there won't be many of those around - and a production run of c.150 G32s is not enought to sustain an owners club purely on the marques history (apart from a handful of G33s, most of the other models are likely to be in single-figures).
The G26/G31 series cars are now popping up in salvage yards, and change hands on the online auction sites for pocket-money, which is not a good sign that they are especially popular among enthusiasts, so expect these to gradualy disappear as well.
So - like it or not, the future of the GOC depends on the success of the company in the hands of LNT. People who cannot accept that can join the Historic Ginetta Register, but why not join both and keep a foot in both camps?
After leading for four years approx., it seems to have declined to where we are today, the change of attitude you talk off is all too late. Like any political party, they all run their term, once the masses loose faith in their leader it is the beginning of the end, history shows this, it doesn't matter what the leaders do, they will never win back the people/members.
(so -like it or not the future of the GOC depends on the success of the company)
If the company goes under LNT/Ginetta, the owners club goes on. It is independent wether it has a 1000 members or 5 !! the club should promote all of its cars for the benefit of the owners and the mark. The club should support its members even if this goes against the factory ( normally a financial gain ) The Ginetta owners club should stand absolutely independent to build up the brand's name with their historical and new cars for the sole benefit of the owners.
If the company goes under LNT/Ginetta, the owners club goes on. It is independent wether it has a 1000 members or 5 !! the club should promote all of its cars for the benefit of the owners and the mark. The club should support its members even if this goes against the factory ( normally a financial gain ) The Ginetta owners club should stand absolutely independent to build up the brand's name with their historical and new cars for the sole benefit of the owners.
g4addicted said:
So - like it or not, the future of the GOC depends on the success of the company in the hands of LNT.
Can't see it myself. Surely the future of the GOC depends on the ability (and willingness) of the committee to engage all members (old and new) in promoting the GOC brand at events that will raise the clubs profile.
Yes the club should work closely with LNT, maybe jointly providing an owners club enclosure at race circuits where models from all eras can be displayed and owners can talk to Joe public enlightening him about Ginettas racing pedigree.
The club should remain independent of the factory and LNT need to acknowledge the history of the company they have bought. I wish LNT every success with the Ginetta brand but, if it does go pear shaped, the club needs to survive.
What I was meaning was that, in the longer term, if there are no cars being built then the size of the owners club will inevitably reduce as the number of cars left running will reduce over time. Look at the clubs associated with long-defunct specialist, limited-production marques, and in each case you will find a tiny group of like-minded enthusiasts coming together to keep their cars alive.
One inevitable consequence of a falling number of members is that the services offered by the owners club will also reduce over time, the quality of the magazine is likely to deteriorate etc, etc.
Already this year GOC subscriptions have increased by £5 because the size of the membership does not support current magazine production costs (the chairman commented in issue 113 that an increase in membership would allow subs to stay at the £20 level).
Rightly or wrongly, the committee have decided to increase subscriptions rather than compromise magazine production quality. A more productive solution might have been to leave subs as they were, and reduce the frequency of the magazine to quarterly rather than bi-monthly.
The added advantage to this would be that the magazine editor would then be able to be more selective on the content, drop things like the regurgitated email correspondence that holds very little interest to most people, and abridge the officers reports to make room for some interesting articles from the GOC 'technical experts' (apparently the GOC has one for each of the main models - so why don't we see something from them?), race and speed championship reports, etc.
One inevitable consequence of a falling number of members is that the services offered by the owners club will also reduce over time, the quality of the magazine is likely to deteriorate etc, etc.
Already this year GOC subscriptions have increased by £5 because the size of the membership does not support current magazine production costs (the chairman commented in issue 113 that an increase in membership would allow subs to stay at the £20 level).
Rightly or wrongly, the committee have decided to increase subscriptions rather than compromise magazine production quality. A more productive solution might have been to leave subs as they were, and reduce the frequency of the magazine to quarterly rather than bi-monthly.
The added advantage to this would be that the magazine editor would then be able to be more selective on the content, drop things like the regurgitated email correspondence that holds very little interest to most people, and abridge the officers reports to make room for some interesting articles from the GOC 'technical experts' (apparently the GOC has one for each of the main models - so why don't we see something from them?), race and speed championship reports, etc.
I think its simply a problem of fashion and the GOC along with many other classic/kitcar clubs have to accept that and make do with what they've got until the fashion changes. Of course LNT could have a huge impact on the fashion by producing a viable road car and aiming it at the right market. Attract young drivers with a road version of the GT Junior and their dads with a grown up V8 version. I've heard some people suggest we need a G32 replacement, bloody hell, it couldn't hack it when there was only the MR2 to worry about so there's absolutely no chance today with all the main stream manufacturers offering roadsters. I dont care who's behind the company, it will never compete against the big boys when it comes to cost and quality of finish. We need to specialise!!!
Our local car club membership is at its lowest for 5 years but we've seen it all before and will ride out the storm with the same old faces turning up at meetings and events. We can currently raise around 12 cars to attend local events down from approx 25 to 30 a couple of years ago.
On the other hand the cruise scene is incredibly fashionable, hundreds of the buggers in their Corsas and Saxo's doing donuts in the supermarket car park. They seem to have the disposable income and the time to do nothing else. Personally I hope when they grow up they steer well clear of Ginettas and we can attract a whole new breed of young Ginetta owner who haven't been brought up on a diet of winding up miserable old buggers like me.
Our local car club membership is at its lowest for 5 years but we've seen it all before and will ride out the storm with the same old faces turning up at meetings and events. We can currently raise around 12 cars to attend local events down from approx 25 to 30 a couple of years ago.
On the other hand the cruise scene is incredibly fashionable, hundreds of the buggers in their Corsas and Saxo's doing donuts in the supermarket car park. They seem to have the disposable income and the time to do nothing else. Personally I hope when they grow up they steer well clear of Ginettas and we can attract a whole new breed of young Ginetta owner who haven't been brought up on a diet of winding up miserable old buggers like me.
What if ? the club opens the club website with more weekly (or there about's ) social informative stuff so it would be more generally acceptable to Ginetta and non Ginetta owners. Stuff could be put on by area organizers ? or their mate.
An open discussion like here at PistonHeads.
But here is the radical bit for the subscription fee (the magazine), you register like now and download it from the computer this could open up the possibility of small video clip, and with more contributions a much fatter buy monthly computerized mag. I assume the mag is brought about on computer before going to print but instead just press the button "send to all" (subscribers) and look no printing cost for the owners club so subscriptions may come down?
People are going to say " but not everyone has got a computer", but most people nowadays at home, work, friend can download on a buy monthly occurrence, one would think.
So what do you think?
An open discussion like here at PistonHeads.
But here is the radical bit for the subscription fee (the magazine), you register like now and download it from the computer this could open up the possibility of small video clip, and with more contributions a much fatter buy monthly computerized mag. I assume the mag is brought about on computer before going to print but instead just press the button "send to all" (subscribers) and look no printing cost for the owners club so subscriptions may come down?
People are going to say " but not everyone has got a computer", but most people nowadays at home, work, friend can download on a buy monthly occurrence, one would think.
So what do you think?
g32turbo said:
On the other hand the cruise scene is incredibly fashionable, hundreds of the buggers in their Corsas and Saxo's doing donuts in the supermarket car park. They seem to have the disposable income and the time to do nothing else. Personally I hope when they grow up they steer well clear of Ginettas and we can attract a whole new breed of young Ginetta owner who haven't been brought up on a diet of winding up miserable old buggers like me.
Can we keep the good stuff from the cruise scene - like the Miss Wet T-shirt competitions? Now that would certainly boost attendance at the GOC speed championship rounds...
g4addicted said:
I know - I have suggested the Miss Wet T-shirt idea to the GOC in the past, and they just ignore me....
Well I think its a great idea, on second thoughts, can we wait until the age profile of the GOC changes.
Good point though, very little comment on, or willingness to take on board, good suggestions made in general conversation. Seems you have to make some sort of formal proposal before your views are even considered, hence the plea in the newsmag. Well I'm sorry, but people dont go out of their way to respond to pleas for ideas.
Now I know that GOC committee members view this forum (some may even contribute) and they also have their own forum. If they're serious about taking owners ideas on board why isnt one of them picking up on comments in threads on both forums, putting them together and using them as a basis for a brainstorm of new ideas at the next committee meeting.
So there you go, another idea, granted, not as good as the Wet T-Shirt one, but another idea all the same.
Have internet forums such as this one replaced the need for traditional owners' clubs?
Now that people can get information, help and 'lively' discussion at their fingertips, is the only advantage of paying a membership fee to a club the chance to receive a glossy magazine every so often?
Now that people can get information, help and 'lively' discussion at their fingertips, is the only advantage of paying a membership fee to a club the chance to receive a glossy magazine every so often?
I don't believe forums like these, will replace the traditional owners club. However, the traditional owners clubs need to adapt to thrive. Both have their place.
You Ginetta posters are part of a thriving community here, but I cannot recall the last time I spied a Ginetta at a PH event.
Come on guys... lets be 'aving you, to help raise their profile!
apprentice
You Ginetta posters are part of a thriving community here, but I cannot recall the last time I spied a Ginetta at a PH event.
Come on guys... lets be 'aving you, to help raise their profile!
apprentice
apprentice said:Good point - but the majority of used Ginettas out there are not road legal - therefore dificult to get to the event - I would guess that at least half of the Ginetta owning posters on this forum race their cars - and therefore fit into this bracket.
You Ginetta posters are part of a thriving community here, but I cannot recall the last time I spied a Ginetta at a PH event.
Come on guys... lets be 'aving you, to help raise their profile!
apprentice
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