Omicron
06-12-2004, 09:06 PM
Day 1:
We began our first day of the meet with a rally at McDonald Mazda in Littleton, which is a South suberb of Denver. McDonald had cleared the majority of their main lot and set up a large tent, a half dozen long tables, lots of chairs, and a huge barbeque grill. We got the registration/membership/raffle table set up, hung a big "Mazda RX-8 banner" and a couple of "RX-8 Parking only - others will be towed" signs, and the members started to arrive.
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0003_1.sized.jpg
Over 15 of our members showed up over the next hour or so, and a total of 5 new members also arrived and signed up for the club... so all in all, we had 20 RX-8s come to the meet, and maybe 40 people. All this in our first year - and the club only formed January! Can't wait to see how many come next year! We also had a few folks show up who were just interested in the car and are considering buying one, one of which took a test drive and came back hooked - of course. :D What better sales tool for Mazda too... get a bunch of fanatical RX-8 owners together and let them just talk about the car with anyone who is interested. I know I would have been convinced to buy one, had I been on the fence about it!
So we spent from 9AM-12noon talking with each other, eating the burgers and hotdogs provided and cooked by McDonald Mazda, and finding reasons to give away prizes provided to us by Mazda corporate. These included the Yamaguchi RX-8 book, AutoArt 1/32 model of our georgeous cars, Mazda RX-8 thermal mugs and thermos bottles, and Mazda shirts. We had so much stuff (THANKS, McDonald and MAZDA!) that EVERYONE got at least 1 prize, and many got two or three - and just about everyone got what they wanted!
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0008_1.sized.jpg
Of course, quite a few of us (myself incuded!) spent some time taking apart our cars to discuss the mods we've done with other members. For instance, I took my ECU cover off and fielded at least an hours worth of questions about the CanZoomer Stage 1.1 that lives there, many of which came from the sales staff at McDonald Mazda! :)
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0022.sized.jpg
At about noon we had the much-anticipated RAFFLE drawing. (Tickets cost $5 each or 5 for $20) Thanks to the generosity of a bunch of different vendors, we had some REALLY nice prizes. Check it out:
1st prize: An RX-8 Borla Exhaust from Borla, value $600.
2nd prize: Mazdaspeed PianoBlack B-Pillars from CanZoomer, value $180.
3rd prize: A Gift Certificate from SoCalMotorsports, value $100.
4th prize: Clear corner lights from Rotary Extreme, value $50.
5th prize: Clear corner lights from Rotary Extreme, value $50.
6th prize: Clear corner lights from Rotary Extreme, value $50.
6th prize: An RX-8 center armrest cover from Zeta Products, value $45.
7th prize: A Rocky Mountain RX-8 Club polo shirt from Polak Graphics, value $25.
8th prize: A Gift Certificate from Lily's Cheesecakes of Longmont, CO, value $25.
Too cool for words... this prize list is going to be a tough act to follow next year!
So this pretty much took care of the rally part of day 1. We gave everyone about a 1/2 hour to get gas, then hit the road for the mountains in one long caravan of 18 RX-8s! Man, what a sight... 18 RX-8 all in a long string headed up C470 bound for the mountains! You should have seen the attention we got! :D
It was pretty hard to stay together, but we managed and arrived at the base of Squaw Peak road. We then had a wonderful drive up a georgeous mountain road, marred only by one slow-moving mini van, who pretty quickly figured out he was holding up the long string of 18 hot sports cars in his rear view mirror. He graciously pulled over, and we were able to all enjoy a "vigorous" drive up the mountain. Our pace-setter, Serff, did a marvelous job of not only picking our route out in advance, but also pushing just fast enough that we all enjoyed our cars and the drive without scaring ourselves to death.
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0040.sized.jpg
We stopped twice on the way up to take pictures - what a sight, 18 RX-8s in all of the colors, parked alongside a beautiful mountain road! - then arrived without incident at our mountain-top destination: the cute little town of Idaho Springs. We actually managed to find a short access road where we could all park together in the now-familiar long string of RX-8s! Lunch was at a cute place called "Skippers" and was hosted by Skipper himself, who looks exactly like the name would imply. The food was good, the company excellent, and a good time was had by all.
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0043.sized.jpg
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0070.sized.jpg
We finally wrapped up and headed back down the mountain at about 5PM. Most folks split off at this point and went home, but a half dozen or so of us who were planning on tracking our cars the next day all headed to the group hotel for a little classroom time about track driving, provided to us by our own DPLoher. He's been driving track events for the last 7 years and actually owns a race car, so he's very well qualified to teach us novices! We wrapped up about 8PM and headed home for the day, tired but happy.
We began our first day of the meet with a rally at McDonald Mazda in Littleton, which is a South suberb of Denver. McDonald had cleared the majority of their main lot and set up a large tent, a half dozen long tables, lots of chairs, and a huge barbeque grill. We got the registration/membership/raffle table set up, hung a big "Mazda RX-8 banner" and a couple of "RX-8 Parking only - others will be towed" signs, and the members started to arrive.
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0003_1.sized.jpg
Over 15 of our members showed up over the next hour or so, and a total of 5 new members also arrived and signed up for the club... so all in all, we had 20 RX-8s come to the meet, and maybe 40 people. All this in our first year - and the club only formed January! Can't wait to see how many come next year! We also had a few folks show up who were just interested in the car and are considering buying one, one of which took a test drive and came back hooked - of course. :D What better sales tool for Mazda too... get a bunch of fanatical RX-8 owners together and let them just talk about the car with anyone who is interested. I know I would have been convinced to buy one, had I been on the fence about it!
So we spent from 9AM-12noon talking with each other, eating the burgers and hotdogs provided and cooked by McDonald Mazda, and finding reasons to give away prizes provided to us by Mazda corporate. These included the Yamaguchi RX-8 book, AutoArt 1/32 model of our georgeous cars, Mazda RX-8 thermal mugs and thermos bottles, and Mazda shirts. We had so much stuff (THANKS, McDonald and MAZDA!) that EVERYONE got at least 1 prize, and many got two or three - and just about everyone got what they wanted!
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0008_1.sized.jpg
Of course, quite a few of us (myself incuded!) spent some time taking apart our cars to discuss the mods we've done with other members. For instance, I took my ECU cover off and fielded at least an hours worth of questions about the CanZoomer Stage 1.1 that lives there, many of which came from the sales staff at McDonald Mazda! :)
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0022.sized.jpg
At about noon we had the much-anticipated RAFFLE drawing. (Tickets cost $5 each or 5 for $20) Thanks to the generosity of a bunch of different vendors, we had some REALLY nice prizes. Check it out:
1st prize: An RX-8 Borla Exhaust from Borla, value $600.
2nd prize: Mazdaspeed PianoBlack B-Pillars from CanZoomer, value $180.
3rd prize: A Gift Certificate from SoCalMotorsports, value $100.
4th prize: Clear corner lights from Rotary Extreme, value $50.
5th prize: Clear corner lights from Rotary Extreme, value $50.
6th prize: Clear corner lights from Rotary Extreme, value $50.
6th prize: An RX-8 center armrest cover from Zeta Products, value $45.
7th prize: A Rocky Mountain RX-8 Club polo shirt from Polak Graphics, value $25.
8th prize: A Gift Certificate from Lily's Cheesecakes of Longmont, CO, value $25.
Too cool for words... this prize list is going to be a tough act to follow next year!
So this pretty much took care of the rally part of day 1. We gave everyone about a 1/2 hour to get gas, then hit the road for the mountains in one long caravan of 18 RX-8s! Man, what a sight... 18 RX-8 all in a long string headed up C470 bound for the mountains! You should have seen the attention we got! :D
It was pretty hard to stay together, but we managed and arrived at the base of Squaw Peak road. We then had a wonderful drive up a georgeous mountain road, marred only by one slow-moving mini van, who pretty quickly figured out he was holding up the long string of 18 hot sports cars in his rear view mirror. He graciously pulled over, and we were able to all enjoy a "vigorous" drive up the mountain. Our pace-setter, Serff, did a marvelous job of not only picking our route out in advance, but also pushing just fast enough that we all enjoyed our cars and the drive without scaring ourselves to death.
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0040.sized.jpg
We stopped twice on the way up to take pictures - what a sight, 18 RX-8s in all of the colors, parked alongside a beautiful mountain road! - then arrived without incident at our mountain-top destination: the cute little town of Idaho Springs. We actually managed to find a short access road where we could all park together in the now-familiar long string of RX-8s! Lunch was at a cute place called "Skippers" and was hosted by Skipper himself, who looks exactly like the name would imply. The food was good, the company excellent, and a good time was had by all.
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0043.sized.jpg
http://www.rockymountainrx8.com/albums/rx8meet1/DSCF0070.sized.jpg
We finally wrapped up and headed back down the mountain at about 5PM. Most folks split off at this point and went home, but a half dozen or so of us who were planning on tracking our cars the next day all headed to the group hotel for a little classroom time about track driving, provided to us by our own DPLoher. He's been driving track events for the last 7 years and actually owns a race car, so he's very well qualified to teach us novices! We wrapped up about 8PM and headed home for the day, tired but happy.