Car Clubs! What are they doing right and what are they doing wrong?

[Neale]

I have been a member of multiple clubs for over 5 years now, & have had some great time & met some great people. I also have seen the bad in clubs but never personally had a problem with the clubs that I am involved in. I try never to get involved In the politics, & try to just be part of the club to have a good time.

There are some clubs that I have considered joining but I didn't feel welcome when I have been involved with them, so I just moved on & found a club that I enjoyed participating in.

I only got this email from CAMS today which may help anyone out there that is part of a CAMS affiliated club. CAMS are holding NSW CAR CLUB WORKSHOPS that will provide a range of self-assessment tools that will improve the health of your club or ensure it stays in good shape.


This is an invitation to All NSW CAMS Affiliated Car Clubs to attend the Workshops which have been agreed by both CAMS and the NSW Department of Sport and Recreation to run for your sporting club or association who on the night will provide a range of self-assessment tools that will improve the health of your club or ensure it stays in good shape.

The Workshops which have been made available are identified below – there is a limit of 5 members per club to attend these workshops. You are welcome to choose as many workshops as you like. There is over $2,000 worth of workshops which are subsidised by CAMS for YOUR CLUB!
•Saturday 3rd August, 2013 - Club Planning Workshop - 9:00am-12:00pm
•Wednesday 11th September, 2013 - Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers - 6:00pm-9:00pm
•Wednesday 16th October, 2013 - Sponsorship, Fundraising and Grants - 6:30pm-9:00pm
•Wednesday 6th November, 2013 - Website Management - 6:00pm-9:00pm

These workshops will help you to:
•Assisting with Club Planning
•Cover new and important information regarding Member Protection
•How to attain volunteers and retain their services
•How to manage your club website.
•How to apply for Government grants and assist with sponsorship packages.



Just bring a pen and a notepad to absorb this information which in turn could benefit and prolong the future success of your car club. Stay tuned to our website (www.cams.com.au) for further information.

Venue: Sports House Building - 6A Figtree Drive, Sydney Olympic Park, NSW 2127
Room: Ken Brown Rooms (Entry via rear carpark)
Cost: FREE (subsidised by CAMS)

To enrol into these workshops please contact Ronny via:
Email: Ronny.Maroun@cams.com.au or by phone: (02) 8116 9865.

Please note that the course may be rescheduled if the minimum requirement of attendees is not met.

[Trevor 57]

As it is a CAMS event it is most likely focussed on those car clubs that do motorsport events like rally's, motokana's, etc

[mikeeman_ford]

I have seen both sides of the coin.

I was part of a Ford club, and it was a bunch of mid life crisis guys who all owned newer GT's, wouldn't know the first thing about what is under the bonnet, and wouldn't talk to you as you didn't have the "right" ford. Bunch of losers who think their ***** dont stink.

And i have also been part of a club recently where there is a large variety of cars, meetings are in a circle, so you can sit in the back and heckle, and they are genuinely happy to hear about your car, and ask for your thoughts on meeting cruises, if there is any suggestions. They seem to be more about a social club with cruises.

A car club should be something that the entire family would be happy to be apart of.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by mikeeman_ford

I have seen both sides of the coin.

I was part of a Ford club, and it was a bunch of mid life crisis guys who all owned newer GT's, wouldn't know the first thing about what is under the bonnet, and wouldn't talk to you as you didn't have the "right" ford. Bunch of losers who think their ***** dont stink.

And i have also been part of a club recently where there is a large variety of cars, meetings are in a circle, so you can sit in the back and heckle, and they are genuinely happy to hear about your car, and ask for your thoughts on meeting cruises, if there is any suggestions. They seem to be more about a social club with cruises.

A car club should be something that the entire family would be happy to be apart of.

You've hit the nail on the head right there. It should be fun, it should be welcoming of everyone, there should be able to be good natured heckling of each others choice of car, but everyone should know it's a joke. When we were in a car club many years back, we owned a done up TE Gemini with graphics on it (as was the fad at the time). People would make jibes about the "tarted up little four banger", but those of us with four cylinder cars would just joke to the guys with the big V8's about how many new friends they must make when they have to keep stopping for petrol every hundred kilometers, and so on.

When I was the secretary of a motorcycle enthusiasts club for five long years (never put up your hand to offer to be secretary...no one else will want the job at the next AGM & you'll be stuck with it...), I stood in for the President for a month or so when he was in hospital. His advice to me? "Don't p1ss anyone off". And that was it.

When you are in a good club, it will welcome everyone, it will be a fun place to be, people won't take themselves too seriously, and there will be a wide variety of characters and vehicles. It will be a place you will happily take your wife and kids to a weekend BBQ. The only contact your club should have with police is when you're organising a cruise or a show.

In our bike club, we only once or twice asked someone to leave the club. I suppose we had ourselves to blame...we had a "policy" of never knocking back a membership application...probably we were naive and just let everyone in. But, it generally worked. One of the people kicked out was a young hothead with a GSX1000 who rode everywhere...and I mean everywhere...like he was in the lead on the last lap at Phillip Island with the points leader up his backside. We would gather for our monthly ride, nominate a ride captain and a "tail end charlie", and set off...to watch him vanish into the distance as soon as we headed off. When he did ride with us, he would overtake unsafely, carve through the bunch of riders, and generally act like a moron. He was the very epitome of a "temporary Australian". He also mercilessly mocked the rest of us "slow bastards", and would give the finger to every police car we passed, believe it or not...which drew a lot of unwelcome attention and resulted in the rest of us getting pulled over all the time.
Sometimes for the good of the club, you just have to let some people go, and be prepared to tell them to bugger off.

A note on organising a club: if you want to be "official", then look into becoming an "Incorporated" club. It's a very good thing, but be aware that there's a bit of work involved and you have to have an official committee and keep a close eye on the books. It does however mean that you can organise club registration fairly easily, being incorporated.

[outback_ute]

If you are looking at joining a car club I would say go to an event they run or a bigger one they have a display at, talk to some of the members there, then go to one of their meetings. From that you should get a good idea of what the club & people involved are like, what they do and if it will suit you.