Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches Spring Zing Where would you like to have SZ 06?

bigger is not always better. A lot of people are gonna be mad if there is 200 people there and only 15 dyno slots. We dynoed 17 people this year and there were still 1 or 2 other people that wanted to dyno if we had time. I know Comfort Suites has a big banquet hall, but Im not sure if it could fit 200 people comfortably, or if we can even get Comfort Inn Suites. I want to play it safe. I dont think Jim Baileys would even let us park 100+ cars in their lot. We had 40 this year at the Show N Shine. Customer parking is their main priority, and I dont want to ruin our welcome by filling up their whole lot. I dont want SZ to become overwhelmed with Cougars and have more Cougars there than Contours, and lose its sole purpose for the National Contour Meet, when it really felt like the National Cougar Meet. Like I said, if they want to come, they are more than welcome to. We've had Cougars, Foci, and SHO's come before, but im not going to be pushing very hard for HUGE groups like that to attend, like Mark and I did this year. We want this to be the National Contour meet. Do you see where im coming from?

Btw, from what I understand, the Cougar guys feel the same way with their Cougar Fest. They like to have their "own" meet.

We seem to have a well balanced event, imo.

I hear what you're saying about the big mixed meets.

It's obvious it'll never happen since the two groups have already established their own ways of doing meets each year, and their own time frames (CF always Summer/July, SZ always Spring/May).
It's nice when a few from each group show up to each other's national meet, especially like in my situation, when the timing of one doesn't work, but the timing of the other works out perfectly.

more SHO's would definitely rock. I like the variety.
But it's obvious that anytime a SZ is planned, Contiques will always be in the majority.

oh and GO Ft Wayne! WOOT!

Getting some SHOs involved shouldn't be too big a problem, though in the past the SHO guys were never too big on SZ. Not sure why, it wasn't for my lack of efforts that's for sure

The 00 SHO convention had a similar traveling setup through Indiana. The big problem there was an extremely high cost-something like $200 per person BEFORE a track event. Come to think of it, I don't believe there was a track event that year. The cost was high because they stuck in the admission costs for a lot of things that were deemed "of interest." I wouldn't do that for SZ... I'd point out places of possible interest, but admission for everything would be pay as you go.

My idea for a "one lap" SZ is to avoid major distances or high costs. Nor am I thinking of stretching SZ out over a week. Stick to the extended weekend formula, Thursday-Sunday. This is just off the top of my head, but here's something I have in mind.

Kick things off on Thursday in Kalamazoo, for old times sake. Hold open track at GingerMan for those wanting to do hot laps. Plan some other events in there as well, TBD later.

Friday, Kalamazoo - Ft. Wayne. That's only about an hour's drive if you go straight through. Start the road rally for those interested, plan some museum visits, sites of interest etc. Maybe schedule the dyno for Friday as well.

Saturday, Ft. Wayne to Detroit. This would be the biggest driving day with approx. 3 hours via I-69/96. Set up 1/4 runs at Lapeer dragway... Lapeer is a real popular strip for the MI SHO crowd. It's fairly secluded so people generally get lots of runs, and it's a fast track. I think the test & tune times start Saturday afternoon, so we wouldn't have to rent the track out.

Sunday, Detroit-?? Perhaps stay in the area for the autoX or dip down into Ohio somewhere. Big banquet Sunday evening with trophies for individual and cumulative road rally winners, guest speakers, door prizes, all the usual.

Yes, it would be a little longer than past SZs but only by about a day all total. We'd cover in the neighborhood of 500 miles or so, and yeah we'd be at a different hotel each night, but does that really matter? We'd be paying for rooms regardless, may as well get out and see some sights insted of staying in one place.

As always, events would be pay as you go. If you're a hardcore racer you could conceivably hit GingerMan, Muncie Speedway, Milan & Lapeer as they'd all be reasonably close to the route (I would personally set up a special ironman award for anyone who did that ) If you only have a couple days you could choose to meet up for a specific leg of the journey. If you just want to enjoy the drive, you could focus on the sights and the road rally portion of the event. There would be some extra cost for gas, but aside from that I don't see any added costs over a static convention. Plus, we'd be visiting ALL the past SZ locations, save for Springfield. And hey, for the REAL hardcore folks out there perhaps they'd want to start in Springfield on Wednesday... it's a 5 hour drive from there to the 'zoo

For me personally, part of the joy in a convention is meeting with the people, but also enjoying our cars in the performance environment they were meant for, and sharing that experience with others. That's really what I was thinking of when I came up with a "one lap" style SZ. Hanging out with the big groups in the evening or at the track events, but in the middle frolicking through the countryside with smaller groups, enjoying the performance of our cars. I'm personally familiar with all kinds of side roads and beautiful cruises in the region, and I have a whole pile of people to help with the planning

Aside from extra gas $$$ I don't see any additional costs in this kind of convention. And I think a schedule like this would be doable in the normal SZ time constraints... we'd just have full days on Thursday and Sunday, which traditionally have been the days people are either arriving or departing.

But like I said, I'll be happy to help out with ANY SZ planning. And if the SZ one lap sounds good I'll kick my *** to make sure it's entertaining while staying affordable.

Once again, this is just a ROUGH idea of what I had in mind.

you make a damn good convincing argument...
lots of pondering here.

I personally would not be down for all that driving. Do you have any idea how many tickets I would get :P

I loved last years spring zing, central location, and by the first night people had a grasp on the area.

Tons of things to do at night , and the car scene is huge there in ft wayne.

Also in regards to having a ton of cougars.... no thanks, I liked having it our small group. Of course other people showing up is just as welcome, just not hundreds of them

I do like the plan, Hunter, but on the last day everyone has to go home (or so is scheduled)

How do we plan to get people home who may or may not know preciesly where they are going? Personally speaking SZ05 was my first "guidied" trip outside my own state; fun, but would have been aggravating if I didn't have a crew to fly home with

Feel what I mean?

But otherwise.. I like it. Fort Wayne is still hit up; we all get to see the locale again. But the simplicity of one location is going to deter the "new" travellers the most I think.

Anything is possible with good planning. Just throwing my excessively tired two cents in..

i'm not arguing tha ft wayne isnt a good place...i just dont think we are realizing our full turnout potential...make a list of everyone who wanted to go but couldnt because of the location....i just think it could be better if it was a little farther south....or more southeast to be exact...

The trouble with location is that you'll never find a place where everyone will be happy. It also depends on the people who are doing the organization. Trust me, it's HARD to set up a convention if you don't have anyone in the area willing to help out.

As for departing on Sunday... with a one lap SZ perhaps we could keep the banquet on Saturday and have the Detroit area be our last stop? Then sunday would just be the autoX and people could head out after it's over. That would make Saturday a very busy day unless we rearranged some things, but still doable IMO.

I also agree about not taking it too big. I always thought the SHO & Contour crowds were pretty similar; good performing Ford sedans that got the shaft SZ as always been a Contour event, even when we were campaigning real hard for the SHO crowd in SZ01 and 02, and I think it should remain as the national Contour meet. Jazz it up with some SHOs and unofficial word of mouth invites, but keep it a Contour thing.