Viper Owner Invitational # 10

[YELLOH]

Hi Bill
Salt Lake City sounds like there would be some nice scenery to be driven, on days not at the track. Would think they would have the VOI #10, but wouldn't be surprise if they said this is the last one. Vegas was my first one and this one can't come fast enough.

 

[Viper X]

Bill P makes some good points about having VOI 10 in Salt Lake City. Nice track, lots to see and do. Vegas isn't too far away ..... in fact, it's on the way.

Dan

PS Rocket, take a pill ..... and mellow out. Never knew you mid- western boys were so sensitive. There is little or no chance VOI 10 will be held in Vegas again, if there even is a VOI 10!

 

[PaViper]

Dan, aren't you in Phoenix at the Presidents meeting, I would think that it has been decided by now...someone needs to enlighten the rest of us

 

[Schulmann]

The question is how to reduce the cost of the VOI.
All VOI events cost 2-3 mio to Dodge.
It is not easy to justify that money these days.

Last year we hold a 3 days event at Calabogie (Open House Days 2007) that cost only $500 per car on a week-end with open bar !!! We had 250 persons and 120 cars. Participants got a big souvenir bag with plenty of things. We had even a DVD made at the event. So I just can't get how an event like VOI cost so much.

And Viper days runs around $700.

I think regarding cost we should be able to build something outstanding for $1500 per car !!!! At present VOI costs around 4000$ per car which is ridiculous ....

I think we should work on the local club levels to organize VOI. Clubs should submit a proposal for VIO 10. They will be in charge of organizing it. On the Presidents level we already should have had discussions but nothing was done so far. Ideally in Phoenix we should only vote on the best projects.


Personnaly I don't care where it is as long as we have a great party. Salt Lake, Detroit, Sebring, fl .

We can even rent the airport in Montreal to hold the VOI... Ah yeh, the airport is available for racing here day and night from 8am to 11pm ...

So local Presidents if you have something in your bag propose it at the Phoenix presidents' meeting. The Viper club belongs to Viper owners that we represent. Viper owners want a VOI ! So lets' have organize it and stop complaining about problems. Lets talk about solutions.

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Dan, aren't you in Phoenix at the Presidents meeting, I would think that it has been decided by now...someone needs to enlighten the rest of us

Meetings don't start until Friday

 

[Vipermann]

The question is how to reduce the cost of the VOI.
All VOI events cost 2-3 mio to Dodge.
It is not easy to justify that money these days.

You have to wonder if the Dodge marketing light bulb is on at full power these days ... with all the junk on SPEED channel these days, you'd think Dodge would invite them to be there -- to see (and hear) ALL those Vipers in one place, and then broadcast a short 30 min segment about the event. I just watched the Porsche Rennsport event on TV the other day, so I know SPEED does that kind of thing -- then Dodge could get some more value from their investment.

 

[MoparMan]

You have to wonder if the Dodge marketing light bulb is on at full power these days ... with all the junk on SPEED channel these days, you'd think Dodge would invite them to be there -- to see (and hear) ALL those Vipers in one place, and then broadcast a short 30 min segment about the event. I just watched the Porsche Rennsport event on TV the other day, so I know SPEED does that kind of thing -- then Dodge could get some more value from their investment.

...maybe instead they'll have a two hour commercial for the Sprinter and Dodge truck chassis at VOI.10...

 

[YELLOH]

Andras, those are some good pointers. Let the state club bid and host the event. This way Dodge just has to show up to the event, with there cars for advertising. I think that was one major expense at the VOI's is renting the oval track and having the whole Skip Barber driving team there for safety and probably insurance, and I have no idea how many transport trucks they had at the last VOI.

 

[Schulmann]

You are right Rick the track rental and the instructors are a major cost factor. This is why it is better to work with locals who know the local ressources available. I would also think about low speed tracks with wide run over place. An airport is not bad at all. I think in Chicago they have a lapping club at the airport.

We could get 10-20 local instructors knowing the track and 10 Viper specialized guys. Local guys don't need hotel and plane ticket. We can work on a lot of things.

Or instead of having a track we could setup 2-3 type of autocross events where we don't need instructors. Why follow the regular path ? Lets change a couple of things. The most important is to be open minded to get over the difficulties.

I had a lot of pressure to setup an autocross at Calabogie but we didn't have the ressources. We had a lot of fun without the autocross and not a single person complained.

We can also finance the VOI by selling raffle tickets for several Vipers ...

There are plenty of solutions. I WANT THE VOI TO TAKE PLACE !

 

[YELLOH]

Andras , Calabogie was great, and Canada would be a great place for this event. Pull a few strings next weekend. If not I will see you at Viper Days next June

 

[RX VIPER]

Sorry to butt in on an interesting aurgument, but the hotels I believe the first person is talking about are between Chicago and Joliet along I55. There are hotels, hotels and more hotels along I55 between Joliet and Chicago near Bolingbrook, Plainfield, etc., etc., etc... I drive from Peoria to Chicago all the time and there are enough hotels to handle 10 Viper Clubs. Would someone who lives in or near Chicago jump in on this? I am not looking for an argument, just stating what I see on every trip. I like the idea of St. Louis as it is a big enough city with plenty to do and is easy to drive around in and there are plenty of hotels in the downtown area and on either side of the river. Just an idea...

George- VOI6 (Aug 2000) was here in STL. We stayed at the Adam's Mark downtown and did a cruise up the great river road and Gateway Intl' of course!