My experience with the marque clubs, at least for autocrosses, has been fairly positive. But in our area site rentals can be very pricy so having a extra drivers involved keeps their costs down.
My experience with the marque clubs, at least for autocrosses, has been fairly positive. But in our area site rentals can be very pricy so having a extra drivers involved keeps their costs down.
I joined a club for people with I will say rare and sometimes expensive cars. There were a surprising number of ass holes there and I stopped going. Never felt I was really wealthy enough to fit in.
try driving a 4 door 50's through 70's anything to any type of hot rod meet. 90% of the comments are "too bad it's a 4 door" or "it has 2 too many doors." nevermind it fits your needs, has baby seats in the back, and will wipe the floor with their 2 door whatever in a straight line or around a corner.
"car guys" can be downright snooty nose up in the air snobs.
if it's cool, i like it. if you're at the track running it, that's even better.
I don't need reminding, in fact it could be the case that a majority of car enthusiasts are shiny happy people. You're already excluding yourself from most of them by sticking to motorsports events.
Worse than the Evo crowd is the brodozer crowd. Socially, that scene is the lowest level of hell.
Jesus, ever been to a traditional hotrod show? Now those attitudes can be down right nasty. Asking were their hotrod was usually shut them up. Because they don't have one.
There's a really rich guy who comes to some of our autocrosses. He lies about being a club member to get the $5 fee discount, then lies about his cars to get into lower classes, where he still gets his ass handed to him. Douchebag extraordinaire.
patgizz wrote: try driving a 4 door 50's through 70's anything to any type of hot rod meet.
There is a certain faction in all types of car groups that just hates 4-doors and always will. I dun geddit.
When I first started auto crossing there was a local "hotshoe" in my region who had a radically built car. My buddy and I were geeking out over his machine as newbies are prone to do. The owner came by and was a total asshat. He was arrogant, unfriendly and basically a Richard-head. It really stunned us, as we were car kids, and figured everyone was out there to have a good time, and drive the wheels off of their cars.
It was a bit of a rude awakening, but the jerk was the exception, not the norm. We met lots of other good folks and just ignored the rude guy. I still root against him whenever I see he's running though........ not that I hold a grudge...
Duke wrote: There's a really rich guy who comes to some of our autocrosses. He lies about being a club member to get the $5 fee discount, then lies about his cars to get into lower classes, where he still gets his ass handed to him. Douchebag extraordinaire.
Reminds me of a local douchebag extraordinaire who once brought a Westfield Megabird to the autocross and got his ass handed to him by "barefoot Rasta" in a bone stock, ratty old Datsun. He was a lot quieter after that 
My car was down for that event and I've really regretted not going to watch anyway... It was better than Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star and I missed it.
I have to wonder if he's the same unnamed idiot cartoon character who once pulled a gun on someone in the paddock way back when...he's a huge gun nut too, but I'd be a bit surprised if he was THAT much of an idiot 
On the other hand, I know a guy in my Marque club who owns an original version of one of the most rare modern Alfas. Super, super nice guy.
Very humble, too.
(yes, I've run into the jerks, too- in some places, they group together. even have run with a marque club where heard some complaining- but I don't hang out with them)
Not all marque clubs are bad.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:The_Jed wrote: Flat out...in the rain. :)berkeley yeah! Or, atleast sideways. The long wheelbase guys can really show off when it gets slick. Where is etifosi in that 300' long station wagon?
Well, I hate to be "that" guy but...I can't let you run a HPDE inside the wagon. Maybe an auto-x.....
My Marquis club isn't that exclusive, it's not "Grand" per say, but seating is limited to me plus 7. And technically, every time I get in the car, I ride with an shiny happy person anyway.
patgizz wrote: try driving a 4 door 50's through 70's anything to any type of hot rod meet. 90% of the comments are "too bad it's a 4 door" or "it has 2 too many doors." nevermind it fits your needs, has baby seats in the back, and will wipe the floor with their 2 door whatever in a straight line or around a corner.
Oh... try driving a Foreign car to a hot-rod/muscle car meet. A bunch of us with classic Volvos, MINI's and LBC's used to show up at a popular cruise night in NJ where the organizers all wore t-shirts that said, "What part of pre-1975 American cars ONLY don't you understand?" We would all park together just outside of their tape and mock them. A row of Volvo 1800's will attract no small amount of attention. They hated us.
alfadriver wrote: Not all marque clubs are bad.
You just haven't met yourself apparently 
The car guy population has always suffered with the true "car guy" and then the car "enthusiast". The car enthusiast is in it for the lifestyle. The person regurgitates E36 M3 they've heard without ever checking or learning it for themselves, and if they have a build thread, it usually is more along the lines of paying someone else to do the work, or they have a friend that they help who does all the work.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this individual, in fact, they are ~75% of the general population when it comes to any activity. Involved at the shallow end, but nothing substantial to their efforts/hobby.
And 4 door cars suck because back in the day they were designed as 2 door cars and the 2nd pair of doors always looks added on. 4 door cars nowadays are much more acceptable as they were designed to look good as 4 doors :p
Years ago we would show up at Porsche club events in our X1/9s and almost always finish at the top, beating all the high dollar Porsches. They banned us. We did the same at a few Corvette club events, and they never banned us and were pretty nice about it.
I dunno. I read through these forums and I see just as much closed minded hating of cars and groups that aren't someone's favorite as there are in any marque club event. You guys tend to be open minded about cheap beater projects, but that's about where it ends, it seems.
HiTempguy wrote:alfadriver wrote: Not all marque clubs are bad.You just haven't met yourself apparently
I try to limit that to some special people.
There is a reason I stopped associating with car people. Too many of them use their vehicles as "enhancements"
I was admiring a beautiful hand built cedar kayak one day and the owner came back. I said "that is a beautiful kayak" and he said "yeah don't touch it"
And I said "wow what a dick head" because where else do you go with that?
Duke wrote:patgizz wrote: try driving a 4 door 50's through 70's anything to any type of hot rod meet.There is a certain faction in *all* types of car groups that just hates 4-doors and always will. I dun geddit.
They're jealous you paid half as much for a nearly identical car.
bearmtnmartin wrote: I was admiring a beautiful hand built cedar kayak one day and the owner came back. I said "that is a beautiful kayak" and he said "yeah don't touch it" And I said "wow what a dick head" because where else do you go with that?
"Aww E36 M3, too late bud. Sorry, you may want to wash that seat down, I sat on it nekked"
mtn wrote:bearmtnmartin wrote: I was admiring a beautiful hand built cedar kayak one day and the owner came back. I said "that is a beautiful kayak" and he said "yeah don't touch it" And I said "wow what a dick head" because where else do you go with that?"Aww E36 M3, too late bud. Sorry, you may want to wash that seat down, I sat on it nekked"
"Don't worry, my nuts are pretty soft. I didn't scratch the finish."
Chris_V wrote: I dunno. I read through these forums and I see just as much closed minded hating of cars and groups that aren't someone's favorite as there are in any marque club event. You guys tend to be open minded about cheap beater projects, but that's about where it ends, it seems.
nailed it.
Chris_V wrote: I dunno. I read through these forums and I see just as much closed minded hating of cars and groups that aren't someone's favorite as there are in any marque club event. You guys tend to be open minded about cheap beater projects, but that's about where it ends, it seems.
I will admit to this on my own count to a point. While I can appreciate the fab work and details in some bro-dozers, the general attitude of the owners ive met have just reinforced the stereotypes for me.
Most others i can appreciate for what they are. May not be my style, but then again my junk ain't most people's.
I used to be a die hard mopar guy. If it wasn't mopar, it was crap. Then dad bought a c4 corvette, and I wound up in a mazdaspeed protege fir a little while. Really opened my eyes to the greater world of cars and build styles. Now im trying to own one of almost every major manufacturer, except the high end exotic stuff. Out of my price range. Im even lusting after lbc's these days.
I also am a victim of the Richard cranium comments with my pro-touring cars, as they are pretty lowbbudget for that crowd. They also tend to lean towards stock alpearing. Thise guys shut up when I beat their lap time in 100 ea federals.
racerdave600 wrote: Years ago we would show up at Porsche club events in our X1/9s and almost always finish at the top, beating all the high dollar Porsches. They banned us. We did the same at a few Corvette club events, and they never banned us and were pretty nice about it.
I've run with the local Corvette club at autocrosses. It's pretty funny, they have about a dozen classes for Corvettes and then one for "metal cars". We'll usually take FTD by a second or two, but you'd swear it had never happened. It's just not acknowledged.
I run a local track day group and the Corvette guys are always invited but never show. They run one track day a year and are always apologizing to me - if I mention the date - that it's sold out. They'll never volunteer the information as to when it is, I have to hunt it down in the Corvette newsletters.
Nice enough guys, but they just don't want to look too far past plastic two-seaters. The exception is if you stuffed an LS engine in an MG
There are some Miata guys who are as bad or worse. We made the mistake of sponsoring a Mazda event one time, a bunch of Miata owners boycotted it because there would be non-Miatas there. Seriously, it's a cool car and all, but the automotive world is a lot bigger than that!
racerdave600 wrote: Years ago we would show up at Porsche club events in our X1/9s and almost always finish at the top, beating all the high dollar Porsches. They banned us. We did the same at a few Corvette club events, and they never banned us and were pretty nice about it.
My first time at a PCA event I showed up in an STS Miata. The course definitely favored horsepower. I was one of the later people to get first runs. I posted a time that was well ahead of 2/3 of the field. The guy handing out time slips met me with a big playful grin on his face and said, "This must be a Miata course. Nice time." It set the stage for a very positive experience with the club.
I find the biggest dbags are the ones that make a living selling parts and services to a particular single car maker group of enthusiasts, and their fanboi entourages that always seem to chime in on their behalf. A cool car is a cool car whether its your cup of tea or not. Don't be hating because they ain't you. You look like a fool when the car you just slammed ran circles around you.
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