Date posted here does not necessarily match the date minutes were submitted.
January 31, 2011 at 2:37 am
Eric and Bonnie Gibeaut
I posted this note from Pat here so everyone can see my reply. Pat can you please post United info here for the board to read versus email? Thank-you.
I think a combined show would be interesting and work well-we did the same at the United this last year in Maine. It looks like you are really putting together a great United weekend and everything is falling in place. I think a train ride/dinner would be a nice addition if you can get it lined up. Curt what did you think of the hotel and the area?
Thanks again for your hard work!
Eric
To the board,
As you guys are well aware of,Sunbeams United 30 will be in French Lick Indiana.We have made some great connections in the town to accomodate us Sunbeam folk in October..I would like to keep all the board involved in what our team has been doing and what our general plans have been up to now.The hotel Is called French Lick Springs Resort as some may already be aware of and Is located in Southern Indiana.I know most say and wonder why Indiana?Southern Indiana is A great area,rollings hills, amazing views,and just generally a perfect area to bring a Sunbeam and enjoy some great driving and great people.The town itself backs up to the Hoosier National Forest as well.
Below is kinda a general rundown of what we have going on.It is not fully detailed by any means and that will come in the next few months.
I guess I can start with featured guests and what it will mean to make United 30 standout.
We have confirmed Larry Mayfield as a featured guest and speaker at the banquet dinner,He will be around and would like to be involved with everyone at united for the entire weekend.We feel this be something different and many would love to hear him talk about racing on the salts and building a Sunbeam to do that with.Some may not know that he also is original owner of tiger,and still has it.another guest we have that we have attending is John Clegg,He was designer and engineer for Rootes Group and designed agmonst many things for Rootes,the 1725cc Alpine motor.I personally cannot take the credit for roping John into going to United though,that was Tiger Toms smooth talking.we think about doing some q&a with him or maybe some tech tips,,not to sure yet but I like said the fine details can be provided in the next few months.Barry Schomberger,and Tom Patton will be attending as well,maybe to speak at the banquet and more so just to mingle,The race tigers will be with them as well so that should be something cool that not everyone gets to see often.Dennis Gage has also confimed that he will be at the car show with his crew since its located about 30 miles away from his home office.I actually just recieved his email to confirm it.
Car Show
RARE ROOTES,I want to see more of them and that has been my main focus as of lately,we all know the Tiger and Alpine guys will show but Rare Rootes is my target.Originally I had wanted to host the car show at the hotel on one of there many golf courses,Im leaning on going with something different now,,and here is why.A car show in a parking lot to me gets somewhat boring after some time,and after thinking long and hard about it,I have came to realize that this is what it would be at the golf course,not to mention it would bring the general public in as much,it would basically just be us in a parking lot 20 feet away from where we would park our cars at night..Nothing sounds standoutish about that..So we are working with the Town Of French Lick to move our car show into the Historical district,which has many small shops and other things to do while at a the car show,,plus its puts is in a public area which I think is good on many levels.One thing I would like everyones opion on though is town wants host a vintage only car show attracting british cars and a few other makes..I had clearly said That Tigers East and Rootes America are the featured car and to give us exclusive first rights over how we do things and parking of our cars.anything else including trophys and judging and whatnot like that would solely be on the town and not us..Do you guys feel This would work?
Road rally
pretty straight forward
Rally through hoosier national forest and maybe,What we have planned as far as that goes is still being created by one of staffers and should be set in the next few weeks,we have some cool features I guess I could leak out though,,Jasper race enginens is located on our road rally and the owner has a personal car musuem that he loves showing off and would love us to stop by,another feature will be the lunch in the forest that i think most will enjoy,,with that said im still waiting on fine details.However I am sure it will be another standout feature of United 30
Autocross,
The autocross is for sure going to be a standout experience for the novice to the advanced racer.It will be at Salem Speedway which features a Fresh paved autocross track in the infield,Barry Schomberger will be running that part along with Doug Jennings and they both feel it work just fine for our needs.It is also the first time we have used a actuall speedway since the Suni in Lake Geneva Wisconsin..another nice feature about this we are not tying in any other clubs so it solely be a Tigers East event to give more drivers more runs,With Barrys race history im sure this again will also make United standout.
Filler
I understand some people dont want to do the rally or autocross or special dinners or whatever,,for that I have made several other features and contacts in town for everyone to go out and do,,wine tours,historical tours,outside food locations and whatnot like that,so literally therwe is something for everyone.
I have two options for the dinner cruise so please feel free to comment
1- we did find another historic train ride with dinner,it is located about 20 miles from the hotel,most seemed to like the idea of a train dinner through hoosier national forest,and would definatly be a first for a United,the drawbacks though to this is the 20 mile ride,and lets face it, in the woods in Southern Indiana is dark at night and those of us like me still run Lucas lights might have a bit of a hard time..However the hotel has offered a shuttle bus to transport us in smaller groups.
2-a boat ride on Pakota Lake,,Ive been on this ride and they do have good dinner cruises,but seemed they hard time filling the cruise time,,not to mention it seems we find ourselves on a boat ride more often than not.that ride. however it is only 13 miles away,but hotel cannot shuttle to pakota lake.
It seems no matter what there is small details to attract or disattract some people so comments or suggestions are welcome
As of now I have a few other trick and Plans but nothing set in stone so when I get that in the next week I will send out some emails
On thursday the 27 we had invited some people down to see the hotel,and all the rooms such as our banquet rooms,hospitality rooms,and parts and board meeting rooms,tech session rooms and stuff of that nature,,Our group consisted of Curt Hoffman,Doug Jennings,Myself and Barry Schomberger..We had a nice catered dinner by the chefs for our banquet,and I must say it was very good.I feel our guests felt the same..They were also very impressed with hotel and all rooms we chose for the United(hospitality,board,parts rooms)and just how much stuff there is to do in general at the hotel.The hotel also put everyone up for the night so we could really get a feel for French Lick..Im sure Curt or doug will all say the same.
thats about it for now and more to come in the next few weeks.just wanted to keep everyone in the loop
Thanks
Pat
February 1, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Curt & Linda Hoffman
To Eric’s question on the hotel- this is one of those hotels you say “Holy sh**” when you first see it. I had never been there until this weekend and it is truly an amazing place. We saw the West Baden hotel first and then the French Lick. Both are grand old hotels that have been extensively restored. We ate at West Baden.they are both amazing and the rooms are wonderful. Of course there is the French Lick Winery across the street (sort of) that we couldn’t pass up either.
Biggest problem we will have is getting people home after they lose all their money in the casino attached : )
February 4, 2011 at 6:46 pm
David Reina and Donna Koretsky
Hi Pat,
Your descriptions of everything sound great. I could handle the 20 mile drive to the dinner train if you decide to go this way. I also always enjoy being on the water so either way works for Donna and me. I like that you are pushing for more Rare Rootes and I will aim to bring a Talbot. Thank you for all your great work.
Regards,
Dave Reina
February 4, 2011 at 8:08 pm
pjmotorsports
Dave,
The train ride is a very fun time,and unique..It has a very historic look to it and the inside of the train cars are all refurbished and more than able to provide a great dinner cruise.It wraps through hoosier national forest as well..
I am pushing the rare rootes as hard as I can and making some good headway,,If any one has contacts to attract more rare rootes that would help me out also..
I will keep everyone in the loop as more events unfold
pat
February 9, 2011 at 9:39 pm
pjmotorsports
UPDATE Feb 9 2011
We locked in the train in Jasper for our dinner cruise on saturday night..The Train itself holds 88 people for dinning and another 32 people in the bar area.Unfortunatly the people sitting in the bar will not be able to eat as part of the dinner cruise but still will be able to enjoy the train ride and cash bar.
The car show is going to be in The town of French Lick in the historical district area..At the time of our car show the town also has a antique craft show,and the taste of town art fair which includes bands,food,air show, art fair..I think we will fit in nicely with this venue and am working closely with the city to host our show.
And of course the autocross is locked in at Salem Speedway,which is going to be super fun as well,Barry from Team Tiger is putting together the autocross and im sure it will be fun for everyone..
All for now
Pat