June 28 - Infineon Meet in Sonoma

[smart bird]

Several locations have been mentioned,
Infineon (Sonoma)
Napa
Great America
and Mt Diablo

Looks like the 18th is the overwhelming choice (Sorry Racer911, you will be missed)

[DavidV]

I apologize for being out of touch the past week or so, but we just completed an exhaustive round of testing and product development with WORKS here at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, and things are looking great.

Here are some shots of our Smart doing testing on track:







And some shots of product development.









I am already running one of the prototype WORKS air intakes and am evaluating a front sway bar upgrade that they are developing in conjunction with custom springs (part of a new matched spring/sway bar set).

The WORKS guys feel like May 18th may be pushing it on their development schedule (only gives them a month to get the products ready for sale), but are open to pushing hard and trying to make it happen for us if at all possible - especially if there is enough interest.

So, here's what we are proposing:

$10-15 entry fee per person includes barbeque, refreshments, a technical workshop on site at WORKS walking us through the car on the lift with their race engineers, including a Q&A ... and.... ideally, a performance driving course with race instructors and an opportunity to evaluate the performance upgrades on-track. We may or may not be able to have a dyno session as well (time and interest allowing). I am looking into whether we can include the track time with the $10-15 per person cover, but this may require an additional charge.

In addition, if they can get the development done in time, there will likely be an opportunity to do a purchase/install session for Smart performance upgrades and accesories. I don't want to reveal too much just yet, as a lot of this is being kept under wraps, but they would like the opportunity for NorCal Meet #2 to debut both handling and engine performance upgrades for our cars.

WORKS is a well respected development house affiliated with Mitsubishi Motors of North America, so it makes sense that they would be the ideal go-to folks for our Mitsubishi powered Smart cars (as a matter of fact, Dave Schembri, the President of Smart USA is a former Mitsubishi guy - go figure).

More info on WORKS at: http://www.worksmitsu.com/

So, if we could get a rough headcount, then it will give me some pull in bringing them on board to committing to hosting his for us.

Please sign up in this thread if you are interested (ostensibly for the weekend of May 18th, but subject to possible date change depending on track/staff availability)

Also, when signing up, please indicate with a 1,2,3 or 4 which items described above are of interest:

(a) Barbeque and technical workshop
(b) Performance driving course
(c) Dyno sessions (with or without tuner parts installed)
(d) Opportunity to purchase and have WORKS components installed
(e) Winery tour
(f) All of the above
(g) None of the above, not interested

In addition, I will be recruiting help with folks from our community to help host the event - including working the barbeque, meeting/greeting at the front gate, printing nametags, leading caravans from various Bay Area locations, and possibly taking a group off to Napa for a winery tour, etc.

So, let's see what kind of interest we have:

(1) DavidV +1 (f)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)

[race911]

David,

Thanks for putting in the effort. As I mentioned above, we're in Las Vegas for a few days so I can't make it on the 18th.

Getting back to the general discussion, if anyone wants to do something the 4th I'll pull something informal together. Obviously, with Mother's Day the following weekend (11th) and Memorial Day weekend on the 24/25/26, the 18th is the only other possibility.........unless we're pushing June.

We CAN do something more than every couple of months!

[ronr9286t]

Count me in on the weekend of the 18th. I'd love to have it at Infineon, but anywhere works for me.

Ron

[jthomas119]

Oh darn. The proposed weekend activities at Infineon sound great but I found that I have a conflict on that weekend and can't make it after all.

John

[geosynch]

This sounds like fun. From the dates I've heard, my preference would be May 17.

geosynch (on the peninsula)

[saronian]

Thanks David, Good job!

(1) DavidV +1 (f)
(2) Saronian (a-b-c-d)
(3)
(4)
(5)
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(8)
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[geosynch]

(1) DavidV +1 (f)
(2) Saronian (a-b-c-d)
(3) Geosynch (a-b-c-d)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)

Depending on what date is settled on, I may bring one of my kids. My preferred dates would be May 3, 17 or 24.

[smartxs]

[quote=geosynch;59969](1) DavidV +1 (f)
(2) Saronian (a-b-c-d)
(3) Geosynch (a-b-c-d)
(4) smartxs (Larry) a-d, but no car yet. (17 or 18)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)

[andrewng]

I'll be interested in (a) and (b), if we're going to WORKS at Infineon I might bring my Evo with me too...