How could I not be intrigued when mention of this tour in Indiana popped into my inbox.
It is described as a 90-minute drive, with lunch at a barbecue joint owned by a Porsche fanatic, followed by a tour of a car storage facility. Entry is open to all cars and the $45 fee is donated to charity.
That got me thinking. There are numerous clubs that put on quarterly tours, with our local Porsche club outdoing everyone with generally two events per week. (Yes, per week.)
I wonder if there is a place for an every-other-month, all-sports-cars-welcome tour. The Leaf Blower starts their cars in two groups, 30 minutes apart. One option would be to have cars 1992 and newer go first at 9 am, with older cars going later at 10 am. Perhaps start with a spirited two-hour drive to lunch.
After lunch there could be an optional one-hour route, or people could just head home.
That would mean that your mini-tour would take about as much time as a cars and coffee. I have noticed a trend where shorter events that get you home by early afternoon but are still long enough to grab a meal with your friends and exercise your cars are growing in popularity.
A two-hour drive surrounded by other sports cars has its appeals.
Even a little event like this requires logistical support in planning and sharing a route, door stickers, collecting registration fees, making lunch reservations and more. Those could be good jobs for supporting clubs.
Let know in the comments if this mini-tour appeals to you, or if there is another “all sports cars” type of casual tour on a regular basis you would prefer, and how often you think they should be.
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I’d definitely be interested in events like this. I’m a member of a marque club that organizes runs and events quite frequently, but these are primarily for the cars in our club. It would be enjoyable to occasionally run with a diverse group of sports cars. While I’m not against the cars and coffee theme, I’ve found it to be a bit monotonous in my experience. I derive the most pleasure from driving my car. I don’t mind spending time in a parking lot admiring other people’s cars and exchanging stories, but I prefer to drive first and then engage in casual conversation over lunch.
Here in Boulder, Colorado, a group called FuelFed runs short, low-key Sunday tours several times a year as well as a very eclectic monthly cars and coffee downtown. FuelFed has a bigger group in Chicago. You can probably find them via Google.
I would, too. I don’t like being away from home, but I do like excuses to drive my cars, esp to new places. And seeing other folks’ cars is always fun.
Hi Keith,
This time of year definitely can be a little quiet. I was just thinking about the same thing a few days ago when the sun came out and the Fall colors were spectacular. My idea was similar to yours, but more spontaneous… like a flash mob, but a way to reach out to others for a “flash drive”. Not knowing the weather can make planning tricky, but it might be cool to have a way to announce a flash drive to like minded people who live in the same area. I wonder how hard it would be to have a website extension of some kind that would allow people to sign up to receive notifications based on their location for flash events. Planned events are great too.