The following information is not unique to Central California, and applies whether you live in Portland, Oregon or Cincinnati, Ohio or anywhere else in the country.
First, all of this applies to the NSX Club of America, which AFAIK is the only active club in North America devoted exclusively to the NSX. Information on joining is on the club's website at
http://www.nsxca.org The NSX Club publishes a quarterly newsletter, NSX Driver, and holds an annual national event, NSXPO. NSXPO 2002 will take place November 6-10 in the DFW area of Texas.
When you join the NSX Club, you automatically belong to one of six regions. Some localities (Florida, San Diego, Sacramento) have formed local chapters but all privileges of membership apply to all members, regardless of whether or not you happen to live somewhere that has gone through the formal process to form a local chapter.
If you wish to hold a club event in your area, and invite all the club members nearby, you're welcome to do so. Club funds (in modest amounts) are available to subsidize events; a portion of your membership dues is allocated to the treasury in your region or chapter for local events. Club events that are subsidized in this way are generally restricted to club members only. The use of club funds must be approved by the person in charge of your region or chapter; this person will also be happy to work with you and provide advice regarding the club events you propose. Club events might consist of anything from a country drive, to dinner at a local restaurant, to a barbecue lunch and tech talk at a local dealer or shop (and I can think of one in particular in Modesto
), or any other activities you might want to consider. Be prepared to do the work to make all the arrangements for the event, though (although you're free to recruit other members to help out).
As treasurer of the club, I can work with you to get the word out to club members. More specifically, if you're sending a notification of an event by e-mail, I can provide the e-mail addresses or forward the notice to the club members; if you have a flyer to send through postal mail, I can provide peel-off mailing labels for this purpose.
As a member of the NSX Club, you're eligible to participate in club activities everywhere, including areas outside your home region or chapter. In your area, please note that the Sacramento Chapter is planning its annual track event at Thunderhill September 3. I believe there are also monthly dinner meetings held at several locations in the San Francisco Bay area.
If you have any questions, feel free to address them to either myself, or to Alex Vizcarra, the club president at
[email protected], or to the person in charge of your region or chapter. Merced is in the Northwest Region, where the person in charge is Jacqueline Berthiaume, whom you can reach at
[email protected] The Sacramento Chapter is also nearby, and Hrant (on these forums, also
[email protected]) will be happy to inform you of Sac Chapter activities.