Car club at a high school

[LUDELVR]

Now that it seems like so many high school kids drive way better cars nowadays, I'm thinking of starting a car club at my high school but I'm hoping some of you guys can help me out with some ideas of what activities we could have running.

Unfortunately, there most likely won't be a secret drag racing strip we'll be going to or we won't be able to work on vehicles because of a lack of facility and liability issues but some ideas I've come across are tutorials on power adders, dyno tuning, history of cars or specific engines, how engines actually work, go carting, meets for lunch on weekends and possible mini cruise (this might be questionable because someone always drives like an asshat!). Some people suggested the occasional fast and furious movie or some initial D!

Was also thinking about each member giving a presentation on his/her favourite car including history, possible mods, engine/car design, video clips etc. just to educate people on cars outside of their preference and give them an appreciation for cars in general and the work put into them.

Any other suggestions? I want this to be interesting, fun and informative and it would be open to people with or without cars.

Let's hear some ideas.

[Shlade]

Man, I wish I had a cool teacher like you during my days in high school.

Sounds like you're onto something fun here

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Shlade
Man, I wish I had a cool teacher like you during my days in high school.

Sounds like you're onto something fun here

Are you kidding me? I wish I had a teacher like me when I was in high school!! :devil:

But yeah, really want to try and get people just to appreciate cars because there are so many kids in my class that were like, "Subbies for life yo!" And after a few discussions with them, they don't hate on as many cars but just appreciate the work that goes into them. Of course they still have their favourites but we all do. I remember being in high school and anything besides Honda were junk but now I love old and new V8 muscle cars which I never thought I would. Must be my old age!!

[rage2]

If there's any interest I can do a tuning 101 after school special. If you want to go more extreme find some sponsorship dollars, buy a civic and cheap standalone and do some hands on testing.

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by rage2
If there's any interest I can do a tuning 101 after school special. If you want to go more extreme find some sponsorship dollars, buy a civic and cheap standalone and do some hands on testing.

Now you're taking man! Is this our way of giving back to the community that we pretty much built? :rofl:

It's funny when students are like, "have you ever heard of Barlow?" And I'm like..."What's that?"

[D'z Nutz]

Maybe you can collaborate with the shop class and show them how to make rain gutters into side skirts haha

[rage2]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
Maybe you can collaborate with the shop class and show them how to make rain gutters into side skirts haha
:rofl:

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
Maybe you can collaborate with the shop class and show them how to make rain gutters into side skirts haha

First of all...no one would have known unless I didn't say anything! Secondly, I was a poor guy who was into cars which many people in high school can relate to so you know what? Maybe I'll hop on over to Home Depot and see if try can sponsor us!

Actually, I'm pretty sure the school I'm moving to, the students will have way more cash flow than I do!! :nut:

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by rage2

:rofl:

Don't laugh man! I know you wanted me to make a pair for the SLK!

I sent you the photo. You know it's true! :rofl:

[D'z Nutz]

Hahaha I wasn't hating on those side skirts man. They're a part of Beyond folklore along with all the other ghetto rigging you did.

[Joe-G]

How about an autocross/driving school as an activity? Doesn't really have to be anything official... Just bring them all out to an event and have fun! :thumbsup:

[Sugarphreak]

...

[rage2]

Boom.

[Redlyne_mr2]

They run an autox event almost every week here in Red Deer, I could help out where I can.

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by D'z Nutz
Hahaha I wasn't hating on those side skirts man. They're a part of Beyond folklore along with all the other ghetto rigging you did.

Oh the ghetto rigging!! So much ghetto rigging! But you're absolutely right! :rofl:

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
They run an autox event almost every week here in Red Deer, I could help out where I can.

If this club does work out, that might be a nice road trip so yeah, I'll definitely have to look into it!

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
Car club sounds kind of neat, I would have loved that when I went to school

Maybe think about putting an emphasis on car audio, high school kids love that stuff. It isn't that dangerous, you can have SPL and design competitions, plus it is fairly educational to learn about how to properly wire a custom setup.



To bad the NIMBY's have chased us off every AutoX venue anywhere near Calgary

The Nearest venues are a 2 hour drive away

Yeah, for some reason, a lot of high school kids would rather be loud than fast. The school doesn't have an auto shop but it does have a wood shop so I'm certain if they are taking it, they could potentially build enclosure that they could get credit for in their classes. Totally something to look into as well! :thumbsup:

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Joe-G
How about an autocross/driving school as an activity? Doesn't really have to be anything official... Just bring them all out to an event and have fun! :thumbsup:

This would be sweet to but then anything that pertains to actual driving, I'd have to look into the legality issues but still...would be sweet.


Sorry for the individual quotes. I'm on my phone and didn't want to type a bunch of stuff and have it log out on me!

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by rage2
Boom.

Now that is exactly what I'm talking about! Cheers brotha!

[Sugarphreak]

...

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by LUDELVR


Yeah, for some reason, a lot of high school kids would rather be loud than fast. The school doesn't have an auto shop but it does have a wood shop so I'm certain if they are taking it, they could potentially build enclosure that they could get credit for in their classes. Totally something to look into as well! :thumbsup:

I like Sugarphreak's suggestion about car audio. You wouldn't just be teaching them how to wire up a car stereo or make sub boxes, but you'd be teaching some fundamentals of electronics that would apply elsewhere:

- safety
- what an electrical circuit is, and how to diagnose where there's a break
- electrical resistance
- parallel vs series wiring

etc

Of course, then there's all the fun stuff with all the different components that go into making the stereo itself. You could probably scavenge a lot of what you need from Kijiji for not very much.

Just about everything I know about anything having to do with electricity started from the fundamentals I learned while putting together a car stereo, whether it be wiring home lighting, making a home made guitar pedal, or jump starting a car.

[HiSpec]

^ Might want to add proper solder/splicing/crimping techniques.

[reijo]

Autox and/or winter driving schools are good ideas. Learn to handle those chunks of steel properly since they are the largest cause of deaths for young people. We help to reduce that risk at our venues.

Look for the autox section here on Beyond or do a search for the Calgary Sports Car Club www.cscc.ab.ca (run their autox events at Red Deer - Westerner Grounds - SE corner of Red Deer) and the Southern Alberta Solosport Club (www.sascsolo.com) who run their autox events at the Fort Macleod airport (1.5 hrs. south of Calgary). The airport is located at the SW corner of the Town of Fort Macleod.

When I was young I liked to drive fast ... still do. It was too bad there was no track or autox where I grew up. I'm sure I would have been at the track if it was there. Here you have the opportunity of doing some autox.

Remember nothing special is required. A car in safe operating condition (e.g. good tires, no loose wheel bearings, wheels, batteries, no leaking fluids etc.) and a Snell-rated motorcycle or car helmet (and we have loaner helmets ... as does the CSCC).

Autox is the easiest and cheapest form of motorsports to get involved in. And, it is a lot of fun ... and a huge learning experience.

Reijo

[reijo]

The SoloPro Schools are this weekend at Fort Macleod however we are also concurrently running practice/novice schools at the other end of the airstrip.

They are open to anyone:

http://www.motorsportreg.com/orgs/southern-alberta-solosport-club

Reijo

[Sugarphreak]

...

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
^^ The winter driving schools on Ghost Lake hosted by SASC are something I would also HIGHLY recommend for high school kids

I actually had kids this year that did that and said it was so much fun! I have never done this so I'd be totally keen to get on this.

[alien]

Don't forget to teach the importance of aerodynamics:

http://image.superstreetonline.com/f/28215209+w640+h427+q80+re0+cr1/htup_1008_03_z%2bheavy_duct_tape%2bhonda_civic_front_view.jpg

[NoPulp]

When I was in highschool we put on a show and shine. There's actually a lot of work that goes into planning and running a nice show. We met once a week to discuss things about the show and to BS about cars. It worked decent since anyone could join and help out, some kids didn't even own a car. The show was actually really good, it helped that we had a burnout contest... We would get a lot of money from the shows that at first would be donated to the graduation, but later we donated to people in need around Christmas time.

My final year of school we had started to collect a lot of extra money we looked at getting a project vehicle. The teacher was really into vans, so we got an old van... anyways it just didn't work out. Many of the people like me who were really into cars had our own projects and didn't have time for a school project. It was also difficult to get school permission and additional funding. We ended up selling the project and bought a completed van, it turned into a "school promotion" that the teacher went to races and car shows with. Kinda weird and no involvement from the kids. The show only went on for 1 more year after I left, guess there wasn't another group of kids to run it. The teacher retired this year too.


That's my suggestion is to put together a club and host an event. Projects sound cool, but can be difficult to get enough involvement from kids. Resources/permission/liability are difficult with projects.

[EK 2.0]

Good on you for wanting to get something like this rolling.

When I was at Fowler all those years ago (gosh its like 19 years ago...fuuuu...haha) our shop teacher Mr. Giles has an amazing program that taught me a lot, and ignited the passion I used to have for cars haha...

We were allowed to hang out during spares, and lunch time, work on our own cars...it was a blast, and some great friends were made from the programs...

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by EK 2.0
Good on you for wanting to get something like this rolling.

When I was at Fowler all those years ago (gosh its like 19 years ago...fuuuu...haha) our shop teacher Mr. Giles has an amazing program that taught me a lot, and ignited the passion I used to have for cars haha...

We were allowed to hang out during spares, and lunch time, work on our own cars...it was a blast, and some great friends were made from the programs...

It's great if there's a shop and that would help out so much but unfortunately, there's no car shop so it will be limiting to what we can do.

A lot of great ideas so I guess we'll have to see what's feasible in the space I can get.

Keep them coming though lads, this is great. I totally wish there were a car club when I was in school.:thumbsdow

[TomcoPDR]

You gonna let the female students be car models?

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by TomcoPDR
You gonna let the female students be car models?

Only if you are the photographer! Haha

[rage2]

Originally posted by LUDELVR
Only if you are the photographer! Haha
http://i.imgur.com/BtcXJdI.jpg

[LUDELVR]

So I guess I have the go ahead from my principal but I'm still stuck on developing a sort of curriculum for the course and a timeline.

I'm thinking of starting the club with an introductory meeting about what my aim of the club is going to be: Produce fewer douchebags on the road and more car enthusiasts with an a appreciation for those passionate about their of cars. Also, I want to get suggestions about how often to meet and what they would like to do during this club.

Once that is established I think I'll get a good idea of how to run it and how often.

What do you guys reckon would be a good amount of times to meet per week and when? After school? Lunch? I pretty much only have a classroom at my disposal with access to a projector and internet.

I do like the idea of kids coming in with their favorite cars and presenting on what they like about it.

[ercchry]

I like the car show idea... also very important for the future of enthusiasts.... get them away from barlow and teach them how to be respectful humans

[NoPulp]

When we hosted the highschool car show we met once a week at lunch. Usually that was plenty of time.

[NoPulp]

When we hosted the highschool car show we met once a week at lunch. Usually that was plenty of time.

[LUDELVR]

Originally posted by ercchry
I like the car show idea... also very important for the future of enthusiasts.... get them away from barlow and teach them how to be respectful humans

Does that mean that I have to stop going there? :devil:

[ercchry]

Originally posted by LUDELVR


Does that mean that I have to stop going there? :devil:

Nah, kids are pretty use to the old "do what I say, not what I do" mantra :rofl:

[flipstah]

Car shows rule! Also, you can have entertaining debates and each 'team' wins a prize.

Manual vs. DCT
Carburetor vs. Fuel Injection
RWD vs. FWD