A call to all Audi Brand Specialists

If you are an Audi Brand Specialist Audi Cluband not an North America (ACNA) member, I would like to invite you to invest $49 in your future, you may even get your dealership to cover it and join the ACNA and we would also like to hear from you.  As an Audi Brand Specialist you are in a unique position to help the Audi Club of Florida, your dealership and of course yourself.  We need to build the lines of communications between the chapters, regions; the club is divided into regions and the respective Audi Points in the state of Florida to serve the Audi Driver and Enthusiast. The synergy is so obvious  Your position is the synaptic connections required to build that relationship. Rest assured it is not a conflict of interest. By helping the Audi Club of Florida (ACFL) through the organizing of events at your dealership such as the roll out of new vehicles, an occasional cars and coffee, even just a tour you’re your facility or a technical session your imagination is the limit here, you are bringing Audi owners and enthusiasts in the front door. As traffic increases so do sales. You are introducing them to your dealership and of course introducing them to you as a representative of that dealership and the ACFL.  It has happened in the past for the price of three dozen Dunkin Donuts and a large pot a coffee an S8 was sold to a member who was actually not in the market for the car at one of the cars and coffee. I personally know of a number of Audis A7’s, A4’s Q5’s, an R8 and the list goes on sold by Audi Brand Specialists and who were also ACNA members who have helped organize events at their dealerships. ABS’s the opportunity is out there, yes it involves some work but the rewards are also there.  Both the chapter and the ACNA will help you get set up with Quattro Quarterly’s for your Quattro Cafes and service lounges, membership applications and other information.

Talk with your GSM and SM and make sure they are on board and if interested in making a commitment to your dealership the ACNA, Audi Club of Florida, Audi Enthusiasts and yourself to selling additional Audis, become the point person for your Audi dealership and give me a shout.

Both the ACFL and your dealership are in the same business, serving the needs of Audi enthusiasts.  Think about how you can play an important role in fulfilling that need as an Audi

Brand Specialist.

Cheers and Safe Motoring

Bob Greving

President, Audi Club of Florida

Bob@audiclubfl.org

A few bright subjects, on light, lights, and their uses for good and evil plus a question  The history of light and man’s use of it for good and evil is a long and twisted road for sure. It spans from the ancient Greeks who lit fires on top of mountains to signal approaching enemies to their city states right down to the 20^th century and the invention of the auto and the use as a head light to show the way and now Audi with their sweeping turn signals.  Originating with the use of kerosene lamps, acetylene, carbide then the electric bulb headlamp, sealed beam head lamp, halogen headlamp, then the outbreak of designer headlamps with xenon, which quickly fogged over. Finally we now have LEDs to help us find our way as we try to pierce the dark as we drive.   The history of light has also had both its bright and dark side, clearly has helped us see at night when driving though often on the low beams as cars drove faster than 40 mph we were often exceeding our head lamps.  I am speaking even of the latest iterations of headlights on the Audis due to their lighting patterns and cut offs. 

With regards light and its architectural uses to create a feeling, emotion and purpose, since about 2005 and the S6 Audi has clearly been in the for-front at least when it comes to cars and the architecture of light but let us digress a moment for of a little darker history

During the 30’s that architect who was wily enough to slip himself out of a Nurnberg hangman’s noose Albert Speer had used light as an architectural medium at the 36 Berlin Olympic Stadium by lining up anti-aircraft searchlights and pointing them vertically towards the night sky.  It gave a rather unique propaganda effect to the games, stadium and of course Germany who was at the center of it all hosting them.  Leni Riefenstahl another individual who joined that nefarious cabal that brought such havoc and disaster to the world, used lights, lighting and the shadows they produce probably to the penultimate propaganda effect in her two most noted and probably infamous films, Triumphs of the Will, and Olympia.  If you have seen them you know of what I am referring to, if not, and you are into the Olympics and sports, Olympia is the one to see. The other, well if you watch the History Channel you will have already seen where they get a lot of their film footage of the Fuhrer, it is really scary material. As far as I am concerned, these are two excellent examples of the darker side of the use of light and lighting and though perhaps dark artistry to some who enjoy equivocating, it is pure evil.

Back to the brighter side, light and lights have numerous good and helpful uses and in cars as they originally were a functional item that morphed into an architectural and design element to boot. On the functional side, over the years I have had some cars whose headlamps were above the fray. The 1960 Citroen had a setting where one could have both the low and high beams on simultaneously. Did they ever brighten up the roads of rural Massachusetts west of Old Deerfield!  Thank goodness, Bambi never had a chance of being blindsided.  For some reason the lamps on a 1968 VW beetle seemed very bright, did they install the wrong ones at Wolfsburg?  Nevertheless most were pretty much run of the mill

But now back to Audis, in 1980 the 4000E had sealed square halogen lamps, four of them and considering that many cars at the time did not, they were better than just OK. As I progressed to a 1984 5000S four more square ones and then the 88 Audi 5000S’s I believe that last one had halogen bulbs as opposed to the sealed headlamps. Low beams were poor but high beams were relatively good and the same held true for the 95 S6. . Unfortunately the 99 A6 Avant was not a step forward. The real improvement came with the 02 bi-xenon S6 Avant, what a difference.  This of course all coincided with advancing age and deteriorating night vision.  Neither the 11 A4 Avant nor the 14 allroad both bi-xenon were improvements though the design of the lights began to take on the architectural look with LED running lights. The next real quantum leap came with the 12 A7 and LED headlamps, with a light temperature (color) at 7000k, what a difference both on the low and high beam and also in design. Talk about turning night into day. I am now driving a 2018 and one would think there should be some additional improvements. Well the jury is still out deliberating, Frankly, I am not sure. The high beam assist is nice but at 40 mph I seem to be over driving the low beams again. Is pattern, brightness, (lumens) color (kelvin), alignment (supposedly there is no alignment) of what is it. Has Audi taken a step back?  I would love to hear from anyone out there driving a 2018 with LED head lamps and high beam assist. What model are you driving and what was your previous Audi model and year and how do the new lamps stack up?  Thank you in advance for your input.

bob@audiclubfl.org

Audi Club of North America 2018 Car Raffle

Make sure to check out the latest issue of the QQ for additional information regarding this year’s raffle. There will be two cars, a 2019 S5 Premium Plus Sportback and a 2019 RS3. 5,000 tickets will be sold for each car at $25 per tickets.  Should you buy only one ticket in one of the two raffles that will equate to a one in five thousand chance to be a winner, which are pretty good odds. If you wish to purchase a chance to win one of these cars, make sure you contact Gerry Simms at gsimms_2000@msn.com . I will also have some tickets available for purchase and will have them available at Reeves Motorsport’s monthly Cars and Coffee held the first Saturday of the month in Tampa. Make sure you purchase your chance for one of these exciting vehicles through either Gerry or me in order that our chapter receives credit for the sales. Our chapter of course enjoys being a little competitive at times.

The ACNA thanks you in advance for your support and the ACFL thanks you for the points on the leader board.

Cheers and Good Luck on your purchase.

Gerry Simms and Bob Greving

Hello, Everyone!

First off, let me introduce myself to those of you who don't know me. I am Gerald Simms, everyone calls me Gerry (pronounced just like Jerry).  I am your new First Coast Audi Club of Florida representative. You are getting this e-mail because you are an ACNA member on the list provided to me by Bob Greving, or have personally contacted Kerry Green to get added to this list. If you want to be removed, please reply to me only. I want to welcome the new members and also thank all members for your interest in the Audi Club. If you are on the JaxRings Facebook page, the following will look familiar if you have seen my post there. You can email me at this e-mail for now. When I get assigned my ACFL E-mail I will update you and provide that as an alternate form of contact.

First Coast Region Meeting 14 April:

We held the monthly meeting at the Blackfinn Ameripub at the Saint Johns Town Center. The following items were discussed.

Gold Coast Region Meet May 12:

Cars & Coffee 8am -11 am

8202 Mills Dr, Miami, Florida 33183

From the ACNA monthly conference call:

2018 ACNA National Event Information: Your best source is the latest Quattro Quarterly pages 58 and 59. It details the the schedule of events. I have extra copies if you need one. Details are also available on the ACNA website.

ACNA Website:

It is undergoing changes to make it more social media friendly. Changes are in initial phases, so changes are coming to the content to bridge the gap between platforms.

Marketplace:

ACNA Marketplace where you buy stuff online has added the Audi Club On-Demand Archive Store. You can order from currently 116 different designs. They are $20 each, they have older classic designs from different years and the club logos shirts like ACFL. They even have phone cases if you have Samsung or I-phones, laptop sleeves, and stickers.

ACFL has two events coming up.

September:

There is an event being planned starting at ABT Sportsline in Miami carravaning all the way to the conch replublic, going to Key West. More information to follow.

September:

There is a Octoberfest event happening at Crown Audi Clearwater to Audi Gainesville Saturday September 29th. A band is being flown in from Munich, Germany. This will be a Ronald MacDonald charity event. More information as it comes available.

JaxRings Member Interests:

May:

SOWO:

SOWO: The European Experience is happening in Savannah, GA. They have a website: sowoeuropeanexperience.com

SoWhat Helen:

The draw to Helen for SoWo was about the people and the place, nothing to do with the name. While there is a "European Experience" being held the same weekend in Savannah, we still want to have our low key stay in the mountains. I went last year and I am going again this year. Most of the event was announced thru Facebook, www.facebook.com/groups/SoWhatHelenGA/. A few pop-up meets, movie shoot, awesome roads for testing out your car, and the main car show on Saturday along with some tubing. This is not an actual event, so prices are not elevated, and as long as you are being civil, life is good. People were glad to have us back. It was my first year, but the people who have made every one said last year was the best one since SOWO 3 or 4 before the corporate stuff started.

JaxRings/CFL Audi Group:

Last year we met with CFL Audi Group for the Loop Cruise in June and the Yalaha Bakery in October. More information as it comes available.

Gold Coast monthly:

Meet at Cars and Coffee Miami. May 12 starts at 8am 8202 Mills Drive Miami, FL 33183 @ Casavana Restaurant

Tampa Monthly:

Cars & Coffee, First Saturday of every month at Reeve's Motorsports 11333 N Florida Ave, Tampa, FL 33612

September 29th

Ronald McDonald Fun Run & Oktoberfest

Clearwater Audi to Gainesville Audi

Save the Date, details to follow: