That’s how long GTM has been an official Motorsports club. Our humble beginnings in 2013 started with a rag tag crew of #trackrats trying to stay in touch between events which quickly morphed into a full-fledged club in 2014 with our DMV-region. Fast-forward to today and we’re holding strong with over 70 members! WHOA! Now you’re probably asking yourself, “How did all that go down?” and “What all did I miss?” With only a few days before our 5th annual #gtmsummerbash celebration, let’s take a moment to recap some of our history, our growth, and our plans for the future.
Origin Story …
Gran Touring Motorsports was started as a “Non-Traditional” Motorsports Club in 2014 as a social group of Car Enthusiasts. << Just like it says on our homepage. GTM was named in honor of Member 0; who passed away from Stage-4 brain cancer in 2011, but founded the original GTM in 2005. Unlike the original GTM, we don’t sell aftermarket European car parts (we leave that to our friends at ECStuning, UROtuning, etc). What we’ve done is gathered a group of like-minded folks that appreciate all things Motorsports. We’re not just #trackrats anymore, we’ve expanded into all sorts of other disciplines and want to share our experiences with you. So that about sums it up, but if you want to learn more about GTM’s full history, be sure to check out this page.
What you missed…
2014 – kicked off GTM “the Club” and we hit the ground running with tons of meet-ups at: Summit Point, Shenandoah, Watkins Glen, and VIR. We focused a lot of our time with Audi Club North America (ACNA), got introduced to HookedOnDriving, and worked with our first independent group similar to GTM: The Corner Cravers. In those early days we did lots and lots of DIY, and field trips to the Junk Yard were numerous. We also attended Cars & Coffee, VAGfair, and customer appreciation days at places like IAP Racing. In just a year we grew to 22 members. [Pictures from our 2014 year book can be found here.]
2015 – started with our traditional field trip to the DC Auto Show. Track adventures expanded to places like: Texas World Speedway (TWS), Pocono, NCCAR, and the “New Jefferson” Circuit which opened at Summit Point. We ended our year at VIR with ACNA (as was becoming tradition).
In 2015, we also did a bit of charity work with “Helmets Off to Heroes.” And this was the beginning of “Summer Bash” with our friends at HookedOnDriving. Membership increased by another 24 members, that’s double in 1 year! [Pictures from our 2015 year book can be found here.]
2016 – was a huge year for the club. We only added 16 new members; but the volume of events was getting bigger! This was also the only year “Summer Bash” was not held in conjunction with a track day, instead we opted for a more intimate BBQ in Cabin John Park.
2016 was also “the year of the swap meet”, where we tried to clear out our garages of surplus parts by setting up booths at both Import-Carlisle and VAGfair events. 2016 also took us to places like National Corvette Museum (NCM) and Palmer Motorsports Park. [Pictures from our 2016 year book can be found here.]
2017 – was off the hook! We literally started on New Year’s Eve dissecting a Ford Bronco and it was all downhill from there. So many motor-swaps and DIY days. Even with some turnover in the club, membership took in 18 new faces in 2017.
More importantly, we bridged the winter gap with our “Karting Showdown” event which was a huge success.
We discovered places like: Dominion Raceway, Lime Rock Park, and COTA for the F1 US Grand Prix.
We returned to Helmets Off to Heroes and put on our own Charity Golf Tournament.
We setup a Dyno Day with New German Performance and there were a surprising amount of members going to Rock Concerts together.
2017 also marked the beginning our of blossoming relationship with the Corvette Club of America and GTM’s return to AutoCrossing. “Summer Bash” returned to Summit Point (our 3rd anniversary was epic!), and we decided to move our EOY party from VIR to Watkins Glen; now more affectionately referred to as “The Animal House” event. [Pictures from our 2017 year book can be found here.]
2018 – can be summarized as a “cannonball run“ – we pushed the limits and went to the Rolex-24-hours, PITTrace, Mid-Ohio, Road Atlanta, and added a “Ski Club” all in the same year. Membership growth was steady at only 9 people, bringing us to just shy of 70 members, and we had a TON OF FUN! Our website got a complete overhaul, as did our social media presence, and we ended the hangouts vs messenger war and adopted slack.
We got to do cool stuff like visit Local Motors, preview and test-drive the new Ford Ranger, and members were taking all sorts of car related fields trips and reporting on them as well!
A small group within GTM turned to EMRA for some Trial Trials action and placed very well overall!
Summer Bash 4 was a riot and we had members off-roading, entering karting enduros, more autocrossing, additional charity work, and even put together a car-care-clinic for a local high school.
Animal House Pt.2 combined with our Annual Awards night made this an even more special event. [Pictures from our 2018 year book can be found here.]
Where we’re going…
5 YEARS and counting… 2019 and beyond… So many stories and not enough time to share them all in one massive recap article. Be sure to share your favorite GTM memories, stories or comments below. We’ve gotten more organized over the years, more adventurous, but… plans? Pffffth!
Where we’re going, we don’t need plans! #SENDIT. Just remember that we’re a bunch of petrol-heads who like to get together and have a great time – and this is nowhere near the end of our story. #rideordie. #gtm4ever #trackrats #infinityandbeyond
And special shout out to the following “OG” members of GTM – who are still with us and celebrating their 5th anniversaries as well: Eric M, Matt Y, Brad N, Tania M, Spencer B, Garrett L, Daniel S, Al A, Shane S, Ethan P, Mike C, Sam H, Rob L, and Andrew M – CONGRATULATIONS!
…Pretty cool, eh? – If you’re reading this as a non-member: Years of racing, wrenching, and Motorsports experience brings together a top notch collection of knowledge, stories, and information. GTM serves several areas: The DMV, NorthEast, Southern States, and now the Mountain Region. Our areas of interest revolve around: High Performance Driving Education (HPDE), AutoCross, Club Racing, Kart Racing, Drag Racing, Off-roading, Car Shows… or just about anything Car related! And we hope this recap helps convince you GTM is where you need to be! Interested? – become part of the team! #shamelessplug #masterrecruiter
THANK YOU! HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY, GTM! – All the Chiefs.
More photos available in the Vault!
