May has been a strange month weather-wise for Michigan.  It’s been unseasonably cold and only in the last couple days did we turn a corner.  To further complicate things we went from cold to 80-degree weather overnight, almost skipping spring.  Unfortunately, our luck didn’t hold for the Cruise Night, we went back to cold (50’s) and rain.

Our Cruise Night Director, Mike Cipponeri, found a new venue in Rochester Hills, called Griffin Claw Brewing.  His intention was to have us dine alfresco in our private area off the main dining room, but instead they had the “walls” up and the heaters on full blast.  We still had a nice evening catching up with friends, drinking good beer and eating from their diverse menu.  MCVO supplied a nice variety of appetizers for those attending.

Even with the cold and rain we had a nice turnout of 23 in attendance, but unfortunately there were no Vipers.

Our thanks to Mike for taking the time to plan these events, along with the staff at Griffin Claw.  Also, thanks to Ann Rappaport for the photos.

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Our Spring Tech Day was held near the end of April and as we mentioned in a previous entry, the weather has been all over the map.  Earlier in the week we had 2 inches of snow, and literally 5 days later they were calling for 80-degree weather for the weekend. Unfortunately, the evening prior to the Tech Day we had some rain, and the roads were still wet.  With all this uncertainty, we still had a great turnout of 12 Vipers and 51 attendees.

Our Motorsports Director, Paul McClorey found a unique location for all of us gearheads. Thanks to our host, Lee Carducci, we were able to visit McLaren Engineering.  Given the specialized nature of their business, we were asked not to take any photos inside, thus you’ll only see our group in the lobby or outside.  This did not diminish our tour, since we were able to view their fantastic facility and their state-of-the-art capabilities.  They say it best: “The Mobility segment is subdivided into three regional groups: North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Within the Mobility segment, the regional groups are vertically integrated operations combining expertise in light metal casting, forging, machining and assembly for both the global electrified and traditionally powered vehicle markets.

The Mobility segment products are focused on both components and systems for new energy powertrains, body and chassis, driveline, engine and transmission systems of these vehicles. In addition to the recently formed eLIN Product Solutions Group that focuses on Electrification, McLaren Engineering provides design, development, and testing services for the Mobility segment. ”

Seeing the groundbreaking that is going on today for electric vehicles, there is still nothing sweeter than the sound of a high-performance gas engine running on their dyno.

The club provided coffee and donuts prior to the tour and our Cruise Maestro, Bob Swartz, found and led, those that wanted to have lunch, to a nice restaurant, near Walled Lake.

Our thanks to Lee and his staff for coming in on Saturday, to show us their facility.  We also want to thank Paul and Bob for their efforts in setting up the event and lunch.  Paul has recently come on the Board but is already finding unique events for us to do, and Bob is a “rock star” in the club for his contributions all year long.

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Here we are in the third week of April and two days before our Cruise night, we had 2 inches of snow.  On the day of the event, the snow is gone, but we barely hit 50 degrees, and there has been a light rain.

Our Cruise Night host, Mike Cipponeri, brought us back to the always enjoyable, 5th Tavern.  They never fail to disappoint with great food and service.  The menu has a wide variety of choices and everything we’ve ordered has always been very tasty.

Considering it was a cold, gray evening, we had 30 intrepid souls come out for a fun evening to see old friends.  Many of our members travel to warmer weather during the winter and this is the first time we’ve seen some of our friends in months.

We even had 2 courageous members (Mike Sutton and Dave Buchesky) who brought their Vipers.  Our thanks to Mike and his lovely wife, Diane, for putting on an enjoyable evening and making us all feel so welcome.

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Our Winter Party is traditionally held in late February but with many of our members on vacation it was held in late March this year.  Unfortunately, winter is not letting go anytime soon.  Our temps were in the low 30’s with the “real feel” around mid-20’s.  You can tell that everyone is anxiously awaiting spring.

This is our second event at the Italian American Cultural Center, on the east side.  The food and service are great, and their prices are very fair.  With their pricing and the club subsidy, we were able to offer an open bar, for the same price as last year, with a cash bar, at another location.

The food is served buffet style, with a wide variety of entree selections, along with salad and desert.  After dinner the members played various “Vegas” games (roulette, blackjack), along with our very popular Viper Racing.  The games are all for fun and in the end, prizes are awarded randomly, with raffle tickets.  Almost everyone is a winner!  Diane also had a few extra gifts to raffle off, so hopefully no one went home empty-handed.

During the evening, tickets were sold for the 50/50 raffle and our big winner was Mike Prudhomme.  Congrats Mike!

We had one of the largest turnouts in years with 54 in attendance.

Our sincere thanks to Mike and Diane Cipponeri. Their love of the club and its members shows in every event they plan.  We also want to thank the blackjack dealers and volunteers who helped with setup and cleanup.

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Our beloved Cruise Night Director, Mike Cipponeri and his lovely wife, Diane, have been enjoying their time out of state.  In the interim, Mike Sutton has been helping out with planning the February and March Cruise Nights.

Mike found a nice spot on the west side, in Northville, called Mission BBQ, where the interior is covered wall-to-wall with photos and tributes to first responders and our great military veterans.  The Cipponeri’s were on hand to lend their support with checking everyone in and handing out badges.

There was a wide variety of smoked meats and poultry, along with tasty side dishes.  One of our favorites for the evening was the cheesy potatoes.

It was a beautiful evening with temps in the low 60’s.  We had a great turnout with 31 in attendance and we actually had 4 Vipers.  For those of us that still have our snakes in hibernation, it was nice to see and hear those Vipers.

The restaurant has a counter, where each member went to order their respective meals. With this arrangement it was impossible to have a club sponsored hors d’oeuvres tray for each table.  Instead, Mike and Diane came up with a fun drawing where numerous members won small cash prizes.

Mike Sutton and Mike Cipponeri gave a brief overview of upcoming events, and everyone is truly excited for the season to begin in earnest.

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