For the previous two 3ma meetings, the 3 Mad Amigos (organisers ?) not only spent a lot of time trying to organise the meetings but also visited the area where the meetings were held for a recce of the routes, check out the hotels, meet with officials, restaurant owners etc. Therefore by the time of the meeting we had a precise itinerary, tried and well plotted driving routes, detailed map books etc. Not so this year we are afraid! For various reasons (distance, cost, credit crunch, family emergencies etc) we have not been able to visit Turin so most of the organisation has been done by remote control and with the invaluable help of our Italian member Michele (effe131 - thank you again Michele). So while we have a proposed itinerary, we have nothing definite and still have not had confirmations for our proposed Fiat Mirafiori factory visit or final permission to use one of the Piazzas in Turin for our static display show. We've been pestering Fiat Auto to confirm our factory tour but the latest answer we've had just two days ago is that due to the current uncertainty about factory closures, Fiat Auto will not be able to confirm our tour until mid-May when we'll all be packing our cases to head off to Turin. If the factory tour doesn't go ahead, we have a few ideas of alternative activities and we are still sure that 3ma09 will be a very memorable experience for all who attend. Personally I am confident that it will happen but we must make it clear that it might not. Same goes for the static display show. Mind you in 2007 we had our "show" in the hotel car park in Killarney and everyone was very impressed so if all else fails we can repeat that by having our static display in the hotel car park in Turin.