Event: quattro de Mayo 2024 

by: Chris May

Years ago, when I first heard the name, “quattro de Mayo” or “QDM”, it was voiced with the utmost reverence in an Audi Club Carolinas board meeting. The event was described as the ultimate open-road Audi enthusiast driving experience within the club. I remember at the time thinking the name was clever, however, skepticism and perhaps even some cynicism began to set in. Back then, I was a newly appointed Carolinas board member and relatively new to the club. I wasn’t exactly eager to buy into what I interpreted as hype for this event, especially from other club members I’d only just met through virtual meetings. I even remember jokingly thinking that in Spanish, my second language, my surname is Mayo, and the event’s title could very well refer to a quattro in my own garage. 

As the months passed and I grew into my board director role, getting to know our chapter event committee members, I began to quickly realize there had to be something special about QDM. Afterall, several of our board members affiliated themselves with the Georgia Chapter before the Carolinas Chapter was established. I’d come to understand our own signature event, Treffen, was modeled after quattro de Mayo. It became clear our event planning committee worked diligently year after year to improve our event with the hopes that perhaps one day it would reach the same quality, attendance, and reputation of Georgia’s QDM experience. The more I got to know the club and participate in various open-road driving events, my curiosity around QDM grew too. 

Earlier this year, not very long after assuming the helm of Audi Club North America, I received an introductory call from Georgia Chapter President, Lars Finderup. We spoke at length about the state of the club, his chapter, and his team’s plans for QDM 2024. He ended our conversation by personally inviting me to join his chapter at Brasstown Resort and Spa for this year’s event. With my curiosity long-piqued, how could I refuse? 

So earlier this May, I made the four-and-a-half-hour drive from Chapel Hill, NC to North Georgia to join fellow club members from the Southeast and beyond, for what would end up being one of my most unforgettable four-rings experiences yet. 

Though QDM has been covered numerous times in quattro Magazine over the years, for first-time readers, this event is a four-day experience with a focus on programmed lead-follow drives throughout some of the country’s most twisty roads such as The Tail of the Dragon, Cherohala Skyway, and Wayah Road, to name a few. Apart from the bucket-list driving experiences, this event offers much more, including raffles, a silent auction, live auction, and evening community dinners where guests catch up with old friends and make new ones while reflecting on driving experiences and shared enthusiasm for their Audi. 

While the overview is accurate, it fails to convey exactly what makes QDM an event that brings participants back year after year, drawing attendance from as far away as Canada and Texas. 

After arriving to Brasstown Resort and Spa , I followed members to the event check-in room where we collected event badges, drive information, and welcome swag kits. In that same room was an impressive collection of donated items that were available to participants by way of daily raffles and auctions. These tables included items such as lifestyle-oriented products provided by Audi collection, a signed 2013 R18 e-tron Sebring poster, and a one-of-a-kind QDM branded OEM Audi R8 side-blade. 

While the offerings were impressive, what left a bigger impression, from that moment forward, was speaking with the various Audi Club Georgia directors and volunteers responsible for QDM, all of whom were eager to welcome guests. The first of whom I met with were Eric and Katie King. I learned how Eric has been volunteering as an event master with QDM since 2010, though his family’s first event was actually in 2008 and they’ve never missed one since. For them, QDM is a family affair as their two daughters, Mandy and Karen, were inaugurated into the QDM family only weeks after their respective births. Eric and Katie, like the other event committee members, work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure all elements of the event go off without a hitch. Eric’s excitement was infectious as he explained how he would incorporate a new trigger-system camera rig to capture participant cars as they departed for drives the following morning. Katie was gracious enough to share her methods for planning and executing the event’s raffles and silent auction; Efforts integral to raising chapter support funding each year. Their passion and pride for what they continue to do each year is contagious. The same could be said about my interactions with Georgia’s  Treasurer, Chris Shaw, and event committee chair, Chad Johnfroe. I’m sure I’ve unintentionally left out many more names here so please forgive any oversight. The event programming these volunteers have built and refined over the years is no small feat, and they know it. As should we all. 

QDM’s partners certainly recognize how impressive this experience is, especially the title sponsors, Audi Atlanta and Audi Marietta. Long-standing support of this event (since 2011) from the chapter’s local dealerships is a pride-point on its own. How the Georgia Chapter engages them throughout the event is both authentic and creative. I had the opportunity to briefly speak with Alli Gant, an Audi Brand Specialist with Audi Marietta about her connection to Audi Club. Now an Audi Club Georgia board member, her entry point into Audi Club was a previous QDM through her dealership’s sponsorship. As an SQ5 driver also, she couldn’t be more authentic. During the event banquets both Alli and her Audi Atlanta counterpart, Bernardo Ibarra, served as volunteers featuring live auction items for their fellow event guests to bid on. 

The results speak for themselves, with this year’s quattro de Mayo raising over $20,000 to support Audi Club Georgia operations and driver education mission, and donating over $2,500 to the local Meals on Wheels program. I will say, the highlight of the live auction was when our National Board President, Melisa Wilcox, won the QDM shirt off the back of Georgia Chapter President, Lars Finderup. You had to see it to believe it!

In recent conversations with an entity affiliated with Audi, I’ve learned about an unsubstantiated claim about our club held within the corporate sphere. For some, there’s a notion out there that Audi Club members are not prospective new-model Audi customers. If there ever was a counterpoint to that claim, it’s QDM. There was a significant presence of new-model Audi automobiles in attendance, and even those I engaged with who drove an older model to the event, had another newer model Q at home. The diversity of Audi was impressive with some personal favorites including a new 2024 RS 6 performance, an e-tron GT, a Kyalami Green MKIII TT RS, a C4 and even a B5 RS 4!

While I did participate in an exciting, programmed drive on the Cherohala Skyway, it isn’t remotely near the first thing that comes to mind when I reflect on my personal experience. It’s the people. It’s the community I immediately felt part of, despite not knowing the majority of these fellow club members previously. It’s the after-hours night-caps and conversations; Discovering new common ground through story-telling and shared experiences. 

quattro de Mayo’s roots go all the way back to 2005, but the first event under this banner took place in 2007. Its name was first coined by Ohio Valley Chapter member, Paul Gazella. Its genesis is a story of inter-chapter collaboration between Ohio Valley, Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia Chapters. With a long-storied history of success and community building, it’s easy to see why the Georgia Chapter is proud of the event’s branding. It just so happens that Audi Club Georgia is also celebrating 25 years since its founding. ve Though many have attempted to replicate it,  there’s only one quattro de Mayo. 

I think it’s safe to say I’m one of the newest QDM-converts. You can count on finding me there next year and beyond. I get it now, and if you dare to join us next year, you will too.