It would seem that we are all getting it wrong. If this is the general feeling of the membership maybe we should think of dropping the car comps completely. I was going to list the award winners but feel that the effort put in by myself, the judges and helpers are all for nothing. …
Lets start a list:
Who would like to take on the competition coordinators job. It is easy to do. 4 committee meetings a year plus the AGM then there is the hours of work before hand, then the easy bit getting to the venue early doors then standing for the next 8 hours, trying to sort out petty problems then the taking all the stands apart and only then leaving if you are lucky by 18:00. Oh and you will need hotel accommodation at your own expense:
So names here please.
And how about a list of those who would like to give judging ago at the Spring rally.
Thank you providing a detailed list of the so called “modifications” on the red mk3, it didn’t half give me a good giggle when I read through the list as the huge majority of them are not mods!! so yeah it was in the wrong category and I’m not the only one with that opinion,
Door speaker surrounds aren’t just stuck on , door panels removed drilled and surrounds fixed on, not a big modification and not that expensive granted but the car didn’t came with them from the factory, neither did any of the items on the list
this is terrible that I have to justify myself on here, for those of us who come over from over seas there is little change out of £500 to do this show and this could be off putting for others wanting to come to these shows and enter the competitions, I put in a lot of effort before the show, all the wheels came, backing plates and brakes repainted with airbrush for example & hours of cleaning and polishing. Look I I don’t want to spend hundreds of pounds on suspension upgrades or new bigger alloy wheels I am happy with what I have and as far as I understand the rules of competition everyones car is judged on the overall condition not on how much money has been spent on it.
The judges/organisers/helpers etc do this for nothing, it’s voluntary so give them a break.
If you want a better show then get off the internet and get your arses out there and do the job instead.
In the past I have been involved in various national shows for different clubs and know from bitter experience how many long nights it takes to get a large national event off the ground.
So although I wasn’t present for this event I know what the majority of volunteers have gone through so a bit of thanks wouldn’t go amiss.
Competitions are interesting, and set the standard for the rest of us. But they are also a bit of a conundrum too.
Just once, I considered entering my car, but while it looks fantastic at a glance and is seemingly spotless everywhere including under-bonnet, it would not entirely satisfy any of the judging criteria as published. Following the guidelines I marked it at an optimistic 75, so there was no point in even thinking about entering any category.
It has a few too many tiny marks on it, all touched up but… It has never been flattened down to a gloss finish, still having the original factory paint and lacquer finish, apart from the front wing which had been resprayed before I bought the car and the ridge along the wing top does not quite line up with that on the bumper. It does not do enough miles to make it a daily driver, but a few too many for a garage queen. It has all the original bits supplied with the car updated as needed, plus a couple of essential extras for puncture fixing (mods?). It has two insignificant but useful mods, the RX8 wiper stalk and the bonnet struts. So it falls between all the stools.
I guess many of our members’ cars are like this, and don’t quite fit a category, and the owners are not quite able to spend enough time on the car to make it approach concourse…
Why do you assume it is all about concourse? none of the clubs show and shine comps have been centred around concourse, thats a different thing all together.
THERE IS A DAILY DRIVER SECTIONs, whats the issue.
As for spending enough time on their pride and a joys,go and have a look in the car parks at these events and view the hundreds of mazsters that will be parked up that owners have been sorting out weeks in advance to drive to a field and park them up un seen.
I think you are confusing the whole idea of the show and shine comps that are put on for you lot.
If no one wants to enter or offer to roll up their sleeves to help for the rest of the owners,not an issue, we can get on with other things…simples.
After every event there is always a lot of whinging that goes on, whinging from afar will not help or solve anything ,standing up and being counted will, and as said if more got of their ar*es , hey you never now what may happen.
Mal you need to pick your toys up and listen to the peoples frustrations rather than given blunt and frankly quite rude replies, I appreciate you, and all the others do this as a volunteer but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement…
The Red car that won was lovely no doubt about that, was it a modified car ?? well certainly not in my opinion BUT that’s just my opinion…
as for the Judging, this comp was won on engine bays… simple as that… Also there was NO consistency to the engine bay judging, one car I know got marked down for a rusty 10mm bolt , no mention of which one and I can assure you 100% that all the cars there had a rusty bolt under there engine bay some where but wasn’t marked down for it (me included)…
Also what’s the point in a modified category if the mods are not taken into account, if its just being judged on how spotlessly clean a car is then just have a MK3 section and save the confusion…
Lastly ALL there cars there looked great and people put in ALOT of effort to display there cars on the day so well done to all the competitors
Mal, As for only 2 people not knowing or attending the awards, well I’m afraid that’s utter tosh, there was FAR more than 2 people that had no clue what was going on or that the awards had been done…
Wayne, stay away from my tyres you MK3 hating mender
I am so sorry if competitors did not hear me. I apologise for only having one vocal cord due to cancer. I did try to let every one know what was going on. Even some of the competitors who were close to me seemed to not understand. All the winners and second placed cars had a note left saying that they had won an award and on this note was the time 13:30 when they had to be back at the competition area. Trophies were given out by Vicky Henderson then the drivers were ask to join a convoy to the arena where they were presented to the membership, all this had to be done to a time schedule. We are striving to make the competition section better all the time but having a dig at the judges and competition team is not going to help.
I was not rude but stating the facts. I had several competitors query the classes they had put them selves in, I have the print outs to prove it, and I duly changed their class. but what I should have done was leave them where they had first stated and then they would have been marked down as being in the wrong class. If I am running the comps next year and the way I feel at the moment it is a big if, I will not change any car. 95% of the competitors got it right so that must say some thing.
I am willing to accept constructive comments but I do not accept competitors having ago at the judges, as I said before why not come along and judge and see it from the other side.
As The Red car that won was lovely no doubt about that, was it a modified car ?? well certainly not in my opinion BUT that’s just my opinion…
People are upset because it appears my car seems not to be modified enough yet when I have asked on here which class they thought my car should have been in no one has answered.
Here are my final words on the matter, on my the subject of my car some people seem to believe it's not modified enough, I agree, I would say lightlymodified, it has no suspension mods, no power upgrades and no replacement bigger wheels, it was bought as a poverty spec car, no fog lamps, no spoilers, no bling and you all have seen the list of parts I have added to it so therefore entered to the lightly modified class not the modified class, maybe the other cars entered that had lowered suspension, wheels, engine upgrades should therefore been entered into the modified class, as Mal says there where no NC entered into this class, why? The work that has went into these cars I would class as modified not lightly modified, The owners club has provided us all that entered with an excellent manual that I read thoroughly and I believe my car met the criteria for lightly modified but certainly not for modified. Now anyone who has a copy of this manual take a look at the symbols on the front cover, we have daily driver, standard, lightly modified, modified, ultra modified, looking at the modified section here we have the icons for suspension, bigger brakes, power upgrades, body kits, so surely these cars on Sunday that where in the lightly modified class should have been in the modified class.
Now one of the cars in the lightly modified class a beautiful blue car and nice owners to chat too only had a couple of mods as far as I understand, chrome fog lamp surrounds and a cream leather interior upgrade had standard wheels but if we take a look at the manual it says this,
Interior – Seats must be of Standard Type. Must retain interior finishes, any carpet is allowed. Stock dash needs to be retained but modifications of stock gauges are allowed if mounted in same place.
So should this car not have been in the modified class?
I thought for sure this car and the silver one beside me where going to win.
I have been an OC member now for just two years and this was my first time at a national rally and before that the Spring rally last year, I still believe my car meets the criteria only for the lightly modified class, if I where to return for next years show I would enter the same category again, will I though at this time no I don’t think I will enter the competitions again as it seems unless you are spending lots of money on big upgrades any win will be frowned upon.
This thread has had over 800 views there will be new members out there that have been following this thread that have bought a standard car, added some bling, a wind locker and a few other minor parts etc and have considered entering the competitions will now be thinking there’s too much friction from other competitors if they win If they have spent much less money than them.
As to my earlier comment that I also thought the judging was a bit rushed now that I know who the judges are I apologise for this, you guys knew what you where looking for and my wife explained to me last night that you where a lot more thorough than I first thought.
To the show organisers from all of us that traveled over from Northern Ireland many thanks for making the long trip worthwhile we all enjoyed it.
I had thought about entering mine but with my son off to university that weekend I didn’t feel I could be certain of attending.
I have a few similar minor mods (less) and would have felt like I had no choice than to have put mine into the same category as yours. There just wasn’t any other option that I could see. Having looked at the other cars I commented to a friend that I thought yours would win and at best , on a good day with a blind judge!, I might have had a chance of a 2nd.
As there are so few standard cars entered, at the moment, perhaps putting those cars with minor mods like yours in with those is an option?
It was certainly a hollow victory for the nice couple with the standard car as there was literally no competition whatsoever.
Totally agree with this suggestion, but, if a well known and liked member from the area where the next rally is held shows his car and predominantly more local members turn up than nationwide members, who’s going to win?
And for reasons of my own (which have been touched on here) i for one will not be showing my car again.
You make a good point there regarding the standard class since entries are low, maybe it would be best to combine the standard and lightly modified into one category to encourage more people who don’t want to spend lots of money on additional parts and provide a better show for spectators.
Rules could be additional trim upgrades to interior exterior and engine bay allowed but must retain original factory spec wheels, suspension, brakes and standard engine.
O dear ,my comments seem to have upset a few people this was not my intention at all , being a first timer a few things were very new/strange to me but as said it was a learning curve, my car does not qualify as a show car /track car its my car and it has modifications/ adjustments and additions I like or want as for dirt/rust /blemishes etc it 23 years old is used most weeks ,winter and summer so bits do get marked /dirty etc . I abhor trailer queens , stupid horse power track cars on the road etc but admire honest practical user friendly cars some dirt happens ! Enough said I publicly apologise to any one I have upset with these and other comments and hope to do another show in the future
Thats how it was done years ago; as part of the rally pack you got voting slips. It was a bit of fun. Of course, there was always blatant lobbying, all in fun. It wasn’t always the case a local car would always win; a well known and well battered Roadster from NI did rather well in 2000 as I recall. And also, there was the Rob Beckworth trophy, where Rob’s mum used to select the winner. Has that been retired now? I confess, I haven’t hung around for the awards bit for years now.