[Marc]

Round 3 of the Victorian MEASQ Series for 2009 has been run and won!

The Lions Club of Wangaratta in conjunction with the Early Holden Car Club run a combined Swap Meet (one of the largest in Victoria) along with a Show & Shine for all makes and models. MEASQ was invited to be part of this show to further promote car audio and in particular sound quality. We saw this as an prime opportunity to introduce sound quality to a different audience and hopefully pick up some new interest in the 'sport'.

Arriving at fantastic 4.5 star accommodation at The Gateway hotel in Wangaratta around lunchtime, we met up with many other competitors from ACT, VIC and NSW. At this point I must make a special mention and thank you to marsh for organising the accommodation which really was second to none! Just what you need considering the cold and wet weather we were greeted with!

We met up with our local guide and member responsible for our inclusion into this show, Michael White. Michael effectively single handedly liaised with the Early Holden Car Club and MEASQ to ensure a smoothly ran event and what a job he did! Thanks mate and it was a pleasure to meet you. We really hope to see you at more events.

Michael also organised a dinner for all competitors at the "Out in the middle of nowhere Pub / Bistro". The food was great, blankie's dinner antics entertained all, the kumquat was ummm, strange, and many laughs were had! Returning to the hotel Saturday night for some quiet beverages ended up being a game of being chased around from room to room by the hotel staff with noise complaints! We weren't really that loud, but when you put 25 sound quality enthusiasts together and a little alcohol there's surely some noise to be made! In the small hours of the morning we decided we better get some sleep before a big day and an early start for the Sunday.

After a staggered start by all and plenty of coffee rounds the group arrived at the Wangaratta show ground around 8:30am and quickly setup the MEASQ area. It was still cold and a little windy but the rain was holding off. We were given a very generous area by the Early Holden Car Club and I must say our cars, banners, marquees and 'display' certainly looked fantastic. Hundreds of locals came through the area and there was much interest in what we were all about. This is the sort of exposure MEASQ really needs and the organisers were an absolutely pleasure to deal with. Very accommodating, and only too willing to assist with any of our needs!

It was so motivating to see so many competitors make the trek to Wangaratta and I believe the final count was around 21 in total. The heavens eventually decided to open up on us and down came the rain. I think it was a very welcome site for most so there wasn't very many complaints to be honest, but unfortunately this did effect the show displays and some of the nicer cars from the Show and Shine did take off a little early. Understandable I guess as many of the cars are absolutely immaculate.

I'll post the actual results into the leaderboard shortly, but judging was great as was the standard of competitors cars. All MEASQ competitors were also eligible for Show and Shine awards (with a free separate registration), and it was fantastic to see Joe and Sam's cars from Phatt Audio pick up 'Best Late Model', and 'Best Japanese' awards. One point I would like to mention here though, is throughout the day at events I hear a number of competitors complain about how long it takes to get through all the cars. Please remember, to ensure consistency we must use the same judges for all cars in each class. Particularly in expert class, the judges need to be very thorough and this takes time. Events could be run faster and each car tested quicker, but our biggest priority is accurate and repeatable results, particularly in a subjective judging system. So please be thoughtful and considerate of this :) The judges do a fantastic job for what really is a mammoth task.

As some may be aware, I started this competition system quite some years ago as I wanted to get into SQ competition. As it turned out, I never got the chance to actually compete until this season. It's been great to be a competitor and invaluable to see the events through a competitor's eyes. For my actual first event, it was an eye opener. I look forward to taking the judges comments on board and improving the system based on the feedback received. I may as well admit I came last in expert class because I have been copping flak for it all weekend already! Haha. My aim and way of going about achieving SQ might be a bit of a challenge in car not well particularly suited to horns, and audio installation in general but I do see it as a challenge and something to aim for. At least now I have a base point and can improve based on what I have scored. Thank you very much to the competitors and also the judges for the advice and suggestions. Between my knowledge, and your advice hopefully I can use the 2009 season to improve the Nitro to a competitive placing.

There were a number of prizes, awards and trophies. Firstly I must thank Car Audio Connections in Wangaratta for their sponsorship of the trophies. They were sensational and I think all would agree. A number of prizes were also donated by Clarion, and Polk Audio and I am sure they will be put to good use. Thank you to those industry members who support MEASQ. Even competitors donated prizes this time around with a Pioneer shirt from Clinton (tegboy) and a Highway One reference CD being donated by Simon (Pulse-R). This was appreciated by MEASQ and I am sure equally by the recipients. Judges, VIC Committee, Score Girls (Ness & Tess), Michael White, Early Holden Car Club, thank you all for your support, and I think it was unanimous that this will become an annual event.

Thanks to all for the laughs, and an all round enjoyable weekend!

Results are being entered into the Leaderboard now. [edit: having some issues with the leaderboard at present. Working on it. - Results further down for now].

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt305/Emediate/Wangaratta%202009/P4263944Medium.jpg

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt305/Emediate/Wangaratta%202009/P4263953Medium.jpg

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt305/Emediate/Wangaratta%202009/P4263916Medium.jpg

All My Photos on PhotoBucket

ROUND 3 WANGARATTA RESULTS:

INTERMEDIATE CLASS

1st Place : Bernardus Frederick ( 1994 Daihatsu Charade )
2nd Place : Matthew Windsor ( 1970 Mercedes Benz 300SEL )
3rd Place : Adam Boyer ( 2007 Ford Focus )
4th Place : Andrew Mead ( VE SS Commodore )
5th Place : Brian French ( 1999 VT Commodore )
6th Place: Brian Smith ( 2001 Holden International )
7th Place : Tim Parsons ( 1994 EF Falcon XR6 )
8th Place : Michael White ( Mitsubishi Magna )
9th Place : Marshall Jones ( Nissan Micra )
10th Place : Sean Bailey ( 1992 Suzuki Cappucino )

EXPERT CLASS

1st Place : Adhika Rusly ( 2003 Honda Accord Euro )
2nd Place : Simon Tremlett ( 2001 Nissan Pulsar )
3rd Place : Alan Sornig ( 1995 Ford XR6 )
4th Place : Jason Marie ( 2003 Ford Explorer )
5th Place : Mark French ( 2007 Holden Astra )
6th Place : Clinton Lea ( 2005 Subaru Forester )
7th Place : Damian Tennent ( Holden Commodore )
8th Place : David Ancrum ( 1993 Subaru Liberty )
9th Place : Marc Rushton ( 2009 Dodge Nitro SXT )

Additional Awards:

Top Sound System: Adhika Rusly
Encouragement Award: Michael White

[syd-monster]

Sounds like a really great event. Credit to the people that made it happen.

Congratutlations to all winners and competitors.

Now... pics?

[wazzab4]

I take it results from just the days events will be up in this thread soon.

[White410]

It was a great weekend. The event ran smoothly, Judges where awsome giving great feed back.

A big thanks to Marc, Ness, Tess and the rest of the Offical Crew for coming up and holding the event in Wangaratta

And to everyone else that attended the event as you guys are what made it a successful event

THANKS TOO ALL

I will be seeing you all next round

[fury]

Well what an awesome weekend!

Huge thanks to Michael White for all his organisination, and a huge thanks to all the competitors for braving the storm, travelling 250+ km's, and making the event awesome.

Will post a few pics now, and more will be available during the week :)




Saturday morning, our fearless leader confiding in wise old Al-timer, before we endure the long and arduous trek north.
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Number of downloads: 26


The rain accompanied us on the drive north, making vision poor, and big turbocharged stroked v8's act like iceskates on ice.
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Number of downloads: 21


The Victorians taking out the trash. (Kindly assisted by Boris)
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Number of downloads: 17


A peaceful pub dinner, where all 3 states represent. (What you looking at Matt!?!?!)
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Number of downloads: 15


MEASQ Represent! Taking over Wang 2009!
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Mmmm shiny trophies and prizes!
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Winners are grinners! (Simon clearly didn't win)
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Number of downloads: 15




:)

[syd-monster]

cool... do I see booze in that last shot??!??

[~Spyne~]

yep, certainly was a good event and whole weekend overall. marc pretty much summed up the whole weekend in his post, so i'll keep mine pretty short.
firstly, thanks to whitey for organising the event and dinner saturday night - you did a great job with the event, ESPECIALLY considering it was your first even as a competitor, let alone as the sole organiser. the lions club and early holden car club for allowing us to share the ground and day with them. thanks to marsh for the accommodation, the judges and organisers, the scorers, and all the competitors that came along and made the event and weekend what it was.

sadly, i couldnt get on the winners podium, being squeezed out by matty (2nd) whose car ended up sounding very very good after sounding very, very average on saturday evening and even early sunday morning. well done mate, those final tweaks of yours on t/a pulled it all together nicely - i guess that makes the score 1-all now?
congratulations to bernardus on coming first in Intermediate - your car has consistently sounded excellent this season, and its obviously continuing to improve each round to stay ahead of the rest of us. (go Team Crescendo :))
congratulations also to Adhika on his first place in Expert - yet again the car does very well, keep it up. there were a number of people HIGHLY impressed with the car after getting a listen. well done to simon who came in second in Expert - hope i was able to help in some way on saturday night, even though my understanding of 2-seat judging and how to use t/a in that situation isnt really up to that level.
well done to clint, after MAJOR issues on saturday afternoon, i'm glad i was able to help you sort through those to the point where the car was staging really well, particularly from the passenger seat. be keen to see what you can do with it after the upgrade :)
also congrats to damo and joe for their show awards, and whitey for your encouragement award - not a bad showing in Intermediate for 1st effort mate

socially, the early holden cars were really good to wander around and look at - its great to be able to do something other than stand around and wait to be judged/get results. pity about the weather, had it been better i'm sure there would have been more of us wandering around the grounds and the HUGE swap meet also.
ummmmm blanketman. well, what can we say? no we didnt call you a Jew, yes we did touch your ass, yes we have ALL seen your new shoes, no it wasnt one of clint's anal-beads and most definitely WHAT HAPPENS IN WANG, STAYS IN WANG.
marshy, u gotta sort out those 'henchmen' at that hotel mate, how are we expected to get drunk and have fun if they keep interrupting us with "keep the noise down please" door knocks and phone calls? (kidding) was funny at one stage though, doing a 'benny hill' with one of them as we swapped from room to room.
the Wang Party on sunday night was even better (apart from the girls going weak at the knees watching Twilight) with jokes, spa, sauna, more drinks, pizza, movie, more drinks....

all in all, a great weekend and i will definitely support the choice to go back next year!

[marsh]

yeah agreed with all posts so far, was a great weeekend, the lead up to it was stressfull however, after putting hte boot all togther, and it F&*^$@ up on me i was mighty pissed, nothing lined up, the edges were rough as guts, the trim rings decided to screw me over, it was a disaster, got it all in and left ( while i had boris waiting for a while lol) but i got it there thats the main thing!!!,
being my first comp i had absolutley no idea what to expect. after listening to some of the systems i was amazed at the sound, and suddenly realized i had alot of work to do before i get to that level!!!! it did give me a level t work toward tho! but hey all that aside it was a great weekend, a wet weekend, but a great one!!! i learnt alot about car audio to!
i would also like to thank everyone at the comp and a special thanks blanket for his advice and being so welcoming!!!
well done to all the winners, michael, and the orgnizers. great weekend, fully support it again next year, and im sure the gateway will as well!!!
cheers everyone!!!

[Marc]

Results added to first post.

[crosspug]

Looks like a great event, congrats to all who made the trip! Wish I'd made it.

Although not so sure I like the idea of Matt's car sounding quite so good...... ;)

Jono

[Damo95]

WHAT A WEEKEND..... that is all.. for now..


[edit by Tess]

Well what can i say... could not have asked for a better weekend away!!

I have to say i did feel a bit crook after the entire weekend even though i didnt actually drink that much... (sorta)

to Whitey - you're a legend... you did such a good job of organising everything!! Well done!

to Marsh - the accomodation was brilliant... Ness and i were floored by it when we looked at the rooms and there was a lot of girly squealing coming from that end of the 2nd floor!! (so much so that we ended up staying a second night) i actually wanted to put the bed on top of the senator and secure it with hundred-mile-an-hour-tape not to mention the FULLY SICK clock/ipod dock on the bedside table

to the 'boys' - well done on judging the cars so well... considering the weather you guys were flying through them!!!

to everyone in the room who talked while ness and i were avidly trying to watch Twilight (more like trying to watch Edward Cullen) i shall have my revenge!!!!

much love for everyone...

See y'all at Patony's this thursday to laugh some more!!!

This post has been edited by Damo95: 27 April 2009 - 10:12 PM

[~Spyne~]

jono, i suggested i come up and help the rest of you guys out, but matty didnt seem too keen on that idea......

[shiny_car]

looks like a top event and top weekend. well done to everyone involved.

i obviously missed out, but such is life.

Marc, build a real system already, will you?! :P

:)

[Sierra]

As others have already said ... a great weekend was had by all!

The weather wasn't that great but it was more than made up for by the enthusiam of everyone involved.

Again thanks to the Lions Club of Wangaratta & the Early Holden car Club for inviting MEA to be part of their Swap Meet / Show & Shine and "show ourselves off" to a new audience.

Also a huge thanks to local guys Michael White and Marsh ... you guy's are legends!

My weekend got off to a shakey start when we all arrived in convoy at the Gateway Motel and started to check in.
When it came my turn I was told they had no reservation for me ... strange because I got a phone call during the week confirming my reservation.
Anyway after a bit of searching their records and still not finding me I was starting to think that I had actually booked with a
different motel and was getting worried that I would be spending my afternoon trying to find out where the hell I had booked!
A little bit more record searching found a reservation for an "alan" but that person had already checked in and the surname was spelt differently.
A closer look revealed it was my reservation with my name spelt wrong and it turned out that TEGBOY had actually checked in for me when he arrived an hour earlier ... thanks for the heart attack Clint! :P
In TEG's defence he did send me an sms while we were still on the road telling me he had checked me in ... but who hears an sms when you have music turned up?!

The Motel accomodation was great ... especially the more upmarket rooms ... fantastic!
All the car parking was underground and out of the wet weather ... great considering the conditions of the weekend.
We actually "took over" a separate alcove of the underground carpark which was located pretty well below where we all had our rooms ... an absolutly perfect location for final testing /tuning / installing / fixing and cleaning cars ... it seemed to be our second home ... with as much socialising down there as was back in the rooms ;)

I had a smaller room and bunked in with me were TEGBOY, Blanketman, & Matty VIP lounging on the floor.
TEG had the single bed while Blanky and I shared the double bed ... (What happens in Wang ... stays in Wang!)

Saturday night was good fun ... sneaking from room to room until we got noise complaints and had to move on.
Coinsidering the amount of alcohol consumed there were relatively few headaches the following day ... and isn't if funny how it's always the quiet ones that surprise ... Sean ... your acrobatic antics in the lift was a crack up ... LOL

Congratulations to all the winners and place getters ... well done to you all!

Bernardus ... great effort in intermediate ... brand new car and a first up win!

And Matty a great effort getting Boris into second place ... he is sounding really good these days ... obviously the scan-speaks didn't get too much water in them durung the drive down ;) Bugger about all your settings being cleared during the jump start ... perhaps you might want to fly Adam up to Canberra to help you "fine tune" again ;)

Adhika ... congrats on yet another win in Expert ... you're the man to beat this year! And when I get over this damn cold I want to have a good listen :)
Simon ... congrats on second place! ... those 9" Dyns in the floor are amazing ... I've never felt so much mid bass kick in my life!
The air pressure was moving my hair ... and that's a hell of a feat because I've hardly got any ;)

Damo & Brian ... fantastic effort from you guys with your show displays and lugging your own individual marques all the way up ... and congrats on your second place in show Damo :)

Also congrats to Sam (Tekken RX7) & Joe Nip (Honda NSX) for taking out show and shine classes with the Early Holden Club.

Looks like we missed out on a fun night on the sunday night ... having to leave Wang early sunday night for work the monday ... next
year I'll be organising for the monday off if needed! :)

[Marc]

shiny_car, on Apr 28 2009, 08:39 AM, said:

looks like a top event and top weekend. well done to everyone involved.

i obviously missed out, but such is life.

Marc, build a real system already, will you?! :P

:)

Yeah yeah, I think I will cop it for a while over this one :) But you have to start somewhere. I've witnessed first hand now that it doesn't matter how much knowledge or how good your product is, it still comes down to 95% install.

After extensive listening since the event, I've come to another conclusion. Horns just may not be suited to the MEASQ format. I have some frequency steering and placement issues that were throwing everything right out. However, after cranking the volume up quite a few more notches than our traditional listening level, I've found it comes to life and is actually a lot more stable in terms of image placement and focus. Not sure if this can be overcome .... yet :) I tend to 'listen' louder than judging volume and am probably guilty of RTA'ing, and tuning at louder volumes than I should have. I think this may have cost me quite a lot of accuracy points unfortunately.

The Nitro is a definate work in progress and only has one nights tuning and one comp under it's belt to date. A lot more to go!