OK guys, to give you as much notice as possible, we are proposing to run a "national" event for the 2008 season on the weekend of 29th & 30th November, 2008, in Canberra, ACT.

This event replaces the traditional Wagga National Finals, but is simply a national event - as opposed to national "finals".

All classes will be run, and decent trophies will be awarded based on the results of the day.

Judges will be in attendance from NSW, ACT and VIC.

The VIC committee (in conjunction with VIP 318) are currently scouting potential locations, and also a deal on accomodation for everyone.
More details will be posted as they become available.

All competitors are welcome to this event.

28-29th is a Friday Saturday?

And as it is I'm unavailable on the 29th.

29-30th weekend

at this stage, i'm in! last year was awesome - this year will be better

i am already in

I'm there... in the senator with Tess in tow...

im gonna get sun burnt again hahaha

We need a hotel with a pool.

and lots of Ladies



i ment parking spaces

Vic committee dont for get November is the month for fundraising for the deafness foundation - maybe you can do something at the national event to help raise money!

Any way - ON Topic.

Sounds good. Hope everyone has a good time. At this stage I dont think I'll be trekking up there. Too close to the silly season for me to do the weekend comfortably.

Ooo a challenge

Might have to make the tripsee down

Bag's bunking in with rick!

29th is no good for me if you want me to help run it again MATT VIP.

oh i am sooo there

Maybe. Thats if i make it. Ill be on holidays interstate and fly back in on the night of the 29th. I guess it depends how i pull up and if i can be bothered to drive to Canberra the next day after a week long bender.

Time will tell.

Im in teh same boat as Rick, not geting back till the 29th, so itll be fun lol

ill be there....possibly not competing but will be there to judge.....will be good to take the lounge chair i mean aristo on a long trip

Awesome ... would be fantastic if a few of you QLD'ers could attend!

Drag Dan along .....

dont think ill make it along this year

Take the Vl for a road trip ill co drive for you

Are Hecklers Welcome?

marc, will spl be ran also?

Not at this stage Adam, plans were only for MEASQ.

Hmm

cough.... roadtrip.... cough.....

Just wondering...

If its only an 'event' as opposed to 'Finals' does that mean that the winners of the respective classes won't be national champions for that class???

And further to that, how are the state/national champions being decided this year?? I wasnt able to find a leaderboard for state points or anything...

(Although it could be due to my poor site searching abilities.... )

Wood

No leaderboard this year Woody

As to the 'National Champion' - I wonder if any of the WA guys are going to drive all the way...

It's an open event (Competitors from all states welcome) to find the best sounding cars of the event.
I guess you could call it a national event if you like - but at the end of the day it's just an open event with competitors from ACT / NSW, VIC and possibly QLD and WA.

Call it whatever you like - we're all going to have fun, socialise, and play SQ.

the biggest cost for us sandgropers to get across is fuel. looking at over a $1g. is it really worth driving over?

If there's a group of you, organise a car carrier to transport cars over and back. Unfortuantely it'll turn a weekend into a fortnight.

Make a holiday out of it.
I just want to prove to you westerner's once and for all how much better SQ is over east

Having a bit of trouble adjusting my time alignment that far Marc

Hahah

...something to do with the higher-tech sq meters we have

Shhh spyne, don't tell 'em!

they still have the old school SQ meters with the fudging knob "look at us, were doing 197sQ's"

fudd-dging knob??? is that the $50 in the sun-visor?

no thats $100 in the visor, $50 just gets a rub n tug off blanky

he's charging u too much, fudd.

so us qlders are welcome, but what about judging-wise??? as the other half said i could go by plane but not car:(

just drive down

your taking your car to the "Mechanics" while you are gone

It would be great to have judges from all states there judging.

"Computer says no"

We should have the national comp in WA next year. Then we'll see how dedicated you east coast SQer's really are!
As for our judging technology, hopefully Marc will enlighten us when he visits next. If not, hope you said goodbye.

Sounds like a brilliant idea Marc - I really like it! Making it an open event like this means competitors won't have this whole feeling that their entire season of state competition 'reputation' is going on the line in one single event. That should give a great opportunity for people from all over the place to get together and have fun, while avoiding the unecessarilly tense over-competetiveness that has been associated with Wagga events in the past.

Timing also sounds good (at least for me). Exam period at my uni runs from November 10 - November 30, so with only one exam this semester I'd have to be very unlucky to have it fall on one of the last two days. That, combined with the event being much closer (ACT) means that there is actually a pretty good chance that I'll be able to come along.

The system is roughly 20% done at this stage, so three months should be enough to have it completed hopefully.

still trying to get down by car and enter, but i have a few q's
1. what accommodation is there??
2. whats the entry fee??
3. any venues decided on yet??
4. if all else fails are there any camping grounds????

We're currently scouting locations, accomodation (group booking), and entry fees will be confirmed once we have costed the venue, our public liability insurance, and of course the trophies. We'll keep it as low as we can to cover the expenses.

Probably no camping, but perhaps a local member could take in one or two interstaters? A bit of floor isn't expensive

excellent idea men.

ok, also how are the tolls like from qld down the coastal route to canberra

i didnt think there was tolls
only if you go thru Sydney

I think I'll make my annual MEA apperance again at the national event. Wagga was a blast & I've had many good time's in canberra, so it should be good fun.
Is there going to be DB Drags or other events there aswell? - To bring in more spectators? Or only SQ?

Only SQ in this case.