Ok, after witnessing Bass Race being run at Harrys Diner on the Weekend I thought I'd get a thread going about the format that I am (like others) sure will take off.

BASS RACE RULES





I have just cut and pasted this info from Termpro.



WHAT IS BASS RACE??



Welcome to BASS RACE®. Bass race is very simple, it is similar to bracket style drag racing. It is a "HEAD to HEAD" SPL competition. Your score is a 30 second average of commercially recorded music played on your car stereo. That's right - you must play your stereo for 30 seconds. The first part of the competition is qualifying and the second part is called eliminations.

1) Understand what AVERAGE means. For every second of the 30 second time limit, a mathematically equation is being performed by the computer.

The average works like this. If in the 1st second of time you have a score of 90db (your average is 90db). In the 2nd second of time you have a score of 100db (your average is (90+100)/2=95db). In the 3rd second of time you have a score of 120db (your average 90+100+120)/3=103db).

Another example would be: In the 1st second you have a score of ZERO (poor reaction time). In the 2nd second you have a score of ZERO (very poor reaction time). In the 3rd second you have a score of 120db (your average would be 0+0+120/3=40db). Please note it is harder to increase your score towards the END of the 30 seconds.

2) Find a CD (sorry no burned CD's, no test tones, or sine waves) that has a least 30 seconds of bass. Try songs that have a steady bass beat. Use songs that sound loud in your vehicle. You may play a bass CD that has music ( not just test tones or sine waves). Your score will increase with strong bass music and your score will decrease with no bass music or pauses.

3) Once in the lanes, park your car so you can clearly see the display score board. You need to see the display score board to help control your stereo.

4) Have your CD ready -reaction time is very important. You want bass music as soon as the 30 second clock starts. Songs with long introductions and no bass are not recommended for Bass Race. Please note :You cannot start playing your stereo before the 30 second
clock begins. Have your CD cued up and the pause button set. Begin playing your stereo as soon as the 30 second clock begins.

5) During Eliminations, if you fall behind, try increasing the volume to catch up. But do not go over the class score (bust out). Scores change frequently in Bass Race, One second you could be winning the next second you could be losing.

QUALIFYING . This is where you have to establish a score. Bass Race offers you only one chance to qualify. To qualify, your vehicle is placed in either LANE 1 (left) or LANE 2 (right). A TERM LAB SENSOR is placed in the passenger side of your vehicle using a Suction Cup. You may sit in the vehicle (ear protection required) or you may operate the stereo system from OUTSIDE the vehicle. The vehicle motor may run during the competition. You prepare your electrical and sound system. The vehicle must be sealed shut (no cracks, no open door or trunk) for the entire 30 second metering process. Do not open your doors or windows. Competition starts with your "thumb up" indicating your are ready. The computer says "ready set and GO" A 30 second timer is displayed. You play your stereo. At the end of the 30 seconds you are given your score. YOUR SCORE IS THE CLASS. YOU WILL BE COMPETING AGAINST OTHER VEHICLES WITH A VERY SIMILAR SCORE. If your score is in the top 8 of your class, you will keep competing. If your
score is not in the top 8 for your class, you are eliminated from Competition.

ELIMINATIONS are where the top 8 scores from qualifying for each class compete "HEAD to HEAD". Simply -You must beat the car next to you with out busting out of your class. Please note: A competitor once placed into a class, his or her average SPL score CANNOT exceed the maximum score for the class. I.E. Hitting a 130 db while in the 120 -129.9 db class during eliminations. Each round the winner keeps competing and the loser is eliminated. The first round of elimination's is QUARTER FINALS. The next round is SEMI FINALS. A winner is determined in the FINALS.

• Yes you may sit in your vehicle.
• Yes the vehicle can run.
• Yes the vehicle must remained sealed shut
• Yes reaction time is important
• Yes park your vehicle to see the display board
• NO burned CD's
• Do not start your stereo before the 30 second clock begins










The Bass Race format is simple.

• Competitors score is a 30 second average of commercially recorded music (no burned cd's, test tones or burps)

• Competitors with similar scores compete "head to head" to see who has the loudest car stereo

The Bass Race competition begins when a competitor qualifies his or her vehicle. To qualify, a Termlab SPL sensor is placed on the competitors passenger side windshield. The competitor plays his or her stereo system for 30 seconds. He or she is given an average SPL score. This score places him or her in 1 of 6 classes. The class is determined strictly on the score. Classes are NOT determined by equipment, vehicle, competitor status, installation or manufacturer.

The classes are:
119.9 dB - Under (30 second average SPL)
120 dB - 129.9 d B (30 second average SPL)
130 dB - 139.9 dB (30 second average SPL)
140 dB - 149.9 dB (30 second average SPL)
150 dB - 159.9 dB (30 second average SPL)
160 dB - UP (30 second average SPL)

Now the fun begins. After all the competitors do their 1 qualifying round they are RANDOMLY placed in a bracket. The brackets determine
who will compete against each other. They compete head to head against other competitors with very similar scores. Winners advance in
the brackets to the finals.
Please note: A competitor once placed into a class, his or her average SPL score CANNOT exceed the maximum score for the class at any time. I.E. Hitting a 130 db while in the 120 -129.9 db class during eliminations

Other items are also strictly FORBIDDEN
FORBIDDENS - any of the following items will result in the competitors score being recorded as a ZERO
"RED LIGHT" - starting the stereo before 30 second clock begun
"OVER REV" - revving the motor in excessive of 2000 RPMs
"OVER SHOT or BUST OUT"- exceeding the class score at any time during eliminations
"VENTING"- Opening a door, trunk or hatch before the 30 second time limit has expired
"RED SCORE" - playing a bass note in excess of 80hz to attain the maximum average SPL score.
"TEST TONES" - competitor using test tones

REACTION TIME AVERAGE CONTROL

FAQS about BASS RACE


REQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. Why 30 second average?

A. It is our opinion that 30 second average represents a typical stereo system playing typical music.

Q. Can I sit in my vehicle during the event

A. Yes. You also must wear protective ear gear for your ears.

Q. Can I run my motor during the event.

A. Yes you can run your motor during the event. You cannot exceed 2000 rpms. Please note in case of a tie, you will not be allowed to run your motor during the tie breaker round.

Q. I have 2 woofers and hit a 129.4 and the other guy had 4 woofers and hit 129.6 - that doesn't seem fair?

A. It not the vehicle nor the equipment, it is what you do with it that determines the winner. Its all in the score.
There will be times when less equipment will beat more equipment. There will also be times when more equipment beats less equipment.

Q. I have a trunk car, . Why do I have to compete against a Hatchback?

The competition is based on similar scores. There will be times when a trunk car will beat a hatchback and there will be times when a hatchback will beat a trunk.

Q Why would anyone chose this format over any other existing format for doing an SPL show?

A) Less classes - more competition
Very simple format for everyone involved
Almost any vehicle stereo system can be competitive
Manufacturer friendly
Retailer friendly
Spectator friendly - IT IS THE MOST ENJOYABLE FORMAT TO WATCH
Competitor friendly - it is very active format - requires a full 30 seconds of concentration.

Q My name is DJ Mondo Bass and I record my own music. Can I use my own music.

A) yes you can AS LONG AS IT is commercially available. Example - lets say you produce Cd's. The cd must Be available either online or at a retail store. It must be commercially packaged. You cannot use any music that has not been commercially prepared which would include but not limited to demo music, re mix.

Q. Can I do more than 1 qualifying round?

A. No - only one qualifying round is permitted

Im still a bit confused about where the line gets drawn re: sweeps and tones. With songs that have them in the background, what happens then?

no i think that thats ok brady......

i reckon that this would be awesome to compete in. for my setup that i will have, it would place me in st B, but im pretty sure i wouldnt be competitive, so id just go in bass race......nice

its good fun, i had a go last nite, i got drilled, but thats ok lol

and songs containing sweeps, as im aware of, are fine

a bass mekanic album seemed to be a good choice last nite if i remember correctly (excuse spelling)

take note of the "commercially available" and "original recording" restrictions which apply to any music which is to be played

There is a 4 page thread on this over on Termpro, I think the general idea is that.......

A) the CD is commercially available.

AND

B) the song u are using isn't a blatant tone. (ie the track is a song...not a sine wave.)

you can use Bass Mekaniks, Food for Woofers, even the dB Drag Racing CD, so long as it is a MUSIC track and not a tone.

Thats my take on it, maybe Angelo will see this and give us his ruling on it.

Hmmm very interesting, Im thinking this would be better for me to enter instead of DB Drag when i finaly get my system happening. as i only have one 10" i can see myself getting my @ss handed to me in ST A.

Are we going to be having Bass Race in other states?

man i'd bass race, that would be hot as.. didnt realise it ran like this, it would mean a lot more people would be able to compete in a bass race than a dB Drag too.

any shops in WA witrh a lab wanna crank out the bass racing? hint hint alberts

Yeah, it would give people who actually listen to their system daily a chance to be competitive.

Maybe i'm a tad slow, but pumpin your gear for 30 seconds through all sorts of songs and whatnot will eventually strain your system, no?

i'd rather put a good clean tone for afew seconds through my setup than try to hammer it with "Nelly" blaring for 30 seconds...

then don't do bass race.......... seems pretty simple to me.
fun format and the guys in the states seem to be really liking it...

ill be keen to give it a go. should be good!

Sounds great.
I think the guys around here (my local area) would find that more fun than a normal SPL comp.

Honestly, what's the point of a system, if it can't play for atleast 30 seconds without meltdown?

Exactly. At least this format will show who has a REAL street system in their car, not a one note wonder.

this looks VERY familar . (look up Thunder on Wheels via google - same rules for SPL. used Flashdance for SPL checking.)

looks like I'll have to dig up the Breul & Kajaer again

Sounds like Fun I'd see these bass races on international sites and wondered what they were but never took much notice. Now i take notice - now im interested!

Bassrace is fun. WAZZAB4 & I ran were the first competitors in Australia to ever do a bassrace.. that was AutoSalon Sydney last year IIRC. Its fun for sure, makes those subbies stink like crazy. 99% of its getting the settings right.. I always botch up by revving the Crown too far and dropping the volts below 10V !

ive seen similar things on american sites and magazines but they average over 5 minutes! i saw an article on the world finals and the top two averaged high 170's-yes averaged not max. they run them basically till the gear starts to fail-you can do that when you have sponsors!

it would be good because you don't have to kill your gear if you don't want to-just watch your score carefully while competing if you decide to qualify a tad lower than you really could! it is more like actual drag racing where reaction time is important and other factors like watching your score could be compared to not wheel spinning of the line- what gear you have is only a factor of what will get you the win.

if your worried about over revving adjust your idle so it stays automatically, mite sound a bit weird when you drive in though!

This is called Deathmatch, its like a marathon version of dB Drag Racing and as scary as it is, it is also great fun

Below are the Extreme DM results from last years WFs.

Considering that the Team Loud car is now knocking on 180 to average 175 for 5 mins is amazing.

Edge Audio was up there too, but there shi.t let go, but that DM for you.

dB Drag Racing - Deathmatch - Extreme
Place Competitor SPL Stats
1st Team Loud (Deathmatch) 175.1
2nd Tim Heath (Deathmatch) 160.1
3rd Edge Audio (Deathmatch) 104.8
4th Extreme Audio (Deathmatch) 104.4

wouldnt mind seeing bassrace introduced even as a side event at comps until it starts to really take off.

angelo gave us a taste of it at autosalon sydney this year and i liked it. nothing like pounding ya subs for 30seconds hoping ya deck dont skip watching every second for ya DB reading to increase.

but yeah i think would be good to run it as a side thing after Dbdrag comps until the interest really picks up. or see if we cant have the two run at the same time. and can gather from interest already it would take off. as a few people have stated it would sort out which stereos can literally drive and pound.

would be interesting to see what song team loud played

by the looks of it this is a hell of alot more spectator friendly....lets face it DB drag and the buzz you hear isnt overly exctiting

also i rekon i would almost be able to justify competing in something like this as it can be as much about the song as i can be the gear being used

up to a point, selecting the right song could go a long way...might have to give this a go next time if i have a CD with some decent bass on it

There is an offical bass race cd which has to be used at all multipoint events (Australian Finals will be it for us this year)