President's Picnic & Events

16 September 2013 / Words by Michael Soulos

Thank you to all the members who attended the President’s Picnic & Events as your presence combined with the blessing of the weather gods contributed to make the day a huge success. It was declared by founding members Colin & Elaine Caldwell as "the best Concours ever!" The events could not be conducted without the participation of members volunteering to act as judges and officials all of whom are acknowledged and thanked in this report.

With late arrivals and unregistered members, the event attracted about 150 people to Ebenezer with around 75 MX-5s in show in the church grounds and others parked outside. The Ladies Auxiliary of Ebenezer Church served up 120 lunches and morning tea for our members and guests, and raised a few extra dollars with a cake stall of delicious treats to take home. A special thank you to Lesa Bunn and Pam Estreich for selecting the venue, organising the catering and manning the registration desk. A big thank you to all our traffic marshals for their efforts and a terrific job, namely Trevor Bown, Phillip Donnelley, Gaynor Lawler and Noel La Rose.

The premier event was Concours, which has had a revival of interest in the last couple of years now that it has been merged with the revamped President’s Picnic & Events. Bits 'n' Bling are completions where the judging is purely subjective and attracted the largest number of entries with two of our Club's sponsors, ACDC and Blue Mountains Mazda, coordinating the judging teams for these events.

Concours

Guy Coles had the responsibility of co-ordinating the Concours in 2013 for which there is only one class for judging. To ensure that the club has a pool of judges going forwards, experienced members stepped forward to act as judges and train assistants in the black art of judging concours in white coats and gloves. A special thanks has to go to our lead Concours judges on the day Phil Ashton, Paul Byers, Jean Cook, Peter Feutrill and Keith Monaghan and to our apprentices Guy Coles, Marie Smart, Chris Flak, Gary Nobrega, Adam Rumjahn, Trevor To and Adam Walker for their time and effort to get the job done in the time allotted. In the Concours classes the trophies and certificates went to:

NA: The winner in the very competitive NA Class by three points was the ever immaculate red NA prepared by Colin and Elaine Caldwell with a Certificate of Commendation going to Adam Rumjahn.

NB: The winner of NB Class Luke Kovacic well maintained silver NB with a Certificate of Commendation going to Phillip Donnelley.

NC: Diane Byers won household bragging rights and NC trophy with her yellow NC with the Certificate of Commendation going to Mark Underwood

The final scores for each entrant in Concours are posted here. If you would like a copy of your own score sheets, contact Guy at Sydney@mx5.com.au and he'll email a scanned copy.

Bits Awards

The Bits competition was judged by members of the Club who are motor mechanics qualified to evaluate the merits of modifications to a vehicle for each of the three classes on show. One of the difficulties in determining modifications is that there are many different ways of approaching modifications to engines and suspensions. However the judge's role is ultimately to reach a consensus on which car they choose has the best quality of modifications. The judges were Peter Battisson from ACDC in Canberra (Major Sponsor) who co-ordinated the judging team comprising of, Steven Brennan, Joe Gabki, Lou Iezzi and George Vergotis. The Club is indebted to these judges for their time and care in reaching their final decisions. The Bits judges spent two hours inspecting cars, speaking to owners, and hotly debating the merits of the wide range of modified cars on display. The winners of each Bits class were:

NA: The stand out winner of the NA Bits class was the beautiful and powerful grey NA entered by Steven Brennan with Certificates of Commendation going to Dave Perin and Gary Nobrega. Andrew Barber picked up a Certificate of Commendation for his well engineered and developed upgrade to a 1.8 litre Mazda V6 to give a whole new meaning to what is a NA6 model.

NB: The winner in the NB Bits class was Yemin Win for what was described by the judges as a tastefully modified and balanced black NB that ticked all the boxes. Riko Rubin earnt a Certificate of Commendation for his innovative modification to his yellow NB, together with Cameron Macarthur for his massively turboed SE.

NC: Guy Coles won the NC Bits class with his neat and modified black NC "Macey". The judges saw fit to reward Phil Ashton and Adam Walker with Certificates of Commendation for the standard of the modifications to their cars.

Bling Awards

The Bling completion was a subjective assessment of a cars external appearance that is less time consuming than the traditional Show 'n' Shine. In judging Bling, the judges can ignore minor imperfections without awarding or deducting for minor defects in paint and body work or for originality and modifications. In a few words the judges are asked to determine what car they would like to have parked in their garage in addition to their own MX-5s. A special thanks to Cameron Macarthur from Blue Mountains Mazda (RPM Chapter Sponsor) for co-ordinating the Bling judging team. The other judges on this team were Daniel Jenson, Dominic Spoedler and Lee Anne Walsh (a new member). The winners of the Bling Awards were:

NA: The NA Bling winner was Gary Nobrega for his well turned out red NA with near original exterior and discrete internal modification. The judges awarded Certificates of Commendation to Dave Perin and Steven Brennan.

NB: The winner in the NB Bling competition was Riko Rubin for Queen Bee, a worthy successor to his Blue Mistress, for its innovative modifications and beautifully presented exterior treatments. The judges awarded Certificates of Merit to Yemin Win, Con Mitsos and Russell Maxwell. Russ entered one of two genuine NB Coupes in Australia.

NC: Adam Walker won the NC Bling award for his much loved and modified silver NC, with Phil Ashton and Chris Flak receiving Certificates of Commendation.

Le Beau Prix MX-5 de Dames

A new event for this year was for the Award for the Best Ladies MX-5 on show and cheekily called Le Beau Prix MX-5 de Dames. This trophy was awarded to Diane Miller for her gold NB with Certificates of Commendation given to Kim Ranger and Julie Sando.

People’s Choice Awards

There was a huge response this year to the People’s Choice Awards and after all the votes were counted the winner by the smallest of margins was a well deserving Dave Perin for his unique and immaculately modified blue NA with matching trailer. Dave's prize was a year of free membership to add to the 20 years he has already clocked up. One point behind Dave Perin was Russell Maxwell's yellow NB Coupe, with Kim Ranger's red NC securing the next highest tally of votes. 

Best on Show

When all is said and done, the Best on Show is the major award decided by the participating judges from all the cars parked in the church grounds for the events. The clear overall winner on the day, by a country mile, was Adam Rumjahn's white NA6. Mark and Julie Sando's red NA was the runner-up.

More of David Lawler's fantastic photos can be found on Flickr.