Well the 25th VW Nationals has come and gone. What were your thoughts on the day? What did you like or dislike? What suggestions or comments do you have? Any ideas for what we can change, or add, to make the show even better next year?

To start you off, here are some of my thoughts:

* The peer judging worked very well and seemed popular with almost everyone. It greatly speeded up the entry to the show and got rid of the long and frustrating queues to get in.

* Just having First Prize for each category greatly speeded up the presentation. In previous years it seemed to drag on for ages when people were ready to go home. This year it seemed just about right.

* What did you think of having the winners' cars showing on the TV as they were announced? I thought it was fantastic - well done Dave Carter, great job.

* People need to pay the courtesy of NOT starting their VWs and departng until after the trophy presentation is over. It was sometimes hard to hear with engines in the background. Please wait 15 more minutes.

* Amazingly there were no New Beetles entered this year. Nor any Amarok/Tiguan/Touareg. I think these categories should still continue next year.

* I don't know what happened to the Engine Blow - that will have to be fixed for next year.

* It was good having the band play out the back, but the music between their sets was too loud.

* I thought swap meet stalls were down in number - maybe a cheaper price could be offered for swappers prepared to set up outside (ie not under cover)?

* The police siren Beetle was way too loud and intrusive.

* My daughter thought the kids' rides were 'pathetic' this year. Just one little ferris wheel and a jumping castle. Surely the contractors we employ can do better than that.

* Will anyone put their hand up to organise a hubcap toss or similar for next year? Or will someone donate an old junk Beetle for the kids to paint?

* The toilets under the grandstand were filthy and stinky - the grounds need to do better.

Any other comments?

Loved the band

The Band was really good. I brough a good atmosphere, although the strech Kombi was playing its usic very loud too so the competed at times. Personally i didn't find the interlude music to be too loud. Agree with the toilets though - yuk!

Not a huge fan of peer judging, there was a bit you vote for mine i'll vote for yours going on. And if you had anough mates entered then you could sway the voting your way.

Swap meet not as good as last year, maybee due to the forecast of not overly nice waether leading into the event, although it is undercover. Maybe make outside plots cheaper to entice more ppl out.

The trade displays were really good, much better than in years past.

Numbers of cars seemed down a little in the aircooled side but up in water, or that may be my perception.

yeah the band was great !
and the food was great !
and the cars where great!!!!

I thought the day was GREAT! Except that we were literally between the Police Beetle and the Limo Split Window Bus - Not ideal, but definitely a learning experience (I thought that you'd only need the light to be on to capture the photo's whilst in the Police Bug and not the sound, but perhaps I'm wrong .

Having attended only as a visitor for many years, I thought the numbers of cars seemed less than previous years (perhaps only my preception).

Have heard mixed thoughts about the peer judging - whilst it did wonders for the speed at which cars entered the park (as pointed out above), some people thought that it was flawed (including some people who won). I'm new at this, so can't really say one way is better than the other - That's up for the Club to decide.

I thought the band was great, but the music was very loud at times.

Side thought: as an aircooled entrant, I did think it was odd that I couldn't vote for the watercooled cars and vice versa, as there were some really GREAT watercooled cars.

I thought the day was GREAT, everyone was welcoming and helpful. The only thing missing is for me to sign up next year to help out .

Wanted to say that the people running the food did an excelent job. They were very efficient, the prices were very reasonable and they were super friendly!!
Was impressed that they had Gluten Free food !

The police siren was a PITA and I didn't miss the engine blow not happening....I must be getting too old

All in all it was another good show, but I do think numbers were down this year in both cars shown and people coming through. No idea why though.

Swap meet was too expensive for the small sellers.
How about $40 inside with 2 entry tickets and $20 outside with one entry ticket.

Seperate entrance line for sellers.

Too much Birchall on the PA.

Band was better being outside so that people could talk.

I'd prefer the old style judging.

How about $25 to display your car and $35 to be judged for a trophy. A lot of people enter their car just park and display which wastes judging time.

Engine blow is getting a bit boring and I worry about the safety aspects. If something goes wrong it could kill the show.

My 6 year old daughter wasn't impressed with the kds rides either. BTW it wasn't a jumping castle, just a blow-up room with about 20 balls in there. One look inside and she just walked away.

That siren was annoying.

Wasn't impressed with toilets. The parents room/toilet was filthy and had a mop and bucket of cleaning chemicals on next to the basin. Real safe

Otherwise a good day.

I wanted to jamb that siren right up .....
Great day thankS CLUB vw mITCHELL

Looks like the dearest swap meet in Australia is pricing itself out of existence Looks like the punters are sick of being cash cows. Hope their listening at Valla My2c

I thought it was a great event and well organised, quick entry to the car show for cars,

Food guys were flat out but It didn't take long to get served, you could see they had done that before. Ice cream van was amazing!!

Swap meet area was good, lots of good stuff to be had, I thought the swap this year was much better than the last couple.

I had a great day, Thanks Club Vee Dub

[size=4]Next year will be the 25th anniversary! Let's hope it's as good as this year.[/size]

The Swap Meet... down on numbers?

I arrived @ 10:20 am, with the car packed and ready to set up for the swap meet, and was informed: I can't enter.

"The Swap Meet is full."

My 10 year son and I were extremely disappointed.

Tips:

1) Better communication, re: Swap Meet numbers.

2) Top 25 - Inviatation only - the cars best in their category can only be displayed.
EG: Concours, Cal-Look,German-Look, Restro--Cal, Rat etc.
The area would be sectioned off, giving cars plenty of room.
The rest of the cars can be displayed outside the Top 25.
How to manage the logistics, egos, politics & tradition on this idea... very difficult

Thanks for putting the Show on.

Bryce

i thought the band was good but a little loud at times. i found it hard to hear people.

yes im deaf and i got it in the service of my country.
every thing else worked well though

the toilets Male n Female were cleaned 4 times during the day and at the end bowls scrubed, floors mopped, hand basins washed down

the "" SMELL "" unfortunatly is the fault of the Council who want to use GREEN ethecis

apparently the urinal does not flush anymore in order to save water ???? So they wash/flush it out every now and then with a bucket of water

would be interesd to know if the ladies smelt as bad



AS for the Kids rides they are always a bone of contention anyone know a reasonable priced Carnival operator let me know

anyone know who owns that anoying Police Sierien

I need to have a set of side cutters in my pocket next time

My two bobs worth...

The weather was great and we saw some new entrants which was great to see - unfortunately it looked a bit empty up the watercooled end so would recommend spreading the mix of stalls etc across the whole area to generate interest at both ends.
Facilities are always going to be a bit iffy when you have large numbers using them so you kind of expect that.
Food service was good but would really like to see some other vendors - the Waffle Van would have been great!
Peer judging - I don't think it worked. If you are going to have peer judging then it needs to be consistent and often leads to mates voting for mates. Would suggest opening watercooled and aircooled so that they can vote for each other or returning to the old method but introducing an independent body to take the load off the club who are already busy on the day.
Loved the Powerpoint preso - good idea - just get those fat bums out of the way so we can see lol or pop the TV up higher.
With the 25th anniversary next year would suggest no trophies but a commemorative medallion (similar to Motorfest) or something like that for each entrant/exhibitor - make it a really special day and highlight the fact that the club has had such great success over a 25 year period.
Overall its a good day and a lot of work is put in by the club which is appreciated....

What about some work on the PA system it was so loud making it be incomprehensible,the dunnies were disgusting,the food line seemed to be a lot more efficient,the background music was good most of the time. Luftmeister has a point about the cost of the trade/swap meet stalls as by the time you pay the costs you mostly break even or just below and apparently my club membership expired 3 days ago but they forgot to let me know,but I still enjoyed the day.

The show was great.

As has been mentioned, numbers down.

Siren was a pain.

Buggy boys revving their engines and out of tune was also a pain.

Surprised to see cars driving through the crowds for an early exit. I would've thought it was an OH&S issue to have cars unmarshalled driving through crowds. I was under the impression there was a set time for cars to depart from within the show unless being marshalled.

I have to give Ray & Shirley a BIG THANKS for their effort in helping with Bug Off Cancer's fundraising this year. Ray built a couple of great wooden models to be raffled off during the show yesterday and Shirley organised the raffle tickets to be sold. Their efforts helped raise $220 for Australian Cancer Research Foundation. I don't normally use the emoticons, but I'll make an exception in this case.

As a peer voter and not an expert i found it hard to recognise what category the cars was being entered. Maybe have entrants place the category they are entering onto the sticker.

Maybe a few extra categories for first time entrant? Daily driver?

Agree the police siren was a real pain, also agree entrants should be not allowed to leave until a predetermined time.

I still like the idea of having a part of the car park cordoned off so all vw's can park together sometimes there are real show winners out there.

All in all was an excellent day, thanks to the organisers for all their hard work

Congratulations Club VW on another great show!
A massive thank you to the Siren Bug!!!! He opened his door and allowed the kids to climb in!! My nephew was thrilled with the opportunity to sound the siren. As a spectator I wondered around the cars and traders and only noticed the siren a few times. Perhaps if you stayed in the one spot it may have been annoying but I think the excitement and thrill for the kids was GREAT!!! They even got excited just hearing it from a distance. A big shout out also to VWMA for similarly allowing my nephews into his race car for photos. A junkie beetle for the kids to paint or something else similar where the kids can climb in and sit at the steering wheel would be cool. Anything would be better than that pathetic, ratty old blow up ball pit with its rude, cigarette smoking cannies running the shots . It is fantastic that this is offered free but surely something better could be arranged...!?
I enjoyed the swap meet. I took a list this time and ticked a few things off Thinking next year I might have a car to show off and a few extra bits and pieces to sell. See ya there!!!

Agree with most of the sentiments in the first post.

-The band was good, I thought she murdered a couple of songs, but on the whole they were worth having.
-Food queue was great. One of the lions/rotarians had quite a turn and didnt look good at all. The others just soldiered professionally while their friend was being worked on 3 feet away. Not sure if I could have done that. Their service was the best ever. I hope someone from the club calls and enquires about the ladies health as a courtesy.
-Have never been a fan of peer judging since a particular club at Volksday thought it would be fun to all vote for one of their members shitbox car as a joke. (this was long before rat look was cool). The concept is the best idea ever. Who else is best suited to decide what is "best beetle to 1968" than the owners of beetles to 1968? If only we could rely on people to be sensible. Damned if you do, damned if you dont.
-For some reason I never see everything at a car show. Maybe its a case of having too many things to look at or I just have a boy look. I need lessons.
-It would be good if the number of announcements were cut down. (3 of them were looking for me... oops).


And then there is the supersprint.
- There should not be any entries on the day.
- People should make the effort to obtain licences and club memberships before the event.
- When people arrive with fee paid, licence in hand and current member card it takes 15 seconds to process.
- The event secretary had all previous results for competitors and estimated times for those who had not already entered. The secretary SHOULD have indicated what colour group the car should have been in on the scrutineering form.
- The scrutineers guessed where cars should have been. They were way off on a number of occasions. Then the groups on car windows didnt coincide with groups on paper.
- Because of the late entries the doc checking went too long and the event started late. The event actually started before the reconciliation of entries/disclaimers/scrutineering forms had been checked which is very wrong. When I/the grouping sheet arrived on the grid all chaos had broken out and I copped several serves when trying to get things back on track. I just gave up in the end.
- IMO a supersprint cannot just go by calling out colour groups. The cars within each group must run in order of fast to slow. There were cars getting lapped. When a supersprint depends on a single lap time you cant have the quickest car in the group at the back of the group. Be the time he/she gets to the front of the group with a clear lap ahead the run is over. Steve Carters video is case in point. He lost possibly 2 laps behind Birchall, and there were cars queued behind him. It has worked with a running order for the previous 3 years, it should have worked this year.
- Perhaps investigate the option of running under AASA permit instead of CAMS to see if it can be made cheaper event. Though that doesnt necessarily mean that entry fees would be cheaper.
- Complain to Wakefield Park about the absence of heaters/electric blankets in cabin 4. Fekkin freezing! Or else move nationals to October
- Not having our own clerk of course and stewards means we cant always do what we want to do.

Agree with Jak. The starting time was almost one and a half hours late, and NOBODY knew which cars were going onto the track. My solution......change to AASA, and give CAMS the flick, that way you can run things the way THE COMPETITORS want, and not the CONTROLLERS.

as a general rule the band was good, but the singer needs to be banned from ever attempting an adele cover, ever ever ever again, even in the shower.

i had a swap meet stall somewhere near the band and was struggling to hear people all day.

if people want to have noisy cars, maybe have a section outside where the noise won't echo/carry so much.

apart from that i had a great day, i just wish i had someone with me so i could have seen more of the show. a big thank you the the people opposite me who kept an eye on my stuff so i could get away a little while.