NSW MX5 CLUB OF NSW CONCOURS D' ELEGANCE SHOW & SHINE

Charlie Brown · Postby **Charlie Brown** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 10:10 am

Bex, I can see by your responses that your idea of a Concours car differs from that of the most MX-5 Club within Australia. It sounds like you are almost at the point of having to trailer the car between events so as to not get any kilometres up on the clock.

I admire your desire to keep your MX-5 in pristine condition. I have won a few Concours events over the years with my last two MX-5s, spending hours polishing and cleaning both where you can see and where you can’t, so I know about the Concours obsession.

But my MX-5 is a multi purpose car being a daily drive, an enthusiast’s car and a track car, so doing well at Concours is rapidly getting to the impossible stage.

The Concours marking sheet has an allowance for the number of kilometres the car has travelled as well as the age. A prorated system of 2 points per 10,000 klms and 1 point per year is added to the overall score of a possible 325 points. So a 1989 NA with 105,000 on the clock would get a bonus 41 points, a 1999 NB with 150,000k would get 40 points bonus. A 2008 NC with 5,000 klms would get 2 points.

This allows the majority of members with their loved MX-5, the chance to compete equally with those members who also love their MX-5s but drive less K’s and for the older cars to compete for the outright trophy against the newer cars. This doesn’t drive future members away it actually attracts more members.

We also have Show & Shine class that’s for those members who either don’t want to have their car judged under the bonnet and boot or who haven’t attended three Club functions. We also have an area for those members who want to turn up, display their car without it being marked and join in the fun.

One stock ’89 NA in the club until last year won its class and the outright trophy in every Concours event since the clubs inception in 1990. Last year it won its class but was pipped for outright. It’s got 105,000 on the clock and is in original condition.

There is now a few fully restored NA’s starting to appear. These cars will make it hard for the originals to compete on equal footing so in the future the Club will need to decide how to mark these cars. At the present time

So if you or anyone else on the Forum wants to come down in your MX-5 or another car and have a look at what your opposition may have been, you’re most welcome. Just make sure you have a chat with some members and let it be known that you have an MX-5. We are a friendly lot.

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 11:00 am

oohhh I'd get 53 points bonus!

Charlie Brown · Postby **Charlie Brown** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:15 pm

Caffeine wrote:oohhh I'd get 53 points bonus!

Better rejoin, polish her up and come down for the Show & Shine then Caff.

That's a huge start on everyone else.

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 3:28 pm

Haha even then I wouldn't get very far! There's too many stone chips and hail / door dings...

StanTheMan · Postby **StanTheMan** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 3:37 pm

plus you'd need to have 3 events as a member

colin · Postby **colin** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:22 am

we had every intention of being there but it clashes with the MX5 challenge race at Wakefield Park - we were even go to make a banner advertising the next mx5 challenge race day - but can't be two places at once, shame we were looking forward to doing the show & shine

Charlie Brown · Postby **Charlie Brown** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:09 am

StanTheMan wrote:plus you'd need to have 3 events as a member

Not for the Show & Shine, only the Concours.

Any member, no matter if they're a new member or an old member, can enter Show & Shine, even if they haven't never been to a MX-5 Club event before. The three event participation rule only applies to Concours entry.

StanTheMan · Postby **StanTheMan** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:51 am

right.....
well thats not so bad. I had totally misunderstood that

CoffeeBoss · Postby **CoffeeBoss** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:57 pm

Charlie Brown wrote:Bex, I can see by your responses that your idea of a Concours car differs from that of the most MX-5 Club within Australia. It sounds like you are almost at the point of having to trailer the car between events so as to not get any kilometres up on the clock.

There's lots of regulars at Concours events who do this - plenty in the Mercedes Benz Club of NSW for example. Some of the entrants vehicles look like they haven't even been roaded!

I think it's excellent that the Club allows for age and kms in it's Concours rating. It's only fair that they acknowledge that the car is so enjoyable to drive, even Concours competitors shouldn't be penalised for enjoying their cars in the manner it's creators intended