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A Competitors Guide to
Getting "Serious" About Competing
This article is the opinion of the
author and is in no way intended to represent the opinions
or views of any sanctioning body, manufacturer or company.
By Tim Goudy Certified Judge and Competitor
This is not all inclusive nor is it intended to be biased
toward any product, region or sanctioning body. With that
said, this is also not designed to cover one sanctioning
body's specific lane progression. If you cannot take this
information for what it's worth and at face value, stop
reading now and move on to something else. I have neither
the time nor inclination to write a separate article on the
EXACT lane movement and station guidelines for each
individual sanctioning organization.
The following will try and help you avoid some of the
pitfalls of building a national caliber mobile competition
audio system. This assumes that you are paying a shop to
perform the installation for you. I will not be able to
easily cover all of the details of an installation performed
by the competitor.
Do I Want To Compete??
The VERY first decision that needs to be made is
"Do I want to seriously compete?" If you answer NO to this
question, stop reading now. If you answer YES to this
question, you need to ask "Am I serious about competing?".
You MUST answer YES to both of these questions. Competition
is HARD work. Competition is EXPENSIVE. Competition has
caused more than one divorce. This is SERIOUS business. It
is very expensive to take an average street system and
upgrade it to a competition system. A competition system is
different. Some of the installation techniques used to
install your street system will have to be upgraded, changed
or completely scrapped. There are many rules that need to be
followed and many different things that need to be
accomplished that do not apply to a street system. You would
normally not upgrade the battery system of a 500 watt street
system. You would be REQUIRED to accomplish this to compete.
See what I mean?
I know you are thinking right now that "This guys is nuts!
He has no CLUE and no fun when he competes!" Yes I am nuts.
I like to win at just about any cost. In a phrase, "Losing
SUCKS". I frequently wear a "No Fear" shirt to the shows
that says "Second place is the first loser" and "If you
don't play to win, don't play". Yes I have fun when I win. I
know if I lose, I have a lot of work to do. If I win, I have
work to do, just not as much.
The Attitude
The first rule of competition is attitude. A
certain manufacturer had entire ad campaign based on
attitude. They detailed a winning attitude and it's
importance in competition. Notice I did not say whining.
Whiners are annoying. To win a show you must WANT to win. If
you have a winning attitude, you WILL win. Your attitude
will rub off on the people around you, the judges and other
competitors. If you want to win, you will do what it takes
to win. If you are not willing to do what it takes, quit now
because you will probably be destined to take home the
"little trophies" for the rest of your life. There is a
bright side to this competition. If you have a winning
attitude at the show, this will carry over to the rest of
your life. As you can see, this CAN be beneficial.
Getting Familiar with the Basics
Now that we have attitude out of the way, let's
get to work on the system. WAIT! Not yet. You probably have
no clue about what power class you want to be in or even
what competition is all about. Easily fixed. Go to some
shows. See what is out there. Look at the winning cars and
get some ideas. The ideas that are winning are usually good
ideas. You will notice a few things when you are gathering
information, most of the winning systems are very detailed
and ultra trick. Even the stealth systems. One of the most
stealth systems I have ever witnessed up close is Chad
Klodner's Mustang. He probably spent more time rewiring the
dash and engine bay than most installers spend on an entire
system. He welded boxes into the floor for the amps and
performed numerous other state of the art install tricks. I
do not recommend going to this extreme but he did win all
three national titles. He is definitely doing something
right. Take pictures and talk to people. This will help you
see what a winning attitude is all about and also help you
remember what you saw. You WILL run into some people stuck
on themselves. You have that anywhere. Remember, beating
that person later in life will give you immense
satisfaction. As a spectator, you have one advantage, you
are not perceived as a threat. Some competitors consider
other competitors a threat. I do that myself to a degree. I
will show you my truck but do not ask to see my install
book. I will not show it to you. Don't take this personally.
I probably have 5000 hours (at least!) tied up in my install
and some of the techniques are very unique. I don't want to
show you how I did it so I will have to think of something
new to beat you. You can get plenty of good ideas just by
looking at the obvious things. Two things to obtain at the
show is the sound quality disk and a rulebook. Both of these
items are indispensable when building a car.
Planning Your Install
Ok, you have got a bunch of good pictures and
some good ideas. Time to work on the budget. Take the most
amount of money that you can reasonably afford and put this
aside. We'll use $5000 as a starting number. This should get
you some decent equipment. Keep in mind that the more power
you want, the more it will cost. In competition, you get
what you pay for. You can find a 1000 watt amp for $250
dollars but I will put my 50 watt amps against your 1000
watt amp any day.
Shopping!
Stop by your local reputable stereo store and
have a look around. Are there trophies in the store? (a good
sign) If there are trophies, are they all from the same year
or same power class?? If they are all from the same power
class or year, you may be dealing with a store that has a
"one shot wonder". This is one vehicle or year they spent a
lot of time on that won some local trophies. I have been to
shops that put "fake" trophies up to impress people. The
trophy should contain a power class and also the show it was
won at. If not, be careful. The reason you are looking at
the trophies is to make sure this shop has the skills to
perform competition work and knows what it takes to build a
winning system. I am not saying that all shops must display
trophies to know what they are doing but this is a good,
obvious indicator that they have "been there, done that".
Usually there is a book of pictures laying on the counter.
Don't be shy, LOOK AT IT! If the sales person takes it away
from you, this is a good indicator to leave. Shops that do
good work are proud of their work and like to show it off.
Talk to the sales person and get a feel for the store. At
this point you are getting "qualified". This is the salesman
sizing you up to see if you are serious about buying or just
tugging his or her chain. Remember these people make their
living selling equipment and to them, time is money. If they
waste time, they lose money. A good time to stop at a shop
to look is early in the day. The floor traffic is usually
light and this takes the pressure off of you to buy and the
salesman to sell. Be honest with the salesman. Let him or
her know you intend to compete. This will let the salesman
hopefully make some smart choices in the equipment
department. This will save time and money. This will also
let you decide how much power you need and can afford. You
will probably find that $5000 does not go that far but this
will let you know how much you have left over for the
installation. If you get lucky, the salesman and shop may
try to work within the $5000 budget to get you on the
circuit. This is good. You will probably find that $5000 is
not enough. Another decision, "Do I still want to compete?"
If YES, plan on getting the money to get the installation
done all at once. Do not piece a system together as this
will be more expensive in the long run. It is also easier
for the installer to install the system using the "big
picture". I do my own installation and no matter how many
diagrams you draw, something will always not come out as
planned.
The Installation
Time to drop the vehicle off at the shop. Yes I
said drop it off. Leave it there. Rome was not built in a
day and your vehicle won't be either. Set a date at this
point when your car will be done. BE REASONABLE! A good
install will probably take a minimum of 2 weeks to install.
Make transportation arrangements because you will be without
the vehicle for a while. Let the installer know you will be
stopping by the shop every day if possible. You will need to
be VERY familiar with the installation because you will be
presenting the car to the installation judges in the future.
If the installer has a problem with this, you better work
out an arrangement or leave right now. A good competition
installer knows you need to be familiar with the vehicle and
should not have a problem with this. Also remember, once you
have agreed on equipment and installation, DO NOT CHANGE
YOUR MIND ON ANYTHING! This makes an installer's life a
nightmare and makes you VERY unpopular around the shop.
During the installation, you should be listening to the
competition disk to get as familiar with it as possible.
Yes, I said CD. Tape is a waste of time in competition. That
is my opinion as a Sound Quality Judge and you can take it
or leave it. Anyway, find a VERY high end home system and
listen to it. I personally use the local high end home audio
store. Most of the salesman at these stores will let you
enjoy their room for a while. If the shop that is doing your
vehicle sells high end home audio, all the better. This will
let you hear what the disk is supposed to sound like and
will give you an idea of what your vehicle should sound
like. Take a LOT of pictures of the installation in
progress. You will need these for your installation
presentation. I personally took about 400 pictures and used
about 20 in my presentation book. Keep an eye on the install
and wait.
The Finished Product
The car is done and looks GREAT. Go ahead, play
with it. It is yours and you paid good money for it. Make
sure the system sounds as close to possible to the high end
audio you have been listening to. Keep in mind that the
vehicle does have some limitations for sound reproduction.
All of the frequencies should blend evenly and the system
should sound natural. If it does, thank everyone at the shop
and take the vehicle home. You will be back at the shop in
the future so I hope you did not leave on bad terms. You now
need to find a show to compete at. In the front cover of
"Auto Sound and Security" and "Car Audio", you can find
shows in your area. They also have the contact numbers to
the offices of the sanctioning bodies. You may have to call
them to find a show in your area.
Unsanctioned Shows
One thing about unsanctioned shows. The
sanctioning bodies spend a lot of time and money training
their judges. If you compete at an unsanctioned show, many
times the shop that is throwing the show uses their
installers and staff to judge. Think about it, they want
their vehicles to win. If they win, they make more sales and
hence more money. If other vehicles win, they will most
likely lose business to the shops that do win. Get the
picture. This does not happen at ALL unsanctioned shows but
it WILL happen more often than not. Be careful.
From this point on, I will be referring to myself as the
head judge at the show.
The Show
You found a sanctioned show in your area and are
itching to go. At least 2 days before the show, call the
shop to get directions, get times and make sure the show is
still on. If the shop says the show starts at 10:00, be
there at 9:00. This will allow a cushion in case something
happens. After getting to the show, get out and take a look
around. Size up you competition. Talk to people. Some of the
judges, myself included, may be walking around looking at
the cars. They are "prejudging" the show. They are not
picking the winners right then, they are just trying to "set
the stage" to see how stiff the competition is so they do
not get "backed into a corner" on scoring. They may talk to
you and they may not. Do not press the issue. I am
personally accomplishing a task to try and make the show run
smoother. You will probably see the judges gather into a
small group soon after that. Yes, they are talking about you
and the other competition. This is my judges meeting. I am
usually deciding lane assignments during this time. Soon
after this meeting a competitors meeting is usually held.
This will detail lane assignment, judging order (if any),
lane progression and other issues. I usually open the floor
to questions at this point. If you have any questions, ASK
THEM NOW. If you have too many questions for me to
personally answer, I will usually assign a judge to help you
(temporarily) or send you to the sign in table.
The Judging Line
You have your questions answered and are ready to
get in line. Different bodies use different judging formats
but they all share verification, installation, RTA and sound
quality. I will loosely outline the American USAC and IASCA
format since I am not familiar with the formats used in
other countries. At the first station, verification will be
performed. This is to verify your amplifier power in your
car. This is to make sure you have registered in the correct
power class. FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO
LOOK AT YOUR SCORE SHEET.
The Installation Station
The installation judges will approach your car
and introduce themselves. Most experienced install judges
can tell when you are a novice so don't be worried. They are
not there to belittle you, just to give you their honest
opinion about how your installation numerically rates
against all of the guidelines and other cars they have
judged. You will then have 5 minutes to tell them everything
about the installation of you system. I usually recommend
starting at the front of the vehicle and working toward the
rear. I have personally modified this procedure and you will
too as you get more experienced. After your 5 minutes of
fame are up, ask the judges if they have any questions, hand
them your presentation book and step about 10 feet from the
car. They will now start scoring your car. This process
usually takes about 10 minutes. They will then get out, tell
you about what they found and possible suggestions for
improvement. Write all of this down!
The Sound Quality Station
The next station is Sound Quality judging. You
will have very little interaction with the judges at this
station. Show the judge how to work the volume and tracking
and step away. The judge is only allowed to work these two
features of the system. They will not make EQ settings for
you. When the judge is finished, he or she will get out of
the car and detail what he or she heard. Again, write
everything down. You will need this info in the future.
Frequency Response Station
The next station is frequency response or RTA
(Real Time Analyzer). You will be instructed to play a track
that has pink noise on it. Pink noise sounds like static.
The RTA meter reads this noise and graphically shows you
your system's frequency response on a 31 band scale. You are
scored on the accuracy of the frequency response. This is
the final judging station of the IASCA SQ judging format.
Sound Pressure Station
The final station in some competitions is SPL
(Sound Pressure Level). This test measures how loud your
system will get. Most people only play their subwoofers for
this test. In the old IASCA format, the entire system had to
be playing. This led to the early demise of numerous
tweeters and a few mids also. Once the official software is
loaded, you typically have 30-45 seconds to achieve maximum
sound pressure. This station can be a real eye opener for
most people. This graphically defines loudness. This also
will have you rethink what you typically thought as loud. I
witnessed the breaking of the USAC Outlaw World SPL record
in Kansas City this year. The vehicle that won generated
sound pressure over 160 Db! That system shook the whole
convention center. Brute force is the only way to describe
this. After the SPL testing, you will be instructed to exit
the line and proceed to the parking area. Assuming that you
have not locked your keys in your car yet (It will happen
eventually!) this should not be a problem.
Trophies
Finally trophy time has arrived. You will have
probably already received your score sheet. Check the sheet
for mathematical errors. You will probably compare your
sheet to the ones around you. Do not be afraid to look at
other people's scoresheets in other power classes. This will
tell you how you stack up against the other competitors and
experience levels. If you go to enough shows you WILL make
friends and eventually some of their experience will rub off
on you. When they call your power class, this is the moment
of truth. I personally call out the total scores so you will
know exactly where you stand after 3rd place is called out.
If you are lucky, you will take home a trophy your first
show. That is a GOOD feeling. If you don't trophy, don't
worry. This show has been a learning experience. Think of
the regular season as you paying other people to compare
your car against others and give you help on improving. The
more you compete, the better off you are. This will allow a
wider selection of judges to evaluate your vehicle and also
allow you to see numerous other competition vehicles. This
will give you more ideas and in turn improve your vehicle
and your competition attitude. Points are points and it
doesn't matter how you get those points as long as you get
enough to qualify.
After the Show
Take your score sheet to your installer and have
him or her look it over. This will show the installer what
improvements and upgrades need to be planned. Remember, I
said this sport is EXPENSIVE. Hopefully the installation is
solid and all that is needed is a little tweaking and fine
tuning. Accomplish everything that is required and go to the
next show. Good Luck!
Disclaimer
I hope this has helped you gain a better
understanding of mobile audio competition. This article is
written by me and contains my own views and opinions. No
sanctioning body, manufacturer or person has paid or ask me
to write this and no input was received by anyone before
during or after the publishing. No part of the article may
be copied, reprinted or altered in any way without WRITTEN
approval by the author.
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