i dont see how a car with stock rims can win a show, it sets a bad example, from now on kids who saw that will think its fine and start ricing their cars like that, and next thing you know youll have a fleet of dopey looking mazdas invading meets, thats not a good thing. people will dismiss mazda and move onto other makes since "mazda owners have no style". stock rims, veilside bodykit oh my god, horrible

Ouch, sorry to hear about that guys. I don't really want to go all out and diss the RX-8's and whatnot, but I do agree that their blood, sweat, and tears did not build the R's like the ones you've done. I was really annoyed by the way you described the judges, how are you not going to inspect two BEAUTIFUL 2nd gens when they are right by you. It's crazy. Must have taken out the wrong set of glasses, the 'What am I doing again?' glasses. Maybe next time the judges will notice and get their heads blown up from the outstanding work and amazing upgrades(mods/whatever) your 7's have. Once again, sorry to hear about it.

I must say i completely agree with neo on this absurdity. Sadly enough it's an absurdity I'm quite used to with all the "Car Shows" we're asked to attend to assist in promotion of certain vehicle makes and brands. Because of our position, being a company and all and Bern's comps, I choose not to complain about these things. Our primary objective for now is to showcase our vehicles so that end users can establish a vision of what they want their car to be.

I told that to neo too when we left, right after the trohpys, that I was used to this type of judging. I don't believe that the judges have adequate product knowledge. No matter what show I've been to, however big or small, the judges do not know what they're looking at. Or rather, how to distinguish between authentic or not.

If I were to have a car show it would be based on this criteria and classification:

1. Budget Class: Based on how much you spent on parts alone
2. Then from these classses it would be determine who designed and built the most well balanced project for any relative function of that vehicle. Is it for street, show, circuit, drift, drag, etc...

I've spent long hours cotemplating the hiippocracy we all see in this industry only to come to the conclusion that it will never change. I can only be happy with my car and what I built, for myself. I as well as others who are attempting to set a higher standard would like to be appreciated for our efforts. It's this acknoledgement that will keep us going and work to educate more people about our cars and what they can be.

The RX8, blue one above, was purchase a week ago monday. By Tuesday evening the guys and I had completed what we felt were appropriate mods to a vehicle for daily driving purposes. Conservative, yet Aggressive.

Authentic MS RX8 kit, Wingless Wonder. So SEXY.
Endless 6 Pot brakes, First in North America
Zeal Function X coils, First in North America
AME 19x9 and 10/0 Circlar Spec R, 245 and 275 tires, First in North America
K&N Intake
Espelir Dual Exhaust

Retail value: A good 10grand in product. If I spent that 10Grand on Audio, lights, lowering springs, Magnaflow universal mufflers, cheap 20" wheels, and lamborghini doors, I'm sure I would win many many events. I have no interest in volunteering to be a judge and therefore don't think it will ever change.

Keep in mind, I am not sponsored either. I get no free parts. I too had to pay for all these items, granted at my cost and one chunk of change. All Japanese All Day. Good product, well spent. Quality not Quantity.

You would have thought I had an edge too, promoting ORIGINAL MAZDASPEED PARTS. hehe. What a surprise. Neo, I would have never opened my mouth but you gone and done it. You pushed me to speak. lolz.

Bern I know this isn't your fault, i'm industry insider and know what's up. This is a small board so it's coo for me to not be too diplomatic.

Peace

First let me say with regards to the Best Mazda winner, we felt it could have gone a bunch of different ways so no one is disputing that the other cars (Black RX8 and Rishie's car) were not contenders. We felt that in comparison to the other cars, the rims were the only thing he was lacking. We did not feel that it gave the other competitors the edge considering his real Veilside Kit, lots of interior Carbon fiber pieces, excellent suspension set-up exhaust and custom audio. He was missing the brakes that Rishie had but again we did not feel that gave him the edge considering the other additional modifications he had. I don't think anyone can say that Ryan had crappy parts on his car. We typically do not give additional points if one or multiple pieces on your car are rare or one-off, however they are considered. In saying that if his car was all "APC'd" out he would not have recieved high marks either.

Secondly, we have taken fault that there were no 2nd and 3rd place trophies for Mazda's. This is something we have done in the past and trust me when I say our trophy provider got a nasty phone call from us.

We have been donig this event for over 4 years and at not only MRLS but at most ALMS races across the country. In saying that, the type of event we do is simple. We give fans and individuals a place to come to enjoy racing for a deepened discount, take place in a local car show and the ability to do a parade lap or two. The value to this is much higher than the registration paid and for many of you we honored certain comps for participants. So, lets weigh the value: 2 $45 dollar weekend passes, entry into the car show, $2000 in prize money, MazdaSpeed gloves, Mazda Extreme Street hat and a parade lap that is typically sold to regular customers for $100. To me this is a great deal so I can't see how anyone wasted their time.

Additionally, some of you have complained about having to "wait around" for your car to be judged. We do not require anyone to be around their car or two wait. We actually encourage you to go watch the races as that is one of the main reasons we put this event on. If there are specific things that you would like to show us on your car, you are more than welcome to come grab any of us, like many of you have, and give us a complete rundown of your vehicle. If you hood is not popped we assume you have nothing under there that you would like to show. Otherwise we give each car the most complete rundown we can based on what is being displayed to see.

Again, we appologize for the trophy mix-up and we will try to do whatever we can to make things better though I feel we have bee overly accomodating to this point.

Best Regards,

Mazda Extreme Street

I think both sides of the issue have been addressed and I appreciate a sincere response from Mazda Extreme Street.

None of us or most of us on this forum as Rim Guru quite eloquently put it, modify our cars for the sole purpose of winning car shows. It is an issue of performance and quality over quantity. At the same time, maybe we really do need to change the way car shows are judged - possibly more specific catagories than just "best of" each manufacturer. Would it kill us to have rules for catagories? or at least rules for judging? Just because something has been done a certain way for so many years, doesn't mean it doesn't need to re-evaluated. The entire aftermarket car industry has changed a lot in 4 years and car shows should too.

I am irked that Mazda Extreme Street implies that we should leave our cars outside in the sun with hoods open for 2 hours of judging and then wander around the track. I don't think any of us are going to leave thousands of dollars of car parts open to the public "Pick Your Part" style. Would it really hurt for the judges to ask owners to pop the hood? Your post mentions that we could come "grab one of us" to give you a "run down of our mods" but this was never announced. Who are "you"? None of the judges were marked as such or introduced as such. I had no idea who any of the judges even were. Also, we were not told that we had the option of talking to the judges and giving them a rundown of mods etc! Had we known we could grab the judges and do this we most certainly would have. (I guess this is our fault?)

Enough points have been made in regards to prices and tickets and it was never an issue of value but more an issue of disappointment and frustration. Maybe you could at least post here who the second and third place Mazdas were? I know it isn't much but I bet it would mean something to everyone that did go.

Thanks for the response from MES but I'd like to make some comments

I'm not trying to attack the winner of the event but when you say "custom audio" what do you mean? All I saw was a stock head unit

Putting that aside, I was not going to leave my hood popped for a few hours while I was away from my car. For the short period of time that I was away from my car it was closed. During 12-2 I was at my car the entire time with my hood popped and I dont remember seeing any judges. Plenty of people just came by and looked and asked questions but I didnt see any judges near my car or Neofreak's.

So during the entire judging time my hood was popped and I didnt notice any judge ask questions or even look By no means is my car a show car but I sure put alot of time, money and work into it as I'm sure everyone else has.

Guess this wasnt enough engine modification to get noticed?


Again I'm not saying I should have won or anything but I mean seems like it would have been the same if I was never there since it didnt seem like any judge looked at it.

Other than that I do appreciate the response and for you guys organizing the event. Some better organization and guidelines would be nice next time around.

I find it very poor in taste that sloppy chrome tape, poor workmanship, multi brand car badging can win a "car show". I'll give the guy credit for effort and time put in.

Would it have killed Mazda Extreme Street to still issue 2nd and 3rd place winners, and have trophies shipped out afterwards?

Sorry guys you just didn't quite have all the 'bling' hahaha Ive been to a couple of similar events.. not with my cars (not anything worth talking about.) but my reactions to the winners were the same... I wanted to meet the judges and have a little chat with them.

Ahh well what can you do.. other then not support such events..

So basically we're being ignored. The last email I got from them offered us free tickets to next year's thing, which is all fine and good, but when I responded asking if they'd even tell me who won second or third, there was no response.



I agree. Unless there is some other compelling reason to go I don't forsee going in the future. Maybe if it's actually on the same day as ALMS and not just Speed GT/Miata Cup I'd consider it.

Wow, that's not exactly generous of them, in fact we probably would have gotten them for free from Bern/Socal7s like the past two years. I feel sorry for you guys for wasting your time there. In light of this, I'd urge everyone not to attend future Mazda Extreme Streets.