The perspective of a Challenge judge...

In reply to SVreX : 

No need to apologize; we certainly didn't take it personally.   I liked our car too (especially before it broke), but I knew it didn't deserve much of a concours score, especially in the context of both the criteria stated in the rules, and the field of real Challenge builds. I think it would've been unjust to reward it more than it was given how relatively unmodded and rough around the edges it was, even if our story had actually been good. The real reward we took home was the experience and the enthusiasm to come back next year. 

Our biggest failure was presentation. I took the attitude of "its a cruise night. Explain whats cool", and at the last minute threw a teammate under the bus to talk to the judges because he hadn't been heard from much all werkend. I was wrong.  It was not fair to him, or our tream.  He choked. I forgot hes bashful. 

Additionally, we didn't take the time to show the details that got overshadowed by the wing and flair. The custom cut "sponsor " logos. The super sanitary plumbing.  The tucked wiring harness. The extensive use of new and proper hardware. The safety features.  The list goes on. 

The judges tried to bail him out when he started to choke by asking the rest of the team questions, but we didn't want to step on his toes, and kept trying to pull him back in, exacerbating the problem.  

I have to thank all the judges for their hard work, and human decency towards our team. We deserveda much lower presentation score.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

You being Kenny Powers' (Eastbound  and Down) doppelganger  was what saved your presentation.

I saw Farrah Fawcett Did not see Jerry Reed Or Sally Or Burt , Funny but I was Getting Info about The Bandit Yesterday For a Firebird I am Selling. a 76 455 T/A.

It's interesting to me to hear so many comment that they feel like public speaking skills are what cost them concours points.  It never occurred to me that could be a barrier.

I present other people's ideas to groups as small as one and as large as 300 for a living.  I would happily volunteer as a "pro-talker" to any team that wouldn't feel comfortable presenting their awesome to the judges!

I don't think public speaking skills actually cost points directly- the judges were very understanding.

But, if a competitor didn't tell us something, we didn't know.  There are a lot of ways to communicate that don't involve public speaking.  For example, not a single team had prepared a list of "talking points". That would have been the easy button for anyone.

Question for the esteemed Judge (Thanks, in advance!):

How well could you hear the presenting entrants? I know that some people did not enjoy having to shout over the (heavily amplified by the pavilion structure) background noise.

I personally gave up on pleading with people to keep the noise to a minimum. Some people were just plain oblivious as they started their engines (for whatever reason). Others seemed to be channeling an shiny happy person on their Harley attempting to compensate for something. Parking, leaving, going to the scales and even moving around outside could be an issue when many vehicles were quite (even dangerously) loud. Did any of the noise affect your ability to hear, or focus on, the presenter?

In reply to tb :

It did effect us. 

I already discussed this with David Wallens. I think next year we will hear that starting engines inside the pavilion will not be permitted during judging times. 

If you can't get your car in the pavilion before such-and-such time, you can push. 

In reply to SVreX :

I'm sorry to hear that; I appreciate the difficulty of your job.

That sounds like a reasonable solution to the issue. It is somewhat a shame that there isn't a great way to take exhaust note into account when judging. Some cars made absolutely glorious noises while some others could have been ridiculed or kicked out.

In reply to tb :

I think that may fall into the area of "Additional Categories that are Much too Much to Consider"....

If your car sounds great or makes someones ears bleed on Friday, my guess is at least some judges will remember, good or bad. If you are in the middle, they probably won't.

I  got  15 points   for  the  Comanchero I  basically  killed  them  with  kindness and said  I knew  a lady  building a  cement  patio they could become forever part of . So 

In reply to Karl La Follette :

Umm, plus your truck looked great. There is that, right?

In reply to SVreX :

Please tell me Karl got a bonus point for his "roll bar". I found it to be berkeleying hilarious...

In reply to tb :

I liked it too. 

tb said:

It is somewhat a shame that there isn't a great way to take exhaust note into account when judging. Some cars made absolutely glorious noises while some others could have been ridiculed or kicked out.

It might not directly penalize terrible sounding cars, but I don't see any reason that striving for a great exhaust note couldn't add to your score either... Just include it in your presentation to the judges as one more example of your execution.  

I liked /loved  the  300 and  the  black camry  ?  2 dr   sound  .  The  best  part  we  where w ay out  shagging  cones  and  we  could  hear  them  a  coming  and  man   they  sounded  awesome . 

In reply to Karl La Follette :

The 300 did sound glorious. 

Much better than the RX7. The RX7 made me wish we had a decibel limit. 

RX7........... I think I was standing Beside Scoobi at least 3-4 times when It Fired off. I guess I Knew It was Fixing to Happen  but damn That hurt In a Wicked Way. At Least it isn't a two Stroke.          By the way I kinda Loved it.