13th FE-FC Holden Nationals - Orange, NSW
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Entrant Info Nats Rules and Policies Authenticity
Entrant Info Nats Rules and Policies Authenticity  |
| Authenticity |
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One of the comments raised by participants in the Nationals – especially from those that have experience in similar events run by other clubs – is surprise at the lack of an award for “Most Original/Authentic” at the FE-FC Nationals. One of the biggest problems is definitional, of course. What is “authentic”? If it means "unrestored", then how much maintenance equals no longer original? What about this? What about that? Ultimately, attempts to agree on a system for judging authenticity have fallen at the first hurdle, because it’s all too hard. The problem with that mentality is that if we don’t recognise and reward owners of vehicles that are either unrestored, or restored or maintained in a sensitive and faithful manner, the day will come when there won’t be any. And is it not our charter to promote the preservation of these vehicles? There should be recognition of the car that is closest to how they left the factory. Of course, it is not possible to assert that any specific part of a stock car is the very item that specific car left the factory with. So the working definition of "authentic" in this proposal is not "unrestored" or "original", but "faithful to the original". There needs to be some incentive and official recognition in the Nationals for authentic, original cars to be kept and displayed as such. "Barn fresh" cars with patina draw a crowd, and we all know it. Likewise, we should be doing all we can to encourage members who are restoring their vehicles to do so in an authentic manner, and to promote faithfulness to originality as something important and worth striving for. The NSW Club has been working for some months on a proposal to include this concept of Authenticity as a component of the Stock Class judging. It has been given a trial run at "Grey Pride", and met with favourable responses from the members whose cars were judged, in both the NSW and ACT clubs. A slightly adjusted version will be tested at the NSW Club's next run. Judging of Exterior, Interior and Mechanical elements will continue to be done as is the case now, with each element worth 100 points. However, on top of that all cars in the Stock category will also be judged out of 100 on their Authenticity. Stock Class vehicles will therefore be judged out of 400, making Authenticity worth 25% of the total score in this class. Additionally, the Stock car with the highest Authenticity score will be awarded a trophy the equivalent of the existing Best Exterior / Interior / Engine Bay awards for "Most Authentic". Judging of Authenticity will be performed by Delegates or other representatives. Professional judges will not have sufficient knowledge of FE/FC specifics, nor should they be expected to. The central tenet of this proposal is that it has to be simple. The rule of thumb is “if it takes more than about 5 minutes to score a vehicle using this system, it’s too complicated”. Obviously there has to be a balance between simplicity and effectiveness. It’s no good oversimplifying the model past the point where it achieves its aim. But by the same token it’s essential that the process be as clear and not open to any more interpretation than absolutely necessary. Ultimately, a vehicle owner should be able to take the authenticity score sheet, appraise their car honestly and come up with a figure very close to the judges’ score. Judges/Delegates will be supplied with the following:
This is not an attempt to amass a collection of all trim colours / hoodlinings, merely an example swatch of fabric for comparison of grain/pattern. All vehicles will start with the maximum authenticity score of 100. Each nominated aspect of authenticity has a set score (or a simple scale of scores). Each item on the list is checked, and where appropriate the relevant penalty is applied. For example, a vehicle fitted with plastic master cylinders rather than original tin reservoirs will be penalised 3 points per master. Penalties are applied to a maximum of 100. It is possible for a vehicle in Stock class to score 0/100, but no less.
Interior
Engineering
Other Comments Where a sliding scale for adjudication is available, judges will be required to document the items penalised. Examples and guidelines will be published to assist the judges in these (and other areas). This system aims to cover the most common areas of a restoration that depart from authenticity. However we cannot hope to cover every conceivable aspect of the restoration process in a judging methodology designed to take 5-10 minutes per car. Because of this, there is an allowance of -10/+10 points at the judges' discretion; this provides some flexibility when there is either something glaringly obvious that hasn't been covered by these rules, or where the rules here are unreasonably harsh for a particular car. Use of this option should be the exception, and like the sliding scale penalties, documented. NASCO Accessories will not improve your score. A car covered in NASCO gear will not gain points over a car unadorned by accessories. However, non-period accessories or modifications should reduce the authenticity score. But the question of original versus reproduction accessories (and indeed regular components) does start to introduce complexity into the system that may prove to be counter-productive. It is for this reason that we removed a previous reference to original vs. repro floor mats. |
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