NAT`S RANT

RobTwin · Post by **RobTwin** » Mon Jul 30, 12 10:32 pm

So many positives from the weekend, it seems a bit petty to mention any negatives, but...

Cant we have a commentator who has more than a rudimentary knowledge of American cars?

I lost count how many times I heard him deliberating out loud whether the car he was looking at was a Camaro or Firebird, or how many times he called a 66/67 Belvedere/Satellite a roadrunner, a Nova a Chevelle, and perhaps the worst of all, describing how Bob Brown was driving a Dodge Charger Superbird

And it wasnt just Amwerican cars - the car I thought was a Holden Monaro was apparently a 'modern BMW'

To his credit tho he knew his Mustangs and Dodge Chargers, tho I never once heard him attempt to identify a car's year

TYREMAN · Post by **TYREMAN** » Mon Jul 30, 12 11:14 pm

I did not go to the Nat but watched some on the live webcam

and i did notice what you said Rob.One of us could do better,i liked that year when thay had Ivor,Holly, and Clivey up there to break things up.

And they know there cars better than most.

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Mon Jul 30, 12 11:25 pm

TYREMAN wrote:One of us could do better,
And they know there cars better than most.

If you could do better why not try? Graham Beckwith is extremely knowledgable about drag racing and does love American cars, so he doesn't know every model or year, he was commentator at early nats and at Santa pod for 15-20 years, personally I'd rather here graham than the guy we had last year, also Graham is a damn nice guy to boot

Rich · Post by **Rich** » Mon Jul 30, 12 11:25 pm

wasnt just a lack of american knowledge rob,every 100e was a 105e to him and the taz fiats were cinqecento`s and fiat 500`s but never 126`s..etc, i agree a small gripe but also a valid one....
As for the opening post.....

drewcrane · Post by **drewcrane** » Mon Jul 30, 12 11:33 pm

Yea I did notice they got challenger and charger mixed up a bit, but guess what .........THEY DO IT ALL THE TIME WITH MY CAR,.........and they were built here

TYREMAN · Post by **TYREMAN** » Mon Jul 30, 12 11:38 pm

Jerry Smith wrote:
TYREMAN wrote:One of us could do better,
And they know there cars better than most.
If you could do better why not try? Graham Beckwith is extremely knowledgable about drag racing and does love American cars, so he doesn't know every model or year, he was commentator at early nats and at Santa pod for 15-20 years, personally I'd rather here graham than the guy we had last year, also Graham is a damn nice guy to boot

I would freeze up and just be mumbling,(think The Kings speech)a skill to talk freely.I do not mean to put down Graham Beckwith no,just be handy to have one of us anoracs to whisper in his ear make model year etc.

To be fair he did say he would have liked a list of make and model to go with the race numbers.No info for him to work with whatsoever so good job under the circumstances.

Someting to work on in future years to help him out? and proof people do listne to him!

RobTwin · Post by **RobTwin** » Tue Jul 31, 12 12:07 am

Good point that, Tony. I thought the MMA race numbers were designed so the commentator would have all the info to hand; car & owner's details.

Good idea while it lasted

And yes Jerry, Graham did come across very knowledgeable when the dragsters & funny cars were running, but come on, a Dodge Superbird at a mainly-Mopar event?

TYREMAN · Post by **TYREMAN** » Tue Jul 31, 12 12:39 am

RobTwin wrote:Good point that, Tony. I thought the MMA race numbers were designed so the commentator would have all the info to hand; car & owner's details.

Good idea while it lasted

And yes Jerry, Graham did come across very knowledgeable when the dragsters & funny cars were running, but come on, a Dodge Superbird at a mainly-Mopar event?

He did appologise a good few times,at the start he warned he would make mistakes.I should have said that in my first post i could have worded my post better.It was meant to read it was fun when it was an open microphone LOL
I did not mean to make it look like i was putting Graham down like it read

i may be able to tell you what year Charger it is? but thats it!
I do not have the slightest bit of knowlage of Drag racing like Graham.

Dart Vader · Post by **Dart Vader** » Tue Jul 31, 12 7:50 am

RobTwin wrote:Good point that, Tony. I thought the MMA race numbers were designed so the commentator would have all the info to hand; car & owner's details.

Good idea while it lasted

And yes Jerry, Graham did come across very knowledgeable when the dragsters & funny cars were running, but come on, a Dodge Superbird at a mainly-Mopar event?

I thought that too, the numbers helped the commentators, name, type of car, major mods etc

I wouldnt do his job for all the tea in china, and thats a lot of tea

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Tue Jul 31, 12 9:15 am

I know Andy's just winding us up, but I think the Nats, and the Pod, gets better every year. Pizza is awesome, great coffee, the bogs are Ok. Even the Pod staff seem to be making an effort to be friendly, which Shakey could learn from.

Sure, you see the same old faces, but that's the best part of it - catching up with old friends you only see once a year. And, thanks to the forum, you get to make new friends too. I lost count of the number of times folks introduced themselves to me. There's plenty of new faces too, and young'uns catching the Mopar bug.

My only complaint, as others have said, was the ruddy funfair in the middle of the show'n'shine, but that was obviously outside of the organisers' control.

So, a big thanks to Jim, Tim, Richard, Tony, Joe, Sharon, Stuart, Ivor and everyone else involved in making the weekend such a success

AllKiller · Post by **AllKiller** » Tue Jul 31, 12 9:49 am

Bloody brilliant weekend....my face is still aching from all the laughing, talking and swearing

Top Job again Guys...really great.........any chance of Real (Rockin) Music next year

Only gripe ....i heard the same music over the track system over and over again......If they are stuck for a Car orientated music....i could do enough to last all day or weekend unrepeated

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Tue Jul 31, 12 10:32 am

AllKiller wrote:Only gripe ....i heard the same music over the track system over and over again......If they are stuck for a Car orientated music....i could do enough to last all day or weekend unrepeated

I think they were having problems with the cd player. It would only play the first three tracks of any disc.
You see. It's not just Mopars that break down on a Nats weekend.

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Tue Jul 31, 12 10:34 am

I don’t often get on my high horse, but sometimes I despair..

Some grumpy people like to moan about it (you know who you are), some people take it for granted, but the fact is you are all damn lucky to have a Mopar Nat’s.

You don’t see it, but a lot of work and organisation goes into the Nat’s every year. We are always looking at ways to improve the event and add extra value, we don’t get it right all the time. We don’t do it for our benefit, we do it for yours. Anyone who doesn’t like it doesn’t have to go.

I can’t believe some of you complain about queuing to race. Yes during peak periods the fire-up road is full, but in the three days we have the track open very often I can see just a handful of cars waiting to race. There is plenty of time to get as many runs in as you want if you plan it right.

The Santa Pod venue is fantastic. Plenty of hard standing, good facilities, clean toilets, and good food, Santa Pod staff are efficient and helpful. We deliberately organise the event to be “laid back” so everyone has a good time without being corralled or told where not to go. So the Nat’s weekend is a social event that brings great people together once year for a musclecar party. What else do you want?

The comment about Tony O wasn’t appreciated. Make no mistake Tony’s organisational skills are the reason the Mopar scene is where it is in the UK today, and he is the driving force behind the Mopar EuroNationals. Well before this year’s Mopar Nat’s, Tony’s mind is already planning the Mopar Nat’s 2013. Much respect is due to Tony.

Tony started the MMA many years ago and built it into the largest and most respected Mopar club in Europe. His daytime job, and personal commitments forced him to hand over the reins of the MMA which was becoming practically full time on its own, initially to Matt Hollingsworth and latterly to Ivor Hawkins, two dedicated Mopar men.

The Mopar Nat’s very nearly came to an end back in 2001. We had to get out of Shakey at the last minute because we had been double booked with a rave. Santa Pod came to the rescue and gave us the August bank holiday weekend which was a success, and the following year moved us to our permanent position at the last weekend of July. A top date! So with the support of Santa Pod Raceway giving us a prime date, and a lot of work from the organisers and a dedicated team of helpers, we have a great event every year.

Let’s look forward to the 20th Mopar EuroNationals in 2013.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Jul 31, 12 10:35 am

thanks again guys great weekend i could only make friday and saturday. its a pain when the track is out of action , but thats racing, i've always found the pod quicker at sorting a problem than shaky, but they took for every when the monaro had a mishap. then decided there was an oil down. what seemed like 2 hours before the fun continued. the show and shine was the only real gripe. with the funfair in the way. other than that my 12th mopar nats in a row. thanks to all who worked there buts off to organise this great event.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Tue Jul 31, 12 10:39 am

Adam wrote:I know Andy's just winding us up, but I think the Nats, and the Pod, gets better every year. Pizza is awesome, great coffee, the bogs are Ok. Even the Pod staff seem to be making an effort to be friendly, which Shakey could learn from.

Yeah i noticed the staff seemed to have a sense of humour about them this year.

I totally agree about the facilities. They are really good now. The bogs behind the beer tent are as good as any anywhere. I half expected to have to tip an attendant as I came out.

The Pizza is better than it was. Except the cheese was too hard to bite off and I ended up with long stringy bits in my stomach that were still attached to the pizza slice in my hand. Bloody tasty though.

The noodles were superb.

Had them twice. Yummy.

Lots of new cars there this year too. Mr Runner needs to go to spec savers.