Modified Nationals Show 2015
Now in year twelve, the Modified Nationals Show, long since simply called ‘˜The Nationals’, was showing some kind of new trend and growth at last. Not in sheer numbers, as this scene is only for folks with some disposable income, after all. But in the new sweeping popularity of fine detailing, mad stance and serious wheels. (As evidenced by Car Audio & Security giving over part of their showroom to airlift suspension and fancy rims.) The predominance of air pumps as chromed wonder features in folks’ boots as well as mad split rims and suspension mounted to look like I had sat in the back, with two clones of me, has become de rigueur. Our very own James Renshaw, sound off star, has this, as well as one of the most delicious sounding yet potent audio systems around. James entered no fewer than FOUR sound off competitions in EMMA at the show. Who agrees with me that he well deserves a full feature?
As last year, once more the absolute original concept had been re-wrapped into the show as the Custom and HotRod sheds. This was how Cliff Moore, the original Doncaster show promoter grew the whole thing. And there were many more real Forties fans there. That Nouveau Forties look of the hair, the clothes and the ink has meant there was a room full of tattoo artists, needles buzzing like a hive of angry bees. One arrestingly attractive lass called Megan was having a large Fester and Morticia Addams image on her thigh, with ‘Cara Mia’ underneath it. For there is a quaint blood-and-skulls thing going on within the ink side. So mad but true, check out the ink on this lass, first!
And this was Meg’s leg-art-in-progress!
A small delay in publishing this was because I found, yet again, an issue with my apple stuff in that there appears to be no way to differentiate between more than one Youtuber’s channels if you are uploading a movie (with a single click, mind) from their edit suite called Final Cut Pro. The work-around was that I shall keep the whole movie as a file on my computer as a different location destination and be able to view or use the films offline or even send folks their content as a file to use elsewhere, which may well be better for me.
The problem was that I just started Mounted & Stuffed TV for my other passion, which is fishing and the outdoors. (Although ‘outdoors’ in one trio of clips meant the view from a luxury hotel balcony overlooking Great Langdale Beck in the Lake District!) Yet the Huets ICE NITE video uploaded on auto-single-clever-click – to the wrong channel. I was upset at first as I thought I had wasted my work, which is a pet peeve. It simply didn’t show up on my screen until I opened the nooby one.
I have managed to avoid material cost-effort loss through my entire career one way or another. (Belligerence, persistence, nagging, outright fury once or twice. and luck.) So, I was a bit Marty McFly being called Chicken. Wasted effort and being ignored. re the sure fire ways to light my slow burn fuse. Hilarious really, and apologies for being boring. My 300 word Facebook rant was summed up in one line by Guru.
One other issue was that since I was editing upon the ‘˜Tube’s own editor, any video with matched content – music like wot you know – that is, copyrighted stuff, gets heard by the machine. This can harm your standing as a channel but is normally OK if you press the ‘Acknowledged Third Party Content’ button and thus allow ads from the copyright owner to go on your video. And my SQ video with Chris Wood, with the Eagles’ Hotel California, was of course so recognisable. You can hear the drum skin stretch, you can hear the percussion leap about the soundstage and the guitar is right in the middle, even on my video sound track. So even though the Ice Nite and Modified Nationals pair of videos meant uploading thirty-six shots to YouTube, only to use their editor and bin the source clips afterwards, this video was done in Final Cut Pro after I got it sussed and then uploaded as a single thing, again only to have to acknowledge the Third Party Content.
But the SQ through my mic was very good. If ONLY that fool on the voice over would shut the heck up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xj2AhJu0TM
And here, before you get to the main video, are some more bits of the feel of the event.
Amy Slade, aka Fast Amy, sponsored by Clarion
Now, a few more pics..
And by default, probably the most complex YouTube Editor edit I will ever do, (now that I have slightly more grasp of the edit suite) covering the cars and the culture this time. Expect a white Rasta, forties singers in their dotage and get on stage with Richie Don!
Meet Caz and Sherry:
The Don:
I spent a significant amount of time in this tent, the EMMA ESPL test station.
The award giving was once again indoors, which is a posh luxury 
Once more, you can make a cup of tea, take yer lappy or slappy tablet to the loo and check out this lot. There are 163 shots and mostly given a tiny crop or a lighten to see better indoors and mostly captioned. And yes, there are girlz innit! You can download and keep or use all or any you like, just PLEASE don’t crop the weeny branding bit bottom right when you share them
Gallery
As I have said before, a HUGE Big Up to those who had the balls to take part (especially warmly meant to the NEW entrants – without you, we are lost.) and a massive thanks to the promoters No Limits Events and especially Andrew Ackerley of EMMA, without whom I simply would NOT be involved. Meanwhile, my mates Millard & Barnes were there (sounds like a posh coffee shop in Pinner) and were running the lunacy that is dB Drag and Propper Droppers bass contests at the same show. Their links are included below.
EMMA EMMA
Propper Droppers Proper Droppers
dB Drag Racing DB Drag
In memoriam: Joe ‘Da Earthquaker’ Ajii. By now reincarnated as a Blue Whale, throwing 188dB of 14Hz across ocean basins to chat up lady whales.