Enthusiast Not Hoon

[NickR33]

remember we are the only ones who draw the line between enthusiast and hoon...

to the general public we are all the same and the media isn't going to want to put a positive spin on it for us...

hooning and burnout footage is just too valuable, they will play and replay that sh!t until the end of time... its good tv... us all standing around, smiling, hugging coppers and driving like grandmas is bad tv

[assyrian4evaa]

can people just settle the f!uck down and stop making this whole thing any bigger... wen you bought an import you agreed to put up with the shit police will give u believe it or not because in the eyes of the police ur still a "hoon" i've had grannys overtaking me no shitt a granny!! yet i still get pulled over for "random checks" while i know people that drive commodores that are no shit afew CMs from the ground and V8s that u can hear from miles away have no trouble wat soever.. now if thats not descrimination against imports then i dont know wat is seriously

dont mind my grammer and/or spelling

[NickR33]

I get hardly any negative attention... try removing the massive decals/stickers^^

the general public just don't like young people in loud fast cars... its not as much the car as the driver and the area and the time of day

[Roy]

can people just settle the f!uck down and stop making this whole thing any bigger... wen you bought an import you agreed to put up with the shit police will give u believe it or not because in the eyes of the police ur still a "hoon" i've had grannys overtaking me no shitt a granny!! yet i still get pulled over for "random checks" while i know people that drive commodores that are no shit afew CMs from the ground and V8s that u can hear from miles away have no trouble wat soever.. now if thats not descrimination against imports then i dont know wat is seriously

dont mind my grammer and/or spelling

Cant agree with that. I know a lot of people in other car clubs from when i crew for a few guys in rallies etc. Dont for a second think that the EPA and Police are only interested in imports. You may not like to hear it but the old Holdens, Fords, Chryslers get pulled over as well.

...and i have had two import Skylines since 1998 and i have never been done for speeding, doing anything silly on the road...and have never had a negative experience with the Police, even at a time when i was doing 20,000-25,000kms a year in it.

I still say a clean driving record is worth its weight in gold. I understand how ppl lose their licences, a know a few ppl who have lost it on several occassions...but seriously...if you are losign your licence then you have to expect a bit of trouble for a good period to show that you have changed your ways.

There is a time and place for most things....

[Nima_]

Though I'm not a member, I think it's worth throwing my 2c worth in..the media only really care about ratings, and happy stories about SAU clearing it's members name really don't get ratings, hoons ripping burnouts and smashing shops and causing havoc does get ratings.

I'd say if you were to goto the media, if they were interested, which they would most likley not be, they would make SAU out to be a group of covert hoons (lol), they would just use it as a way to inflame the already large issue at hand with idiot drivers and the groups that come with them.

The stickers are an awesome idea though, but..unfortunatley I think they would bring unwanted attention from the overly zealous hoons out there..they would think you're "Not cool" for owning a import/skyline whatever it may be and not wanting to rip totally hektic burnouts at maccas - my car has already been key'd a few times, anything I can do to not draw attention to it would be better.

Bottom of the line is: The media are SICK and they will do anything to get ratings, if that means tarnishing the rep of sau, so be it.

[assyrian4evaa]

I get hardly any negative attention... try removing the massive decals/stickers^^

the general public just don't like young people in loud fast cars... its not as much the car as the driver and the area and the time of day

so if i put stickers on my car its loud and fast??

dont get me wrong i have'nt had many bad experinces with the police i've been driving for 3years now and i havnt coped a single fine for speeding and wat not.. i've only ever lost 3points for failing to display Ps even tho it had just falling on the parcel shelf but i can agree with that even tho it was abit harsh

[dezz]

so if i put stickers on my car its loud and fast??

No, but it makes it stand out that much more than a skyline without decals all over it

[fuzzy_scuz]

I think to seperate ouselves from such behavior we should have an initiative working with the Police and help get rid of the problem drivers. If we do nothing we support it. If we are proactive to help then we will have a better relationship with the Police and be able to get rid of our clubs negative attitudes towards Police (myself included).

[**JaR**]

Sounds like a great idea the biggest problem with the media is trusting them to show an honest view of who we are and what we do...

Last thing we need is to have the media turn the whole things against us..

Or am i looking at this in a negative way???

If only Skyline owners are allowed to have the stickers, then that excludes the current president, as well as many other SAU Vic members. So that idea is out the window.

Personally I don't think the majority of police, media and public know who SAU is, or care. If the club were to contact ACA etc, chances are they wouldn't be interested, as they are the ones choosing to portray us all as hoons in the first place. They aren't interested in a 'car club clears their name' story....they want 'SAU, an organised bunch of hoons'. Invite them on a cruise, and if they attended, they'd surely twist it their way, displaying plates of illegally modified cars that 'meet before venturing off to their mystery locations for burnouts etc'.

It's not a good thing, but I don't think there's a great deal we can do about it....The best thing for SAU to do is hope that its members who have stickers etc on their cars linking them to SAU and SAU Vic, are responsible on the roads, and only draw good attention to themselves, if any at all.

But hey, thats just my opinion

gotta say i agree with matt and dezz. the media dont give a shit... for years they have emphasised the "hoon" shit. the f**kwits at noble park just made it easier for them to portray there bullshit to the general public.

whilst i think alot of the ideas the thread starter put forward are good.... it wont change much. inviting the media into it wont change the stereotypical shit... they'll just find some way to twist it into there favour.

Personally i would LOVE something to separate myself from the typical stereotype "P plate skyline driver = Hoon"

gotta say ive copped that before... not always. but have before. isnt really fair that you get looked down upon because of the car your driving and have p plates in the window... but i made the choice to drive the car i do so so be it.

oh we could certainly promote that but as soon as you invite the media in they will most likely (not 100%, but most likely) write up badly and twist it around an so forth.

the sticker means nothing, it just means you brought it or are a paid member. it doesnt mean you are a good, safe or sensible driver.

i know plently of paid members who are stupidheads on the road from time to time with sau stickers. we've even seen it on our own cruises before.

overall we are pretty good in the public eyes and have never had any big incidents and we are known as a friendly and fun club and not a "calais turbo burnout / boost" club either.

gotta agree with that as well. and besides SAU as far as ive seen write ups in magazines ect... has never been portrayed as a bunch of dicks. from memory ive seen at least 6 write ups in various magazines show casing what the club has to offer ect.... cant say ive ever seen write ups on boostcrusing.com ... ect.... for the obvious reason.

wouldnt we need to get rid of all the illegal mods and p platers with r33's etc etc etc before anything happened...

ay ay ay, lets not get ahead of ourselves now princess. remember, im still a p plater lol

[The Baron]

the media only really care about ratings, and happy stories about SAU clearing it's members name really don't get ratings, hoons ripping burnouts and smashing shops and causing havoc does get ratings.

I'd say if you were to goto the media, if they were interested, which they would most likley not be, they would make SAU out to be a group of covert hoons (lol), they would just use it as a way to inflame the already large issue at hand with idiot drivers and the groups that come with them

I think the key here is to partner with the police to get to the media - sure if we approach the media on our own there is a strong chance of them twisting the story - if we go with the police as a combined story there is no chance of that happening.

Maybe someone can table the idea at the meeting tonight ?? (that and the stickers ??) or maybe do a survey on the forum to see whether there is an interest in pursuing this further ??

[Betz]

bit of a point there on P platers/illeagal mods to cars displaying a sticker or plate that identifies as a police friendly car/social club

SAU would have to do scutineering to ensure that the good work and good will at trying to work with law enforcement and the general public isn't flushed down the toilet with the next OMGZ fully sick FMIC, 9" exaust mod on a stickered/plated car

if you have a tuned skyline and dont give it some stick occationally your prolly full of shit.

that said, I would hope the majority of folks here are decent people and dont get into the mob mentality that street racers are being condemed for (and is one of the reasons I'm here and not one of the other fully sik import forums)

I personally wouldnt be comfortable with a special sticker/plate if my car was not fully roadworthy and without illeagal mods (which it isnt) but I'm sure some people would see that kind of sticker/plate as a chance to get away with being an idiot or curcumventing RWC laws

just a few thoughts

[**JaR**]

if you have a tuned skyline and dont give it some stick occationally your prolly full of shit.

lol ive said that for so long.

[sillylankan]

your missing the point. YOU bought a skyline or whatever import. YOU take the risk. The cops are doing their jobs. If you had bought Vt commordore stock standard, there wouldnt be any problems. Before this noble park thing ever happened we were still targeted, we will always be targeted, nothing we do or can do will change this. Think about it, from the public eyes and cops. We buy a skyline, we chuck an exhaust, cooler, boost it up to 13, make our cars tough, sound 'cool' for what?? to drive at the speed limit?? to drive safe?? do you really think public/cops belive that??

Geez, im over this noble park/we arnt hoon shit. Maybe we arnt, maybe we didnt do anything with noble park maccas, but we still drive a f**king import. (most of us)

Get over it.

/End

Edited January 17, 2007 by sillylankan

[Mavric]

I think a bumper sticker is a cool idea, displaying our distaste for hoons.

I'll put one on my car but my luck a cop will book me for impaired vision or something.

[blind_elk]

As they say in the classics:

"Actions speak louder than words"

We can do our bit by simply displaying our SAU stickers, and driving like responsible citizens. Not participating in "Noble Park" style events. Not racing other cars at the lights. Not acting like idiots.

We simply go about our daily business in the most responsible way we know how. We can distance ourselves from "hoons" by not getting involved in any way, shape or form in the controversy surrounding these imbeciles; as such, we neither enhance nor detract from the perception that the public has of "hoons".

[Omurru]

Was just thinking (at a very slow pace, it is hot....) has anybody ever thought about all this from the money side of things. The police dish out speeding fines left right and centre, majority of the time not working to slow people down but to make money. and nobody deny that everyone knows it's true, even the police admit it. Now is defecting cars etc. any different? it's like killing two birds with one stone they get a 'modified' car off the street and they make money. With all the stuff at Noble maccas etc. it just give them a reason to do it a little bit more and be a little bit harsher....being in a club ain't gonna change squat...unless maybe your in the MG club or something

[**JaR**]

the correct term is revenue raising

[SKY031]

As they say in the classics:

"Actions speak louder than words"

We can do our bit by simply displaying our SAU stickers, and driving like responsible citizens. Not participating in "Noble Park" style events. Not racing other cars at the lights. Not acting like idiots.

We simply go about our daily business in the most responsible way we know how. We can distance ourselves from "hoons" by not getting involved in any way, shape or form in the controversy surrounding these imbeciles; as such, we neither enhance nor detract from the perception that the public has of "hoons".

Now say that again, but this time a bit louder......

........so all the other forum members and club members who posted in the Noble Park thread saying "i was there....." can hear you.

[adznight]

No, but it makes it stand out that much more than a skyline without decals all over it

What like a new Ford FPV car? :sorcerer:

[dezz]

What like a new Ford FPV car? :sorcerer:

I don't follow...?