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Like in the last years the annual international Kick off has been one of the world’s biggest Mobile Entertainment Exhibition. More than 200 Competitors signed in for all formats offered at this biggest international car audio competition after the EMMA Eurofinals.
The show started on Thursday with the lectures of the EMMA Academy – first time on their own booth -and the international marketing meeting of EMMA. The participants discussed the Corporate Identity and further steps for a more professional promotion of the EMMA activities on the separate national levels. In Hall 4 the main Sponsor Pioneer was again the eyecatcher of his place. A truck - as high as a house - was surrounded by the best cars of Team Pioneer. For everyone’s entertainment a Video DJ showed professional mixes on a enormous reflecting walls of silk. Also the other EMMA partners, Audison, Hertz, Ciare, DLS, Kenwood, Clarion, JBL, AIV, Rainbow, Axion and Alpine had amazing cars to show on several areas in the EMMA Halls. Alpine made their own Status F1 Bar in order to support all competitors using Alpine Products with energy drinks. EMMA Racing also had a separate area together with the Partners Alpine, Eibach, Foliatec, Dotz and Toyo Tires showing some special cars and products. The Competition Teams from Brax, Xplus1 and JL Audio were present at their service areas with food and drinks for their members inside the competition field.
Friday morning was the competition started with the Master and Expert Categories in Sound Quality. The classes have been pretty crowded with up to 18 cars so the judges have been very busy to get them done in time but finally all cars were finished at 19°°. It went smooth even though the new rules and CD were suspected as potential problem regarding the understanding. In the later evening the EMMA Team and a group of participants went to Music Park Heilbronn together with the 18 beauties qualified for the EMMA Racing Girl final on Saturday.
In the morning of Saturday all cars have been driven into the Halls 4 and 5 and the contest started on time at 10:00 with the Experienced and Advanced Categories and all ESPL Classes. At 11°° the EMMA Racing event got started and it brought plenty of fun to the participants. Only the security question was something to being considered. On the slalom they had to drive for the scoring an unexpected huge crowd of visitors were too close to the track. After the finish of the judgement of all cars at 19:15 the Party started in the neighbour Hall 5. First the presentation of the Nissan 350 Z of Katharina Kuhlmann, TV Moderator of tuning TV was done on stage. The installers from Xplus1 Weiden showed their installation which was sponsored by Kenwood and AIV. Katharina was amazed by the new Kenwood Double Din Navigation Source unit and the great sound inside the car. After finishing the presentation the first part of a great fire performance was shown to the audience before the highlight of the evening started: the EMMA Racing Girl beauty contest! 18 Beauties - qualified in 7 pre events - showed their performance and the judeteam had a hard decision to make when they finally announced Jessica Schnopp after two hours as the winner. The 23 Year old beauty is now the official face of EMMARacing in Central Europe for the year 2007 and will follow all bigger events in Germany up to the Eurofinals in Herning.
After the stage activities were over the Party went on at the VIP Bar beside the stage. The Car + Sound Organizers had arranged an Ice bar where several cocktails were offered. The 800 guests enjoyed themselves until 1°° and some of them continiued in several Bars around Sinsheim.
Sunday was the place for the showdown in the ESPL categories where the best two of the previous judgement from Saturday had to go against each other live on stage. Spectacular results came out and also some surprises. The new Ground Zero measurement system showed its quality on a big eventin in practise and will be used on the Eurofinals as official measurement system. At 16°° the ceremony started. It was very emotional - especially a couple of non expected winners had tears in their eyes while receiving their Trophies. The Moderator was loosing his voice almost completely because of announcing almost 200 Names.
In total the days in Sinsheim have been great again and even though the size is getting bigger EMMA and the Team could manage all activities without problems. I would like to thank all Judges, Back Office and all those who aren´t seen usually like the stage builder, technic people, Camera team etc. Let’s relax and look forward to the next international Event in Klagenfurt/Austria
Alex Klett
