It's crunch time for our supreme drivers
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FOR MOST PEOPLE, September is the month that signifies the end of summer. Central heating systems are switched on, postholiday blues are everywhere and the nights begin to draw in.
Yet it is also the time of Commercial Motor's Lorry, Driver of the Year Final, which in this, its 30th year, will be held next weekend (September 17/18) at the usual venue — the Cranfield Institute of Technology, Cranfield, Bedfordshire.
Anyone who has attended the event in recent years will know the LDoY final contains more than just a competition between Britain's best lorry drivers. The proceedings start on the Saturday with an exhibition of historic commercial vehicles.
The display organised by volunteers from the Commercial Vehicle and Road Transport Club, provides a spectrum of lorries from the smallest 10cwt vans up to maximum capacity eight-wheelers and recovery vehicles.
Each of the hundred or more vehicles that will be shown during the weekend has been restored by its owner to bring it up to its present pristine condition.
Although many of the historic vehicles in the show are privately owned, some belong to large operators who display a keen interest in their past history by restoring vintage lorries — something that can only provide such operators with excellent publicity as well as create a better image for the industry.
This year's Classical Commercial Motor Show is very much a two-day event. Saturday is given over to entrants' own vintage vehicle driving tests on a similar basis to the real LDoY final the following day. And on Sunday, the entrants will be lined up for closer inspection with visitors having the chance to look them over. There is even the possibility of a parade of all the vehicles later in the day.
The Association of Vehicle Recovery Operators will be at Cranfield on both the Saturday and Sunday, too. The Avrc men will be providing recovery demonstrations, as they have done at every LDoY final in recent years.
On Saturday there will also be an opportunity to see some of the commercial vehicles competing in the following day's final. Some of those vehicles arriving on Saturday will be inspected for their "fitness and livery" and there will be trophies awarded to the best of the bunch.
Of course, if you are unable to arrive by 7.30am you will avoic much of the traffic and have nc trouble parking your car.
The first competitors will star arriving for scrutiny at about thE same time, with the vehicle ma noeuvring tests for the 240 o more regional class winnen starting at 8am. By 9.30 thE gruelling Highway Code anc legal responsibilities tests start results will be filtering througt by mid-morning, and the class champions competition will be over by lunchtime. As well as being announced throughout the morning, the class results will be posted in the concourse opposite the centre hangar as soon as they are known.
While the morning's class winners are briefed over lunch, the Young HGV Drivers Competition takes place.
And at 2pm the final run-off begins with the eight overall class winners fighting for the title of Commercial Motor Lorry Driver of the Year, 1983. Previous LDoY spectators will know that the final run-off is based around four separate manoeuvring tests, each class winner tackling each test in a different vehicle with Leyland kindly supplying the vehicles this year.
The overall winner will be named at the award ceremony which starts at around 4pm. Last Year's champion, Roy Withers has been invited to hand over the title to the 1983 winner — whoever he or she may be.
The favourites at this year's competition must be Lloyd Richards of Heavy Transport (FCC) who won the LDoY title in 1972 and 1974, Harold Dean of the Bassett Group who won in 1980, Wynn Phillips of Western BRS (1979) and Esso Petroleum's Tom Kerr (1978). And Petrofina's Christopher O'Reilly, LDoY champion in 1969, has evidently lost none of his old skills, as he has proved by qualifying for the 1983 final.
There is also a real possibility that this year's final will provide a female winner for the first time ever. There are two lady finalists at Cranfield this year — Lance Corporal Melanie Regis of 20 Squadron RCT, and Janine Potts of Post-Office, Cardiff. However they do on the day, why both can feel satisfied is that they have already made history because never before have two women competed at the same final.
Not only will most of the major manufacturers be displaying their full ranges of commercial vehicles (on Saturday and Sunday) which the public will be able to test drive within the confines of the airfield, but Mercedes-Benz is organising a country music show on both Saturday and Sunday.
Mercedes will also be bringing Geoff Capes to demonstrate his strength by pulling a 12-ton tractive unit and trailer. "The major problem is to start it moving", says Geoff. "Once it is started you must continue pulling, because if you stop, there is just no way of starting again!"
You may recall that Geoff Capes used to spend his time rolling Volkswagen 'Polos onto their roofs. I suggest that anyone driving such a vehicle to Cranfield next weekend, keep well away from the big man. Old habits die hard!
Mercedes also has a hand in the demonstrating of the Wabco ABS anti-lock braking system as fitted to a Mercedes/Crane Fruehauf combination.
The Perkins mobile exhibition unit, complete with two engines from the Perkins range of diesel power units, will be at Cranfield over the two days. The two engines on show will be the sixcylinder, turbocharged T6.3544 and the eight-cyclinder, vee configuration TV8.540.
The T6.3544, rated at up to 119kW (159bhp) when fitted with a charge cooler, is used in vehicles manufactured by the likes of Karrier, Hestair Dennis and Shelvoke and Drewry. The 8.8-litre turbocharged 1V8.540 is rated at up to 175kW (235 bhp).
The Post Office and British Telecom will also be there in strength as will BP, which will be fetching Pierre the Clown and his Model T-Ford to LDoY once again. There will also be a large representation of tyre people, says National Secretary John Wells, including Good Year which will be holding its usual tyre changing competition. For the kids there will be numerous attractions. Wives who are looking to keep their husbands busy at weekends might like to point them in the direction of the RCT unit which will be at Cranfield looking for drivers and managers to join the Territorial Army.
John Wells reckons that 9-9.30 is as good a time as any to arrive on finals day if you want to catch most of the action. But bear in mind that the day, for kids especially, is a long one; it doesn't wind-up until about 5pm.
Thankfully, the LDoY site is blessed with catering facilities and a licensed bar which, one hopes, will not be full with competing drivers.
There are a couple of fundamental changes at LDoY 83, according to John Wells. The first involves the introduction of new, constant-speed driving tests for competitors, which will be carried out with the help of Thames Valley Police. They will be armed with electronic gadgetry in order to see how steadily each competitor drives over a certain distance.
The other change affects the spectators rather than the competitors. All of the 200 or so competing vehicles will be parked in class order in the centre of the LDoY site, where spectators can see exactly what types of vehicles some of the best professional drivers in the UK use.
Cranfield is, as John says, "desert area", so if you are thinking of coming, you are advised to drive. Visitors will have to pay £2.50 to park their cars, regardless of the number of passengers they have (coaches pay £10). And although every driver gets a free programme and site guide once he has paid his parking fee, additional programmes are available at 70p each.
Cranfield is about four miles east of the M1 and can be approached from the north via junction 14 and from the south via junction 13. When you have left the M1 look for the signposts to Cranfield and the RAC's blue Lorry Driver of The Year direction signs.
Although John Wells says that it is difficult to estimate, he reckons that between 10,000 and 15,000 spectators will visit the LDoY final next weekend.
"It all depends on the weather. But on a fine day, it really is a marvellous occasion."
Don't say you haven't been warned.