LDoY is so old fashioned
Page 28
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I REFER to your editorial of last week (CM September 8). I agree with your sentiments. For many years I have attended the final of the LDoY event having been at one and sometimes two eliminating heats during the year. It seems to me that the heats are more interesting than the final.
I come away from local events better satisfied than I am on finals day.
Perhaps this is because the local heat is held in a more confined space and we get the feeling of crowd participation. Locally we can see and understand what is going on. At the finals we are dependent on the public address system. Surely an electronic scoreboard would help.
The aims of the competition cannot be questioned but the method of achieving them is out of date. The Volvo ball balancing test at Cranfield was more interesting than the official tests.
It is not so many years since there were a large number of small companies represented at the final. The 1984 event was dominated by the Post Office and the oil companies. This suggests that the competition is losing its appeal to all but a few. Or is it that the companies who make the final are seeking prestige and to achieve it they take time off the road to practise?
There also appears to be a great deal of inactive time for many of the contestants. What do the early numbers in each class do between completing their tests and final prize giving except await results? Only eight drivers out of 200 were occupied after lunch last Sunday.
I hope the committee will get down to some new thinking for next year's event. In recent years the number of contestants and spectators has dwindled. This is too good a concept to lose but it requires more original thinking.
J. SMYTHE Bexley, Kent