. . . while Sweden drives to team victory
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• The 14th annual finals of the driver championships organised by UICR (Union Internationale des Chauffeurs Routiers) were won last weekend by the team from Sweden. Britain's team of nine lorry and coach drivers finished last of the ten finalists, with the Irish team placed ninth. This year's major sponsor was Scania, and the finals were staged at Scania's base at Sodertalje, near Stockholm.
Three of the countries in the competition — France (which finished eighth), Ireland and Great Britain, were handicapped by having no drivers in the drawbar category — but even in the other three categories (rigid truck, PSV and articulated truck) the drivers from the British Isles were outclassed by their Scandinavian and continental counterparts — Sweden was the overall winner, followed by Switzerland and West Germany.
The highest-placed of the British and Irish drivers was Terry Ryan of Ireland, who finished sixth in the rigid truck category. In the same category Tom Muffins, a 7.5-tonner driver with Kings Beers and Minerals of London came 27th with 827 points. Bob Morriss, an owner/driver from Norwich, and John Clarke, who drives for NFC subsidiary Alpine Refrigeration and Distribution, finished in 30th and 31st places of the 31 drivers in the 7.5tonne class. Werner Helfer of Switzerland was the leadilig driver in this class, with 1,954 points after the practical and theoretical tests, compared with John Clarke's score of 682.
In the bus and coach category two owner/drivers from St Albans who run Verulam International Travel displayed remarkable uniformity of driving skill by finishing within a single point of each other. Ron Hayes came 22nd in the class with 1,162 points, while this partner Phil Havell was 23rd with 1.161. This year's UICR coach and bus champion is Josef Engel of West Germany, who scored 1,847 points. Phil Robinson, who drives for Harrods, came 27th with 956 points.
Dutchman, Appie Bruggink won the articulated trucks category with 1,650 points. Barry Cahill from Ireland came seventh in this category with 1,402 points, while British drivers Rick Cottee, Geoff Walker and Colin Gray finished 26th, 29th and 30th respectively. Rick Cottee is an owner/driver from Super C Trucking of Lymington, Hampshire; Geoff Walker is also an owner/driver from Norsman International of Crowle, near Scunthorpe; and Colin Gray of Fareham drives for Ferrymasters.
The most impressive driving skills in the entire competition were displayed by the top drawbar drivers who reversed 24 metre combinations with astonishing precision. Gert Lonnerheden of Sweden won this category, closely followed by Swiss drivers James Duc and Hanspeter Schmid.
This is the fifth successive year in which Scania (Great Britain) has sponsored a British team in the UICR finals. As usual every British team member came from Routiers Drivers Club, the UK club affiliated to UICR, but internal wrangling in Routiers and the last minute withdrawal of one selected team member made preparation for the finals more difficult than usual.