Winning signals
Page 38
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WHILE John Young and Robert Crippen were lying dejectedly in their obstinate spacecraft at Cape Canaveral, Dr Magnus Pyke, the thinking man's Ken Dodd, was flailing his way about the Talbot showroom in London's Piccadilly on a more immediately successful space venture. He was presenting the prizes in a competition promoted by Thermal Radiators Ltd, Reading, to guess the mileage that a Dodge 22cwt Spa cevan would cover on a nine gallon tankful of petrol.
As he announced the winner, Alistair Anderson, of Anderson and Finch (Heating) Ltd, Clydebank, the semaphore scientist, became so excited that he nearly knocked himself off his podium.
Alistair's estimate approached most nearly the mileage of 263.334 achieved under AA supervision at the MIRA proving ground by the Spacevan carrying about 700kg of payload and three people. The average petrol consumption was 29.22mpg. The prize was the van and the £2,000 worth of Thermalpanels with which it was laden.
The co-operation that Thermal Radiators received from Dodge in promoting the competition (which increased sales of Thermalpanels by 27 per cent) was, I was told, "absolutely marvellous". A much larger British manufacturer could have enjoyed the kudos but chose not to do so.