Drivers geared up foi record CM LDoY final
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THIS SUNDAY is the big day for nearly 300 lorry drivers; the 1980 finals of the Commercial Motor Lorry Driver of the Year competition are being held. Around 2,500 drivers took part in regional heats earlier in the year to find the 283 drivers who would go through to Sunday's national finals.
They are being held, as last year, at Cranfield Institute of Technology, Cranfield, Bedfordshire. Before becoming a technical establishment it was a wartime RAF base, and with plenty of grassland for the static displays and long concrete runways for the driving it makes an ideal site. _
C-MLDoY secretary John Wells anticipates the attendance figure, if the weather is not too bad, to top the 25,000 that came to last year's final. Reading down the list of exhibitors, displays, events and demonstrations there is no reason why John's hopes should not be realised. Although the driving is obviously the raison d 6tre for the day, there are all sorts of other attractions and events throughout the programme that will keep everyone happy. But
let's get the priorities right and preview the driving first.
The earliest competitors will arrive (in their own vehicles) at Cranfield around 7.30am for scrutineering. This done, they move on to take the Highway Code test. It may sound relatively simple, but there is a lot more to this written test than identifying a "Beware of lowflying aircraft" road sign. At last year's final most of the competitors that I spoke to said this was the section they feared most.
After the Highway Code paper it's on to the first of the manoeuvring tests. These are performed with the drivers still using their own vehicles. To make matters fairer, the cab rear windows are blanked off so that competitors with flatbed or drop-side bodied vehicles don't have an advantage over boxvan drivers — it's all down to the mirrors alone.
The tests, which involve manoeuvring between cones and barriers as closely as possible without touching, and precise positioning of the vehicle, should be completed by lunchtime. Once again, the RAF will be running the scoreboard, and since it has now got this down to a fine art the results should be posted up very shortly afterwards. This will give the winners of the eight classes, which cover every type of goods vehicle from light van to maximum size artic. A point worth mentioning is that the score sheet shows the penalty points collected at each
test for every single driver — r just the top three or four — the not-so-lucky majority kn, where they went wrong.
The final run offs which ; the highlight of the day, ; scheduled to begin at alp( 2pm. For these, the eight cl; winners abandon their o. vehicles and climb into the fin vehicles. These are supplied t year courtesy of Dodge Truck
First, there is the Doc Spacevan integral van, so i Post Office driver reaches final he should feel at homE this. Next, the finalists us Dodge Commando G13 wit boxvan body, which is an H Class 3 vehicle.
Then it's on to a Doc C2464 24-ton six-wheel tip which is the HGV Clas: vehicle. Finally, all the ei finalists drive the HGV Clas Dodge C3620 tractive which is one of the 300-Se units and rated at 36 tons. It be pulling a 40ft tilt or box trailer.
So all the finalists will hav drive the four vehicles thro the same manoeuvring tests is means that the overall winI. will have to show versatility well as ability; the van driver II have to attemp the artic [ver's skills and vice-versa. It n be done; last year's chamon drove a boxvan in his eryday job but coped admirly with the artic in the finals.
The actual final tests follow ) same pattern as the class ampionships but are harder d more varied, with little room error. There will be 120. irshals at Cranfield on Sun', notebooks and rulers at the dy to record each driver's formance.
The eventual winner, the nmercial Motor Lorry Driver he Year, will be known in the afternoon and prizegiving is eduled to start at around n and be over by 6pm.
Looking at the prize list this the champion is going to very nicely, thank you — as if Ining the title alone isn't iugh! As well as enough erware to furnish a stately ie he will receive the 1980 ;helin European Study ard; a cheque for £500; a
study course, valued at 50, from the RTITB; a week's day for two at Butlins; free ng for a year courtesy of dchef plus a variety of other :es. The Michelin Study ird is the premier prize and year for example was a trip Nest Germany to see the lpunkt ALI and API traffic Irmation systems and visit MAN plant in Munich,
lass winners and runners-up also more than adequately irded for their efforts, while 80-odd finalists will receive a radiator grille badge for the'r vehicle and a voucher for a meal at Roadchef.
As usual, in this, the 27th LDoY competition, the oil companies are well represented at the finals and will almost certainly figure somewhere in the winners.
Another regular supporter of the competition is the Post Office and its drivers usually fare well in the smaller classes. But a glance at the entrants' list in the