R.A.F. Man Wins at Coventry
Page 47
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ADRIVER of the Royal Air Force gained the day's honours at the Coventry eliminating round of the Lorry Driver of the Year competition on Sunday. He lost only 22 penalty points. Three drivers of C-licensed vehicles forfeited 31 points each and won Classes C, E(2) and F(2).
. Although marks dropped by leading competitors in the Highway Code examination and the road section often represented the difference between first and second or third place in a class, the general standard in these parts of the contest was high. Some 30 drivers out of the total of 125 completed the Code queStiorMaite without penalty, and four lost no marks in both this examination and the road section.
Cpl. D. M. Readrnan (R.A.F., Gaydon) was only one pint down after these hurdles before undertaking the manceuvring tests, in which he put up an immaculate display at the wheel of his Austin and won not only Class 1 but also the premier place in the day's event.
Without Penalty G. Atkins (Quasi-Arc, Ltd., Bedford) and P. Coleman (Fisher and Ludlow. Ltd., Morris) entered the manccuvring tests Without penalty and won their classes, C and F(2), respectively. Following a faultless examination on the Highway Code, S. Walker (Quasi-Arc, Ltd., Albion) dropped five points on the road section, a loss which cost him the honour of being the most favourably placed C-licence driver. He won Class E(2).
Variations in driving skill are revealed by comparing the points lost by class winners with those of the poorest competitors. In Class A, with 18 entrants, the winner dropped 50 points and the bottom man 615. In other classes, the comparisons were: B (six entrants), 40158; C (21), 31-448; D (29), 38-652; E(1) (10), 40-685; E(2) (13), 31-275; F(1) (five), 69-739; F(2). (11), 31-653; G (seven),
49-286; H (two), 59-239; I (four), 22-196.
The contest finished late, chiefly because of delays in the width-judging test, which many drivers tackled without knowing whether they were allowed to shunt their vehicles before reversing between the second set of posts. A number of men at the wheels of heavy vehicles considered such a inanieuvre to be advantageous.
Marshals were repeatedly warned by Mr. M. J. Miles, organizing secretary, that they should not explain the regulations to drivers, who should be sufficiently responsible to interpret the rules correctly without help.
Those marshals attending the reversing test claimed that frequent failure of obviously intelligent drivers to stop in the correct position at the farther end of the site opposite the loading bay was the result of carelessness when reading the regulations rather than misinterpretation.
The kerb-parking test was regarded as the most interesting by many drivers because they knew exactly what they had to do and could concentrate upon doing it well. It also had the greatest appeal to spectators, and,failures by experienced drivers obviously caused them great embarrassment.
The team prize was won . by the Standard Motor Co., Ltd., by a wide margin with total penalty points of 125. The three. drivers were S. W. Truslove, J. 1. Walsh and J. T. Johnson. All drove Austin% The highest-placed C-licence driver was Atkins.