Good Start to '65 Heats
Page 40
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By Alan Havard
WEYMOLITH once again this year provided the opening round of the Lorry Driver of the Year competition. By the time the national final is reached (next September) something like 2,500 drivers will have gone through the eliminators at more than 20 centres.
That, however, is a long way off. A total of 75 drivers turned up on Saturday at Weymouth, which—even if fewer than the national average—was an increase on last year's Weymouth entry. It is possible that the organizers would attract more entrants if the round were held later in the year; but it is idle to speculate because the Westham Car Park has to be turned over to a fair ground every Easter -so the Weymouth round has to be staged before then.
It was the first occasion on which the new, standardized, score cards were used. They received universal praise. "it makes things much faster ", said a marshal "Just look at the speed with which we got the results out ", remarked the scoring clerk, "At long last I can see how I'm doing ", was a veteran driver's comment. The cards certainly helped to make a slick contest. Another "first ": this was the first contest at which there was no separate Services class (it has been scrapped and they now go into the appropriate general class). At Weymouth they all appeared in Class C-20 Servicemen in a class of 29—and gained second and third places. I did wonder, incidentally, how fair it was (in the Highway Code test—which includes a question on hours and records) to ask Army drivers, who are not subject to the relevant section of the Act, when an Aor B-licensed driver can drive.eight hours continuously. Those Army drivers I spoke to were a little disgruntled about it.
I wonder how other areas with larger entries will handle this influx of Services vehicles in Class C? It is, to say the least, possible to imagine a Services driver becoming national Class champion. This could cause a bigger outcry than ever.
say it was a mistake to scrap the separate class for the Services.
Once again we had the spectacle of two artic entrants (in classes F2 and H) getting " walk-overs" to the final because each was the only entrant. In instances like this could not the national organizing committee provide areas with the average score in each class at the preceding national final and then rule that single. entrants in area contests could proceed to the finals only if they equalled cr bettered last year's average?
In Weymouth's Class H (for example) driver F. Lamb got through to the national final, having scored 414 penalties, because he was the only entrant. Neither a terribly good nor a terribly bad score: was it a performance that merited a final place? It would have been good enough to net first place at seven of 19 eliminating centres; but it wouldn't have netted even third place in Class H at last year's final.
I wish Mr. Lamb all the luck in the world, but I do question the general principle involved.