[quote=Bobby65]
Seeing as all the first and second trophies were laid out in the marquee most of the day is this not being disrespectful to all the competition entrant’s and the time and effort put into prepping their cars ?
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Robert, might it also be an assumption that 2 sets of trophies in different sizes and colours were there in the capacity of first and second prizes? Should they even have been set out in this way? for all anyone knows this may have been an error in set up, a big box of cups may have been for more than one purpose or event - and in fact exactly which set was to be used for any purpose was not decided at the time of set up, the only cup on the table with a purpose was that of a concourse trophy, this was thanks to the Club’s relationship with Footman James and a need to fulfill the arrangements with them.??
There is no disrespect shown to any competitors entirely the opposite there is utmost respect for all who take the time and effort to prepare and enter their vehicles, and we are trying hard to get this in shape, but competitions happens twice a year, so practice for all aspects of it is a little difficult to come by and no consideration from competitors is given to that - it has to be right and it has to perfect for me… ?The Club is striving to see competitions as an important and growing part of the National events - and taking time to pull together a robust judging platform now ensures that competitors can establish the way in which their vehicle scored and retain their information to help them to improve their vehicle. This all came about to improve and answer the prior criticism of not having any clue about scoring or being left with any hints about how your car was marked (appreciate you might not have had some comments on minor score deductions, but at the very least you know in what part of the car and area they were and not left with a total score).??
So is it not also perhaps disrespectful to all the people (and there are a lot), who have taken all the time to put this in place, gather all the resources and input that could put trophies on a table regardless of (shape and size), who get up in the middle of the night to spend hours travelling and give their whole day at the event judging - all to help to put prizes into the hands of a very small number of Club members at what is perceived ( by other areas of the Club) to be a great imbalance of appreciated budget for the people who, when they do win - never seem to be happy about it?
It is impossible to ever think that we will have an event go off with 100% satisfaction.?I think that competitions will always generate high degree of emotion because it takes an investment of time, energy and money by all who enter and I don’t think that there will ever be a way to thank everyone who enters a car in a way that would meet everyone’s needs, there will always be someone who will not be content with the actions we take in this area. Some want trophies, some want rosettes and some certificates and we can’t do it all, what is done is the best that can be on the day and I respect the decisions made by all the judging team to their best ability on the day.
What I will say in this case is that small and simple mistake in calculating or reading lines on a spreadsheet under a tight deadline to get things completed on the programme schedule in the ring has caused a big headache - and for me the past couple of days in getting this rectified after a few days of wash up - has slightly tarnished weeks of work in getting together one of the best Rallies we have done - and has caused undue level of work to get resolution in place in place - this could not be foreseen, planning can only extend so far when we try our best to factor in the human element of making a mistake.
Personally am I sorry this has happened? absolutely. I wanted the competitions to be a shining light this time round to encourage people to participate next year in the 20th Anniversary Rally. As part of the preparation I went away and brought in Sponsors, Prizes, and shiny cups all ready to give - and I naturally feel a little let down with what has happened in the execution of the awards, but I take away from it all the progress that has been made, better scoring, better parking, better signage, better understanding from competitors on classes and a harder look at the issues that arose here. And a list as long as you like to make sure that this never happens again.
However for me the biggest issue is that we do not have enough people volunteering to help to judge the field - all of the judges have come forward with thoughts following the event, but the area of common discussion is TIME - each car takes about 15 minutes to cover - 33 cars which leads to a position of 3 teams of 3 taking 3 hours to cover this - and that is in ideal world conditions, in reality it took all the time available on the day. It has been commented to me on the time it did take the judging teams just in terms of their own personal comfort, toilets drinks etc.
So to speed up effectively needs double the numbers which would see 18 people required to judge 30 or so cars and it starts to become a burden of where does the Club find this number of people to do this at all our events, especially when people don’t know if they are coming until a few days before the event?
So - make the process easier?
It has taken over year to develop and bring together the new scoring system - and I think we have nailed down a a damn good judging criteria and process of the cars and it is down to the bear essential to give a complete assessment of the vehicle. If we keep this in place will continue to lead to members understanding how their car competed and criteria that will see them improve their vehicles as well as to go on to do well in other non Club competitions - and help to support owners with the older cars to help to maintain them for entry into Classic shows as the cars mature further.??So I can’t really see a way to make it better without creating a system that is not then worth doing and we revert to times gone by that were borne out of convenience and not competition - I know you have score numbers - and I hope that you feel that numbers that are scored are based on solid evidence?
Will we do comps at Brooklands? I’d like to, but at the moment until we can do further wash up, I can’t say that they will go ahead watch the Brooklands Announcements from December, but I wholeheartedly encourage members to enter competitions as part of our events - And if you don’t feel you’d want to compete could I ask you to consider joining the judging side of things as I think you certainly care enough about the car and the competitions to want to help?
I do hope that your call from the Chairman has set this at ease and as soon as I have the trophy prepared and a prize to give then I will get this to you, but I cant promise that this will be able to come as quickly as the apology that has now formally been given, but it will be sent just as soon as I can.