I'm responding to Jeff Cushing's post about the Concours at the Eureka United,
and I'll tackle the judging first.
I, too, expected judges on the order of, let's say, TAC committee people to be
doing the judging. If what Jeff said about the use of fellow class car owners
for
judging is true, I agree that a more professional source, like TAC, would level
the playing field and hopefully cut down on some the complaints from entrants.
Again, if I take Jeffs word for gospel that the Harrington Tiger competed in
the
same class as a mass-produced Tiger roadster, then I too think the car was in
the wrong class. It probably should have competed with the featured cars like
the rally car and the Le Mans Tigers. Placing it in competition in a stock
class is
unfair to Bill V and the roadster owners.
The judging aspect of concours events in general are sometimes a major turnoff.
Part of that in the Tiger world is that all of us have taken our cars apart,
and we
think we have a heightened sense of what is original, personalized, and
modified.
This probably is going to cause some friction.
Did I have any problems at the concours? Someone with a bull horn would
periodically tell those of us with camera to get away from the cars while the
judges did their thing, all the while my plane is taking off in 90 minutes, and
these special cars may not be here again, and I"m thinking, "unless you are
planning on having bull horn for your box lunch, beat it, chum."
Largely, the show from my spectator vantage point was outstanding. I agree with
Tim Morin, I've had many great experiences at these United, but this one was
the
absolute best.
As to the cost, those of us who are not from around those parts spent
considerably more just to fly there and stay for the weekend. Heck, Disneyland
is
close to $200 for 4 adults, for just ten hours, and thats before the food.
If any of the registration money was used to get those great Tigers shipped to
Eureka, it was money well spent.
I'm genuinely sorry that you didn't have a better time there, Jeff. The
Redwoods,
the coast, and the Tigers were wonderfull. If you want Big Bear to be a
success,
get Mr. Hall and Norman involved in the judging guidelines, with your input.
But,
largely, it will be mainly an uphill battle(and no, I don't just mean the drive
to
Big Bear) to top this years United. If you seriously think you can improve on
it,
tell me and Tim Morin now. We're already packin'.
Rande Bellman
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