[Pedro Fandango]

Originally Posted by clwickers

With regard to the judging the subject of judges entering their own cars is a matter which can be debated from here to eternity. However what is not up for debate is that they should be judged fairly and not in any way more leniently, or by their owner! I, like Julie, do genuinely believe based on the score sheets I looked at that the cars in the BKV were marked to the best of the judges' ability, and importantly fairly.

As STE-MAL said in his post, all the judges except one, are active members of the Volvo Owners Club, and by definition we all have our own cars, and most of us do or have entered them in the BKV.

There are three options for next year:

a) No judges enter their own cars

b) No judges mark the class their own car is in

c) Judges mark their own class (in the case of register keepers etc.), but not their own vehicle

The problem with option b) is that it surely is best to have the most experienced person marking a class - i.e. Ian for the non-standard class?

The problem with no judges entering their own cars is that had this rule applied this year the number of judges would have been diminished on the day, and the results would have been considerably later. The knock on effect would be that the judges left may well have decided that next year they would be unable to offer the same commitment, and therefore be unwilling to judge.

Contrary to popular belief putting together a team of judges for the National is not as easy as it sounds - many members want to enter their cars and spend as much time as possible cleaning them. The judging itself can take around 4 hours maybe even more with the briefing, and of course restricts the member from other activities.

As per my earlier email if anyone would like to judge next year then please feel free to contact me.

Judging however is an extremely important issue, as are the extra few points available depending on the car's age and mileage - both these subjects will be discussed at length before the next National Rally (York 2007!) and any changes published in the Driver prior to the event.

if there are enough people how about having a seperate staff section?