National Concours 2010 5 September Ragley Hall.

National Concours 2010

2010 National Concours which will be held in the grounds of Ragley Hall near Alcester, Warwickshire on the 5 September

Over the coming months we will publish in the magazine all the details regarding this event, but for this month we will concentrate on the guidelines for judges which are published on the club’s web-site. These guidelines contain hints on setting up a Concours both nationally and for a region, as well as what judges look for in a car when judging. However following on from a recent meeting of the Concours Committee there will be some changes to these guidelines over the coming months which should address most, if not all, of the issues that have appeared in the magazine and on the forum regarding how judges arrive at their decisions. We think that these changes are as fair and equable as we can make them.

Originality is now no longer on the Open and Regional Class judging sheet. The emphasis of these two judging sheets is purely cleanliness and presentation. Alpina and Schnitzer parts are not considered modified parts providing they are in period with the vehicle. There are not sufficient extreme modified cars within the club to warrant a class of their own. Should this change, then perhaps a completely new judging sheet with different criteria will need to be drawn up.

Age and mileage points have been a source of discussion in the past as well. There is not an easy answer on how to cater for high mileage original, high mileage restorations and to quote forum speak “garage queens” that only appear on fine days and Concours.

From now on we will introduce mileage points based on the mileage per annum of a competing car.

                                      0-4999 miles                    0 points

                                      5000 – 5999 miles            2 points

                                      6000 – 6999 miles            4 points

                                      7000 – 7999 miles            6 points

                                      8000 – 8999 miles            8 points

                                      9000 onward                   10 points

Therefore mileage points will be capped at 10 points

This will mean that for this year only we will require your previous 2 MOT certificates to work out your annual mileage points.

We will keep a record of your 2010 mileage so that we will not need your MOT certificate in 2011

Age points

A    3  year old car will receive 1   point 

 “  10 “      “    “     “        “    “     7  points

 “  20     “      “    “     “        “     17      “

No more than 25 points will be awarded.

However in view of the fact that there have had complaints regarding newer cars winning classes, rather than stop cars under three years old competing there are now penalties as follows.

15  points will be deducted from the final score if car is less than 1year old, 10 points if car is 1 to 2 years old and  5 points if car is 2 to 3 years old

These rules apply to Masterclass and Elite Class.

We are aware that unfortunately some regions do not organise an annual Concours, we hope that in 2010 all regions will organise one. There are helpful guidelines on the club’s website, plus we can offer advice and supply judging sheets if necessary.

However club members from regions that do not hold a Concours who wish to compete may nominate a region that does. For instance if a member from a non Concours region attends a regional Concours and wins their class he or she will be in Masterclass at the National or should they have best in show, progress to Elite class. Runners-up who are from that region will also be in their respective class at the National. However the non Concours region member must nominate the region he or she wishes to attend, please contact David Leake prior the event.

The final change for now is that we have realised that there are too many experienced Concours entrants in Open Class. We propose to deal with this by going back to the old rule which is that once in Masterclass an entrant will stay in that class for three years unless they proceed to Elite Class or change their car. If you change your car you can elect to go back and start from Open Class.

However after the third year of running Masterclass under these rules the lowest score entrant will be asked to return to Open Class.