Should I enter Littlecote "Pride & Joy"?

[dhdove]

Nick

Libby and I are booked in but will be in her SL350, so may be parked in amongst the trailers and caravans

However we will find our way to say hello to all on the Forum stand early on

Intend to renew supplies of microfibre cloths and Powercham at the trade stands.....assuming he's there again this time round.

TonyS

[dhdove]

David

So nice to see you both again today, the car looked fantastic and I thought was well placed for a prize!
We left before the presentations so don't know the result.....how did you get on????

Best
TonyS

[davidr]

Tony - good to see you too and hear your thoughts on future Forum outings.
How did we get on? Well I feel we gave good account of ourselves and the car received frequent compliments with many people stopping to chat and ask questions. Quite a few people were taking photos too. I don't know what marks the car received until we get the judging sheet back in the post.
I knew going into this that our downfall would be that we haven't done that much mileage so we'd lose marks. To get the maximum the car needs to have done 10,000 miles or more in the year and we've done just about 3,000. The mileage accounts for a fifth of the total marks so it strikes me that this will always be the decider between well presented cars.
The car that won our class was a very nice XJ300 that is in regular use but was still immaculate - a worthy winner.
I'm glad we entered but I'm not sure we could ever win unless we were to use the car on an everyday basis which I'm not going to do as I don't want to pile miles on a nice low mileage car.
Here are a few photos

[BigCatXJS]

Nice pics! I would not pile on the miles either. That's one pretty car that deserves to be kept that way.

[Brakebuster]

David ,

great pics,

for what its worth , i think you were robbed........your car was very well presented and stood out in its class , it would have got my vote if it was up to me ,

as for the miles rule, well thats plain daft.................


BB

[raysearles]

Just to comment on that - as the judge on the day David's car was very well presented - but so were several other XJS's at the other end of the row and a very nice XJ, and as David surmised the mileage of the winning car made that vital difference that got it across the finishing line in first place in what was a very close fought group.

Is the mileage condition daft? Well no not in our opinion because Pride and Joy is not concours and is designed to allow owners who use their cars as Daily Drivers on a a limited regular basis, but still manage to keep them in a very high standard to "show off" their Jaguar in a more relaxed competition - otherwise P&J will just turn into concours....

David's car was very well presented given the condition in which it began the re-commissioning process and I hope that what few things we could find to comment he finds useful.

Ray

[Brakebuster]

fair comment, and thanks ,




so , my 600 miles in 12 years wouldnt have gone down well with the marking, lol ( if i had entered )

i suppose it brings us back round to the previous debate on the P&J entries, it is subjective and up to the Judge on the day ,and thats fair enough if you want to enter these things,

BB

[davidr]

Vince - many thanks for your kind comments. Maybe if the competition was judged on the car alone I may have been in with a shout but I'm not sure - there were some very nice cars in the line up!

Ray - thanks for your comments. As I'm sure you realised, I knew that the mileage component would count heavily against me and my principle reason for entering was to get some objective feedback on the car and see how it stood up against stiff competition. Well I feel that it didn't look out of place in that company and I was encouraged by the attention that it got and the compliments received. I'll look forward to seeing your feedback when I get the judging form back and I'm sure that it will help me to improve the car.
For more general consumption and maybe to spark a debate the thought that I came away with was that I would ideally like to have a competition somewhere between Pride and Joy and Concours. My reasoning goes that the Pride and Joy perhaps favours those with saloon cars that are more suited to everyday use so that they do the 10,000 miles that most owners of sports models that are probably second cars would not. To use a car on an everyday basis but still keep it in show condition is a great achievement and those who manage it are to be greatly admired.
On the other hand, the Concours cars that achieve the highest standards don't look like they get much (or any!) road use judging by their absolutely pristine condition. The 2 cars in the Concours "shoot out" at Littlecote were absolutely fabulous but a look at their perfect brake discs led me to think that they didn't get much driving.
Using the car for European touring and weekend trips out (when the weather is suitable) we do 3-4,000 miles a year. What shall I do? Should I sell my V12 Coupe to concentrate my classic motoring to one car to stand a hope in Pride and Joy? Should I put a lot more attention to detail into my Celebration and turn it into a Concours car that I only drive on and off a covered trailer at shows?
Neither is attractive to me. But, if there was a class that didn't have such an emphasis on what is a high mileage for a second car used on "high days and holidays" but wasn't as extreme as Concours then I'd certainly be up for that.
Anyway, I'm rambling on but these are just my thoughts as a newcomer.
Many thanks to all of you who've given me useful feedback and congratulations to all the people who prepared their cars so well last weekend.
Regards
David

[Brakebuster]

what was noticeable by its absence, or i wasnt paying attention ( more likely ) was a ' Peoples choice ' ? award

this would be fairly easy to implement, as every paying attendant to the show would get a voting slip which can be incorporated in the brochure , each car on display would have a number, and the public make their choice , easy to count up to after a certain time limit,

or as David suggests, an interim class, not concourse and not daily driver ( 10k miles where the UK average for a family car is 12K ?) , but a car that is obviously used regularly , but limited miles for high days and holidays, but just as cherished and keen to show the car off at shows ,


just a debate suggestion.....

BB

[davidr]

I don't think there was a "People's Choice" but there was a "Car of The Day" which was the modified green XK8 (Paramount?) car. I think this was the Judges' choice?
Interesting idea of a Peoples Choice. I've seen it done on the London to Brighton run so I guess it's manageable.
Regards
David

[raysearles]

Being relatively new to the Events scene in JEC, I am not sure of the history as to whether Peoples Choice has been done before or not. I will investigate and see what we think.

With Peoples choice I know from other shows I have attended over the years the challenge is the administration - i.e finding the volunteers to count the slips of paper and award the prize in time for prize giving; as a further suggestion to this theme maybe an "Entrants Choice" as voted for by all those who entered P&J would be easier to administer.....we could thus amend the voting for Car of the Day from the judges to the participants in P&J - interested in any views around this......

[Brakebuster]

an ' Entrants choice ' would be a very good alternative to a Judges car of the day ,

an entrants choice would possibly be more popular as its an owners piers who are making a choice , especially not being able to vote for their own car etc ,

possibly worth more investigation as to its validity and popularity ,

as an incentive to vote, the tickets could be used for a small prize draw for something from the JEC stand , possibly even a free years membership.....who knows ,

BB

[jBlackwell]

Hi guys,
Some interesting comments on here, I have added them to my discussion list as I am sure Ray has also ready for our next meeting.

James