Flight Judged

[Richard M.]

I am having my 63 SWC Flight Judged at a Chapter meet soon. My first experience with this process so I thought I would start at this level. I believe the car is ready and I am anxious to see what the judges think. I would appreciate any advice you have for the day - do's & don'ts. I have read the manuals and judging sheets. One question - should I drive or trailer the car to the meet. I don't have the Reference Manual handy and don't recall how many miles I need to drive or how many bonus points are received. Just wondering whether the bonus points are generally needed. Thanks for any advice you have. I am actually really looking forward to this.

[Joel F.]

Re: Flight Judged

Richard,

The most important thing you can do in my opinion is to go through the ops section and try to fix everything you can. There are a large number of points in ops, and it is basically pass fail. 25 points is a lot for an inoperative cigarette lighter. Even if you put a pep boys lighter in there, getting those 25 points would more than offset the originality / condition points on the interior judging.

You can also pick up 10 "freebie" points by having a battery cut off on the car, a fire extinguisher present (need not be installed), and an NCRS decal on the side glass.

On the topic of driving or not, you will need to decide that for yourself. Driving points are worth 1% of the miles driven added to your net score. That means if you drive 300 miles, you can add 3% points to your net score. That is easily the difference between a Second and Top Flight.

Good luck, and don't stress over things too much. It is supposed to be fun, and is no big deal if you don't get a Top Flight. Judging is a journey, not a destination

Joel

[Jack H.]

Re: Flight Judged

Unless it's a decent distance (miles are by the odometer and NOT as the crow flies) to the meet, you won't buy yourself a lot of bonus points... The system works this way:

You declare on your Flight score sheets whether the car was driven or trailered to the meet and state the actual mileage. Let's say you drove 599 miles.

When the tabulators compute your Flight Score XXX/4500 points and convert it to a percentage, they then add your mileage drive bonus IF you have a 3rd Flight or better raw score. So, let's further assume your computed raw score was 90.1%

Now, they divide the 599 miles by 100 (5.99) and truncate at the first decimal point (5.99 -> 5.9) and add that PERCENTAGE to your raw score. In this example your 90.1% (a solid 2nd Flight) goes up to 96.0% (a decent Top Flight).

But, if the meet is close, say 10-20 miles, there's not enough mileage drive to do anything for you. 20 miles divided by 100= 0.02 and when truncated that's ZERO as a mileage driven credit.

Advice: consider a folding chair...it'll be a full/long day for you. Also, don't forget tools as you need to drop the spare tire tub when you put your car on the judging field. Last, the judges will tell you why they took deductions here/there, but most can only remember five +/- two things in short term memory. If you're confused, don't simply nod your head!

Ask the judges if they can show you an example of what they're talking about. Quite often there's another car there that's similar with the 'correct' widget on it. A picture in your mind is worth lots of descriptive text...

[Bernard M.]

New Math?

Jack,

I used my calculator and have determined that using new math 20 / 100 = 0.2 . It may indeed get you a Top Flight under the right circumstances.

Bernie

[Steve D.]

Re: Flight Judged

I agree with the suggestion of going thru the OPS portion of the judging sheets. In my first go round at NCRS judging on my 63 Conv, I lost Top Flight because of minor things like the radio not working, the cigarette lighter not working, quartz clock in lieu of ticker, and I actually had a parking bulb out. 125 points of deductions and out went the top flight, took second flight and learned alot. Look for overspray on the chassis and tire tubs as that seams to make for alot of deducts. Whatever you can clean up correctly will save alot on the condition portion. Good Luck!

[Tom S.]

Re: Flight Judged

Get a set of judging sheets and have someone go over the car with you. This is a learning experience and alot of fun. You have to relax and take it as it comes. But try to get everything right before you go. And remember the judges are volunteers, they are doing this on thier own dime, treat them with respect.And yes i would drive the car weather permiting.. Tom