2013 Report

Director’s Report

This year we returned to the Treasury Carpark as the site of the Autofest.  We did have the option of the lawns in front of Old Parliament House but significant rainfall sadly ruled this venue out.  On a positive note however it did make the cars very easy to park. 

We were fortunate to enjoy the support of the Canberra Mercedes-Benz dealership with two smart new cars taking part in our display.  We parked them next to the merchandise tent in case someone wanted to buy something that was over $100 but under $140,000.  I think we nailed it.

We had around 60 cars on display which is lower than our normal tally however we had 36 cars competing.  This as far as I’m concerned is an excellent result for our club considering that a number of regular attendees from interstate were unable to make the display this year.

I would like to thank all members and friends of the ACT Mercedes-Benz Club that volunteered their time to help park the cars in the morning, set-up the tents, take everything down again and of course to judge the entrants.  As I mentioned this year we had 36 cars entered for judging, but unfortunately only around 15 of these had pre-booked.  The positive result of this was that I could say with a straight face (to prospective judges) prior to the event we only have 15 cars to judge – so get it out of the way this year!  The downside is that after seeing the 36 cars turn up to be judged they may not speak to me again.

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In all seriousness though it does make for a far easier event to run if we have a better idea of numbers prior to the event, to provide incentive for this the entry fees for cars to be entered on the day will rise.

Special thanks go to the judges who included:

Peter McQuee
Tom Bush
Sam Wilson
Glen Graham
Lukas Tan
Martin Kass
Barry Sargent
Jennifer Anderson

We are usually only in a position to present awards at 3pm, this year we were able to move this forward to 2.20-30.  I should stress that this was only possible because of the extreme dedication of the judging team, some of them did not have lunch until after 3 (a factor that is often not considered by those asking me at 2 when awards will be presented). 

In closing I would like to congratulate all those that competed on the day.  The standard is always very high and all the cars in our display are a genuine credit to their owners.  I look forward to seeing you all again in 2014. 

Until then, enjoy your stars.

Richard Binks
Chief Judge
Concours Director