Matters of Moment, January 1985
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Good intentions for 1985
Now is the time for making New Year Resolutions; we suggest the following resolutions for the following people.
Team Managers, Drivers and Designers To accept that motor racing is a sport and to devote as much effort and attention to the unwritten code of fair competition as many currently do to the imaginative interpretation of the rule book.
FISA To publish the 1986 international calendar well before the end of 1985— and to stick to it.
RACMSA To tighten control of racing to eliminate cheating and hooligan driving. To ensure that never again do we have the shameful situation of the winner of a major national championship being declared nearly a year after the championship ended.
Writers of Press Releases To learn the meaning of the word “unique” and eschew meaningless phrases like “quite unique” and “very unique”. To also learn the difference between “it’s” (it is) and “its” (belonging to it) for he who abuses the yeoman apostrophe is a churl.
TV Directors Covering Grands Prix Abroad To employ at least the same level of professional expertise as when directing a glove-puppet show for the under-fives
The Editor and Staff of Motor Sport resolve to continue to support campaigns for raising speed limits on motorways, thus avoiding the dangerous bunching which the 70 mph restriction encourages. It would surely be a better safety measure than changing the Government’s “Don’t Drink And Drive” slogan to “Stay Low” which implies that a little drinking before driving is officially sanctioned.
To refuse to take seriously those compulsory Government fuel consumption estimates based on rolling road figures taken at steady speeds which nobody ever drives at. And the unrealistic “Urban Cycle” figures which lead to tantalisingly optimistic advertisement claims.
To try to ignore the continuing squabble over the future of Brooklands while wishing to see the continuation there of motoring activity at least to the level maintained by the Brooklands Society and the motor clubs in recent years.
To continue to express our preference for analogue instruments instead of digital readouts, bar graphs and voice synthesisers.
To try to give our readership the best possible service we can, both within the pages of Motor Sport and in responding to the many letters and telephone calls we receive daily. Unlike some magazines, we positively welcome contact with our readers.
A Happy and Prosperous New Year to all our Readers