Did you miss the Urban Transportation Contest at Waterford this year? Here is how it went from the organizer’s point of view. Regular readers know that this contest was designed to see how vehicles stack up as actual transportation. In a series of measurements and tasks, I try to rate vehicles on how well they can get around on city streets efficiently and safely, day and night, any weather, with a modest cargo capacity.

You can see my article in the previous newsletter for details of the scoring scheme. The centerpiece of the contest is a simulated grocery run on a twisty parking lot course. This measures a lot of things simultaneously, including efficiency, handling, ease of loading, boarding, and starting. We had great weather and great cooperation from all the contestants this year, so everything went pretty much according to the published plans. We started a little late, (imagine that!) but were able to get everyone through in about two hours.

This year the number of trikes was down compared to last year, even as the total number of entrants grew from 8 to 11. In Table 1 (next column), I list the contestants, a little about their vehicles, and their final scores, in finishing order.

Table 1, UTC final scores

As you can see, this contest attracted a variety of vehicles, old and new, commercial and homebuilt. Entries came from several different HPRa classes, from streamliners to unfaired vehicles, with two, three, and four wheels. The big yellow #726 was quite a remarkable piece of work, unique in both form and function, and finely crafted. You can read more about it and the builder in the August 2004 newsletter, as he took home the “best homebuilt” award for the weekend. It was not fully prepared for the UTC, or it could well have scored better (see below).

The field also featured a mix of veterans and newcomers to the UTC. Two former winners, Carpenter and Kiehler, posted respectable scores, but not good enough to crack the top three this time around.

(See "UTC Results", next page)