Testing fever

According to CotY Statutes, Jury members are necessarily full-time professional journalists, who regularly drive and test the new cars produced by the industry.

Nevertheless, a little extra test in direct comparison, with the candidates to the award, could be convenient. That’s how Nordic automotive writers belonging to Car of the Year Jury thought 30 years ago.

Tannistest was born for them and conducted by Dane Rogers Sogaard along three decades, opening progressively to other participants. For 2008, Finnish Jury member Martti Merilinna took the helm from the veteran colleague, being always assisted by fellow Scandinavian members. Now open for any Jury member, Tannis is the occasion to drive in similar conditions all the candidates to the award on late September, before the first vote. In top of the Nordic members, the 2008 edition saw 17 Jury colleagues attending the premises in Northern Danemark. The event is also characterized by the big picture of all the cars in the nearby beach (some of them customarily get stuck in the sand and have to be towed out), and the informal ‘elk test’ conducted in the airport of Sindal, of infamous memory for Mercedes-Benz.

CotY Jury members keep on comparing cars after the ‘short list’ of seven finalists has been nominated. A drive of the short-listed cars in Silverstone circuit, UK, and in the Bosch test grounds of Boxberg, Germany, have now a long tradition.

More recently, Italian colleagues gather the finalists to drive them in Balocco facilities, an interesting test site not far from Milan, belonging to Fiat group.

In 2008, there has been too a last test chance in Motorland, a complex 100 km away from Zaragoza town, in Spain, where a big F1/MotoGP circuit is being built, and there are assorted roads around.

Tannistest 2008