Jewson Crediton Flyers’ were crowned the winners of ACO’s inaugural Race Team Manager competition, following an intense eight-team Grand Final held at this year’s Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) Members’ Day conference.
After a great day’s racing, Martin Matthews and Jon Keast of the ‘Crediton Flyers’ emerged victorious at the first ever Race Team Manager Grand Final, beating ‘Destroyers of Panis’ (Buildbase Civils), and ‘Parkers Cash Cashers’ (Parkers Building Suppliers) into second and third place respectively. Martin and Jon walked away with a set of F1 tickets to the 2017 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The outcome was decided by overall performance in both a race team-themed knowledge quiz, and a series of races on a specially-made Carrera slot car track throughout the course of the day. In order to mirror the activity of Formula 1 race teams, all entrants were given time to plan and then practise their race strategy before the start of the racing.
The knowledge quiz consisted of five rounds which tested the finalists on a wide range of topics, from the 2016 F1 season to their knowledge of ACO products, as well as general business strategy. After the quiz, the eight teams completed a qualifying time trial to determine seedings, which was followed by four head-to-head quarter-final race-offs, the semi-finals, and Grand Final.
Crediton Flyers won the final, which featured a safety car and required teams to make two tactical pit stops, giving them 30 points to add to their quiz tally of 41. This dramatic finish saw them clinch a scintillating overall victory by the narrow margin of just four points.
Phil Windus – Market Manager at ACO, commented: “There are a number of similarities between a successful Race Team and a successful branch team in a builders’ merchant – you need to be able to plan effectively, and be flexible in your approach, and work together as a cohesive unit in order to ultimately deliver the best service possible.
“We believe the inaugural Race Team Manager competition has brought these parallels to the fore in an effective and engaging way which has ultimately been a great deal of fun, as well as delivering some valuable business lessons to merchants across the country. I’d like to thank everyone who participated in the competition, and congratulate Martin and Jon on winning this year’s title.”
The finalists featured the top six teams from the overall Race Team Manager league table. This was determined through accumulating points from answering a series of F1-based questions during each of the race weekends spanning the European leg of the 2016 F1 season. The top six were then joined by two wild cards, selected at random from those teams who entered the competition after the first week.
On winning the inaugural Race Team Manager competition, Martin Matthews from the Crediton Flyers, commented: “We feel privileged to be in this position, when we first started we didn’t have any idea we’d get this far, so it’s a surprise and an honour for us. Today has been good fun and well organised, and the competition worked well following the Grand Prix throughout the season. We need to defend our title so see you next year!”
Phil Windus concluded: “Ultimately, we wanted to break the mould in terms of the traditional merchant and manufacturer mode of engagement, yet keep any activity relevant to our key principles of training and best practice. This year’s event has accomplished those goals, and we are already looking forward to next year’s competition.”
For more information and final standings, please visit www.raceteammanager.com
