“Racing is life. Everything else is just waiting.”

So says Steve McQueen in the motor racing film classic, Le Mans. And it was to the Le Mans circuit that I returned last week, looking forward to a predictably unpredictable 24 hour race. As a huge motorsport fan, attending this prestigious endurance race is one of the highlights of my year. The roar of the engines. The smell of burnt rubber. The thrill of the chase. There’s nothing quite like it…

That said unpredictability was not confined to the race track, or was it? Predictably or not, depending upon your level of cynicism, the weather was shall we say ‘poor’ and avoid use of the vernacular, in the interests of good taste.

As I watched water rolling down the sides of the tent wondering if we need Moses to perform his miracle, and to part the waters, in order to even get access across the on-site facilities block. I quietly reflected on the possibility that I’m too old for this camping malarkey… and that next year’s visit would at a minimum have to be accompanied by brick walls, a roof and a comfortable bed. What the heck am I doing drenched, sitting in a field surrounded by noisy people and noisy cars!?!

My initial mood was not lifted as one of my fellow campers, normally a safe pair of hands to be relied upon, became a total butterfingers and dropped a screw when putting together the BBQ. No amount of searching could find it in the long grass. So, now we had a functioning BBQ, but without a handle to raise the lid. Things seemed to be going from bad to worse.

Fortunately, the rain eased, and we donned waders (well almost) to negotiate the surface water that had turned our camp site into a duck pond. Trudging towards the embankment we climbed the hill to see the famous Porsche curves. The majesty of the track was such that all bad weather was forgiven as dewy eyed nostalgia warmed our hearts, even if I could hardly feel my toes and fingers!

Braving a 10 mile track walk we approached the first chicane and saw the skid marks of an earlier warm up, where a VW Fun Cup race car had an altercation with a crash barrier. Being racing nerds, my pal and I walked over in search of carbon fibre debris, or “sports memorabilia” as we like to call it.

As luck would have it, I came across a screw similar to the one he had lost from the BBQ earlier. On returning to camp, it fitted perfectly. Saints be praised! Now we had a handle, and a BBQ with “Motorsport upgrade”… “Would it cook sausages any faster as a result,” I mused silently.

Having previously provided monitoring systems for HERTZ Team JOTA, I was thrilled to see they were racing in the top category again at this year’s event. However, my excitement quickly evaporated during Thursday’s practice session…

Callum Ilott lost control of the team’s #12 Porsche 963 Hypercar, causing it to nose-dive into the barriers. With the impact completely destroying the front-right corner of the car and the final race set for Saturday, their chances of competing looked as bleak as my soggy tent.

How wrong I was!

Thanks to the herculean efforts of the team, JOTA managed to source another carbon fibre chassis from Stuttgart, ship it to Le Mans, and repair the vehicle in less than 24 hours. Amazing! This process normally takes three weeks.

So, despite Thursday’s unfortunate turn of events, the Porsche entered Saturday’s race as planned and finished eighth – one place ahead of its sister car! I guess it just goes to show, how with the right team, you can overcome even the most daunting challenges.

And I certainly count myself lucky to have a formidable team behind me at All-Tag^® . Much like JOTA, it’s incredible what we can achieve when we work together and pull out all the (pit) stops!

The drama at Le Mans also reminded me of the importance of focus – whether it be in racing or in business.

When a customer asks us to design a product, we could just deliver the solution exactly as requested and move on. Job done! But that’s not how we do things. Instead, we think outside the box and focus on the end goal. Because the reality is, what a customer says they want might not actually be the best way of achieving their goals…

Famously, when Colin Chapman designed his Lotus Formula 1 cars, he didn’t give much thought to factors such as driver comfort or durability. His mission was to simply make the vehicle as light and as fast as possible. In doing so, the Lotus was much flimsier than a regular car and only good for 300 miles – the full distance of a Formula 1 race. He designed and built machines with one single purpose in mind – to be the fastest. And anything that did not contribute to that goal was irrelevant.

Now Chapman is widely revered as one of the greatest designers of our time. And his myopic approach to achieving goals has become the stuff of legend. However, what it does teach us is that by focusing on the end result that we need, we can achieve greater success in a shorter time. And in the case of All-Tag, that can mean redirecting our efforts away from the initial direction set by the client in order to more efficiently achieve the client’s goals.

Take our EAS hardware installations, for instance. Retailers often ask us to install their tagging system behind the entrance door, post fit out. But pedestals spread too far apart can create a dead spot right down the centre of the exit! And the nearby CCTV pedestal monitor or intruder alarm keypad can cause interference with the system. To best achieve the goal, we need to focus on the risk management of the area before the floor even goes into the store, so we can run wires seamlessly to the best positions and give effective protection.

At All-Tag, we approach our business by focusing on achieving our clients’ goals and working with them to identify and implement the best solution without compromise.

Because it is amazing what you can achieve working together, with a shared focus, to create a competitive edge.