Technician Superstars

How the Sytner Elite Technician Competition – backed by the IMI – is helping showcase the talent in the automotive industry

Technicians are the heart of automotive, without them the industry wouldn’t function. Highlighting the work they do is incredibly important, which is why the Sytner Elite Technician Competition started in 2017.

In the beginning it consisted of just three brands: Porsche, Ferrari and Bentley, and three winners. It now has thirteen categories: BMW, Mini, Porsche, Bentley, Ferrari, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Land Rover, Carshop, Agnews, Multi-brand and Apprentices.

So, there are now thirteen winners who will receive an amazing prize in addition to the illustrious title of Elite Technician – a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Detroit Grand Prix, hosted by Penske. During their visit, the winners get to experience the Detroit Grand Prix, spend time with the Penske racing team and explore life in Detroit.

Over the last year or so, the competition was delayed for obvious reasons, but this year over 500 Technicians took on the challenge and sat the initial Institute of the Motor Industry accredited theory test. The top three in these tests from each category were recently invited to Sytner HQ in Leicester, and took the invigilated ‘finals’ theory test.

Sponsored by Shell Helix Oils, CitNOW and Pirelli tyres, the final stage of the 2021-2022 competition takes place at Stoneleigh Park this month. It’s a fantastic event that really tests the practical ability of all 39 of the highly skilled finalists.

In the practical finals, a range of faults are set on vehicles that the technician usually works on. They then have a limited time to inspect the car and report on what they find. A video report is also created. Marks are allocated for each fault or issue found, as well as the quality of the video.

In previous competitions, having many of the best technicians all competing in one place was always going to make for a close result. It came down to the personal presentation video to solve a tie within one of the brands on more than one occasion.

Darren Edwards, Sytner Group CEO, at a previous event, said: “We are incredibly proud of all of the 30 finalists, they should all be immensely proud to have got that far.”

Along with IMI CEO, Steve Nash, I will once again be representing the IMI as chief judge at the practical finals. I have been fortunate to have been part of this competition since 2017. I love how Sytner respect their Technicians and the all-expenses-paid trip to Detroit is an amazing prize and it rightly puts Technicians’ work front and centre.