Sponsored Content Presented by FCP Euro.
“At some point, we realized it was going to be easier to have stuff than to need stuff.”
That’s how Michael Hurczyn, Brand & Partnerships Director and team driver at FCP Euro, sums up the preparation philosophy for his race effort.
We had originally contacted FCP Euro to produce an easy-to-digest list: tips on how to bring a pro racing ethos to your amateur effort.
But, as it turns out, there’s really only one item on that list, and it’s the first thing every Boy Scout learns: Be prepared.
Part of being prepared means involving the right people.
“Aside from driving, I manage all strategic and technical elements on the team,” explains Director of Motorsports Nate Vincent. “For strategy, it's items like what series, what car, how we can add additional value to partners and FCP Euro. For the tactical, it's items like who is on the team, what is their role, and what is the priority in investments and preparations.
"I like to think I am the Mark Donohue to Michael Hurczyn's inner Roger Penske. I focus on the technical and engineering aspects of the team, and Michael focuses on the business aspects of the team, such as funding, exposure and selling the value the team creates."
“A pro racing weekend is so complex, and there are so many moving parts,” says Hurczyn. “And that’s entirely aside from the actual race cars on track.
“At a typical weekend, we’ve got to manage not just the cars on track, but transportation, social media and promotions, catering to keep everyone fed, and the human resources effort to make sure those various disparate teams are working toward the same goal of promoting our brand—which, ultimately, is why we go racing.”
It’s an undertaking so vast and far-reaching that FCP Euro produced its own in-house operational guidebook. It covers all aspects of its racing effort, including what gets posted on social media and when, what gets loaded in the trailer, where and when each team member should expect to arrive and depart, and what they’ll be doing in between.
"I manage most of the ‘people’ side of things in terms of getting everyone there, arranging flights, lodging and transportation as well as working with our event coordinator handling hospitality and headcounts for that,” explains Event Director Nathan Brown. “I also manage brand, activation and partnership aspects on location. That responsibility ranges from making sure the team’s paddock space is clean and well organized with all our branding and activation assets in place, plus working with partners, guests, and engaging with fans.
“We focus on being really open and inviting,“ Brown continues, “and that’s probably the most enjoyable part of the job—getting to share what we’re doing with passionate enthusiasts who are just like we are. We genuinely enjoy being able to show people the cars and talk shop, whether they’re a European car owner, a racer, or are at their first motorsport event, it’s always a good time.”
Although pro racing at every level is complex, budgets, schedules and reality all conspire to make things even more difficult.
“We run a pretty lean operation,” Brown explains, “and with the majority of the team having a position back at FCP Euro HQ, everyone there is at the race track because they’re passionate and it’s where we want to be.”
Despite the small crew, everyone has a dedicated task. “While we all have specific roles and duties, we’re all willing to put in the work to make it all happen,” Brown adds. “For every podium, there’s plenty of long nights, setups and teardowns in the wind and rain, and plenty of 5 a.m. flights. If we weren’t at the track as part of FCP Euro Motorsports, we’d be running track days and racing on our own time. Almost every team member has some kind of time trial, wheel-to-wheel or track day car of some sort. I think it’s safe to say there’s no place we’d rather be.”
“I am one of the very few people who was hired specifically for the motorsports program,” explains Motorsports Engineer Cory Calvin. “Many of the other team members support the day-to-day operation of the business primarily and work on the IMSA team secondarily. I do the opposite. That said, the technical, problem-solving and team communication skills we refine on a race weekend bleed into the day-to-day and improve the company.
“I manage the technical elements of our program,” Calvin continues. “That would be the car preparation and setup, car maintenance, rule compliance, tools and equipment, data as well as day-to-day operations inside the FCP Euro Motorsports garage.”
The need to maximize each on-track session means that the cars must show up to the track prepared to perform. The cars have to come off the truck ready to race, the team notes. If any "preparation" needs to be done at the track, you’re already wasting time. Plus, it’s simply easier to prep a car in a shop versus a paddock spot.
“I am part of a smaller team responsible for long-term maintenance and initial setup/checks before everything gets transported to where it needs to go,” explains BMW Catalog Manager Gareth Foley.
Once at the track, however, Foley’s role changes: “During a race weekend, my role is similar to what it is back at our home base but is more specific to what has to happen over the course of a race weekend for it to be successful. This goes from unloading our trailer and setting up our paddock space to setup changes on the cars.”
A good outing isn’t solely a matter of track position, Foley continues. “Our weekend's success is not just measured by on-track performance, but also by how we connect with the crowds (hopefully we'll be able to do that this year), how we present the weekend and engage with our followers on social media, and how we can capture the weekend for those back at home.”
Still, things do go wrong, and that’s what a highly functional team is prepared for at the track.
“We operate with pretty high redundancy when it comes to tools, equipment, spares and things like that,” Hurczyn explains. “Having every service tool on your truck is a great way to meet your neighbors and make friends,” he chuckles. He adds that the team has never regretted adding capacity to carry and account for tools, service equipment or spares.
And while we’re on the subject of spares, let’s internalize the point made by the entire team: Some old brake pads you took off and threw in a Rubbermaid bin after a weekend that still have some material on them are not "spares," they’re used parts. They may come in handy in a pinch sometime, but you don't want to rely on them as a backup plan. Your backup plan—if you want to succeed—should match your primary plan as closely as possible.
For this reason, FCP Euro tries to keep all of its at-track spares for a race weekend as complete assemblies, or at least as complete as possible. For example, each corner of the suspension is duplicated in the trailer. If something goes wrong with any piece of that subassembly, the entire unit can be quickly swapped out; furthermore, any adjustable settings within that subassembly can be preset to the desired levels, streamlining the replacement process.
Obviously, not all club racers have the luxury of transporting complete suspension corners or driveline subassemblies, but the takeaway message here is to be realistic about your backup plan. If you’re fixing broken parts at the race track with nearly broken parts from the bottom of a bin, you’re not doing your effort any favors.
Also, switching out subassemblies is typically easier and more effective than switching out individual parts, especially if those parts are being replaced due to physical damage. Whenever possible, couple replaceable parts with other parts they mate with so they can be installed with the fewest connections.
Finally, the team stresses that the best plan is one that’s constantly assessed: Its handbook is a living document that’s reviewed after every weekend.
FCP Euro also spends plenty of time reviewing what other race efforts are doing, looking for ideas that may find their way into the handbook. The team figures that the more battles it can win during the planning phase, the more effort it can put toward winning races.
I just got around to reading all of this and watching the video - really great content!
It's cool to see just how much work goes into these teams, which I think many of us understand that there's tons of prep work, but the redundancy was a cool bit to see, having all of those complete spares etc.
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