With over 140 state of the art dealerships across the UK, Sytner Group represents some of the world’s most prestigious car brands. NAEC Stoneleigh hosted the Sytner Elite Technician Challenge, sponsored by Shell Helix Oil and Pirelli, for the first time in March 2018 and is delighted that Sytner have just confirmed that the Challenge will return to the venue in 2019.

The event was launched in 2017 to recognise and celebrate the best of Sytner Group’s Technicians. With a move to NAEC this year, over 300 technicians entering the competition from 10 brands including Audi, BMW, Bentley, Porsche, Ferrari, Volkswagen, Jaguar, Land Rover, MINI and Mercedes-Benz. The final stage, hosted at NAEC Stoneleigh, saw 30 finalists competing to be named one of Sytner’s elite technicians.

The competition took place in NAEC’s recently refurbished 4000m2 Hall 3 with 30 cars on display and 160 people in attendance from across the Sytner Group. Hospitality and catering was provided by NAEC’s catering team in the adjacent Park Restaurant and undercover complimentary VIP car parking was provided in the adjoining Blackdowns hall.

The final challenge saw competitors complete a further theoretical test before taking part in a practical test where they must find and identify diagnostic failures on a vehicle and then record a personal video presentation of their findings. At the end of the highly competitive day, one Technician from each brand was named as an ‘Elite Technician’ and won a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Detroit Grand Prix.

Commenting on Sytner’s first experience of NAEC Stoneleigh, Francesca Summers HR Project Manager at Sytner said “The combination of great hall space, catering and restaurant facilities and car parking all under one roof coupled with the central location with easy access for our attendees made the decision to move the event to NAEC Stoneleigh an easy one. The venue was great, but more importantly the support we received from NAEC Event Manager Rachel Stollard and NAEC Catering Managers Jackie Brown and Clare Shamkh was fantastic – looking forward to 2019.”

Chris Hartley, MD of NAEC Stoneleigh, said “Working with Sytner enabled us to showcase some of our newer facilities that underwent nearly £1 million of refurbishment in 2016. As a venue we are probably better known for our agricultural event heritage, however the Sytner Technician Challenge showcases well our ability to offer venue facilities and support to the corporate event community”

Adam Parry
Author: Adam Parry

Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.