The 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season marks the 13th year that Team Eurotech and John Guest Limited have competed together in one of the longest-running partnerships in British motor sport.
During the fourth round of the season at
Thruxton,
Crash.net sat down with Mike Jordan and John Guest’s sponsorship manager Carl Gray to look back at what has made the partnership the success it is today...
Crash.net:
The relationship with Eurotech has been going on for 13 years so now, so a good place to start would probably be what attracted you to Mike and the team in the first place?
Carl Gray:
John Guest Limited wanted to start some sponsorship and didn’t know who to sponsor. The company that looks after our fleet cars looked after Mike’s engines in EuroCar so that seemed as good a place as any to start and that is where the relationship began.
The directors wanted to write out a cheque and in the early days, I think that is all they thought they did – write a cheque and get the name on the car. Over a period of time they realised that that was just the start and there was a lot of benefits to be had. As a result, it has grown year on year.
Crash.net:
So it was almost a chance encounter and Mike was in the right place at the right time…
CG:
Yeah, that is exactly it. The thing is, as I’m sure that most people will say, is that sponsorship is a big, big thing now and trying to make it work is becoming harder. A lot of sponsorship is confused with charity as people want money and there is no return. If you say you will sponsor a school fete for example, it is a great thing to do, but doesn’t give much in return outside the local community.
With Mike, from day one, he has said to us 'Right I have the cheque. How am I going to make it work?' Most of the other people you sponsor won’t want to know you until it is twelve months down the line and they want the next cheque.
Crash.net:
For you as a driver, it must have been nice to have a company come up to you and say they wanted to sponsor someone and did you want a cheque writing out.
Mike Jordan:
Yeah it was exactly as Carl said. It was David Power of Power Engineering who did my engines and one day he said 'This company does a lot of horse racing and I think they might be interested in some motor sport sponsorship'. It was just as you said; the right place at the right time. But the fit has been perfect from day one as they are a family run company and I’m sure a lot of teams would have gone in and it would have been a case of over promise and under deliver. I’ve always tried to do the opposite of under promise and over deliver!
