22 AFTERMARKET OCTOBER 2023 TOP TECHNICIAN AND TOP GARAGE 2023 www.toptechnicianonline.co.uk TOP TECHNICIAN SEMIFINAL 2023 All the excitement from the competition’s semi-final, which took place in early September After an indifferent summer, the sun was shining on the Delphi Academy in Warwickshire, just in time for the Top Technician semi-final for 2023. After nine months, the hundreds of techs who entered the first online round had gradually been whittled down to 10. As always, they were split into two tranches, with five of them addressing a range of onvehicle faults and challenges, and another five assailing those same conundrums in the afternoon. As the sun rose, Project CoOrdinator Ian Gillgrass and his team of judges awaited this year’s cohort. The judges for the 2023 semi-final included regular judge Glenn Cutter Wilf Goodman from Technical Topics, previous TT winner and current Pico superstar Steve Smith and Delphi’s own David Guilfoyle. The morning’s contestants included James Leach from JL Performance, Bryan Swales of Bryan Swales Auto Repairs, Andrew Ruellan, of Ruellan’ s Garage and Murdo McLeod of Ace tuning. All of those in this group has been in at least one semi-final before. Andrew Ruellan said: “It’s been a while since I was last here- in 2019. The tasks are not that difficult, it is the different atmosphere. I was working yesterday and I was thinking “these tasks are probably harder than what will be in the semi-final. Bryan Swales noted: “It’s good to rub shoulders with the elite of the motor trade. You are always worried about what level you are at. You are worried if you are doing the right training, if you are doing the cars right. If you are here though, you must be doing something right.” Murdo Mcleod went on to say: “It is probably my fourth time in the semifinal.” John Fountain added: “Sometimes I feel like I will give it up, but I know that I won’t.” The tasks this year included a wide range of challenges. There was a Ford Fiesta lacking power, with vibrations and an intermittent warning lamp. The judge here was Steve Smith. Then there was a Volkswagen Golf with a window fault, with David Guilfoyle overseeing. Staying on the VW side, an ID3 which would not drive or charge was under the watchful eye of Wilf Goodman. The next task was actually a duo, encompassing a window motor fault on a rig and a MOTUL data exercise. Ian Gillgrass was the judge here. Finally, with Glenn Cutter guiding the way, the contestants needed to repair and balance a tyre. Ian said: “We have five tasks, A fault on a Fiesta, a Golf, an electrical fault rig, a data access situation, a ID3 and a puncture. This is a selection including the most complex and the very basic.” Glenn added: “Everyone thinks we will be giving you the hardest tasks, and that it will all be super-techy. It may not be. We expect you to have knowledge of what is going on right across our industry.” Reflections The first task is always the worst. Commenting on how he did after his first one, Murdo laughed: “I’ve had better days.” Andrew added: “That was frustrating. I said to Wilf, ‘didn’t I once lend you the training manual on this?’ He said I did. On this occasion though I couldn’t remember anything about it!” A little while later after the fourth task, James observed: “I enjoyed working on the Fiesta. That was right up my street. I’m certainly less panicked than I was last year.” Commenting on his experiences in the tyre bay, Bryan joshed: “These hands are not made for tyres!” Full Event Partners:
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