Google Podcasts
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Amazon Alexa
iHeartRadio
Podcast Addict
Podchaser
Deezer
Listen Notes
StitcherFormer Rally Technician John McLean talks us through the highs and lows of his role in the closest ever finish to the World Rally Championship.
Petter Solberg and John McLean (pic. J McLean)
In 2003, Norwegian Petter Solberg and Welshman Phil Mills won the driver & co-driver World Rally Championship titles in their Subaru Impreza. They beat Sébastien Loeb by 1 single point, in a fight that went down to the last day of the last rally.
John was Petter’s No.1 technician that year in the Subaru World Rally Team. He was responsible for the day to day preparation and on-event servicing of their car throughout the year.
I first worked with John nearly 30 years ago and we’ve been great friends since. We’ve been in the same team several times over the years, and one thing’s for sure, you won’t find anyone more passionate about the sport of rallying than John. That comes through loud and clear in our chat.
He takes us on a fascinating behind the scenes look at that amazing year, including an incredible story of how disaster struck on the eve of Rally Corsica, when Solberg crashed heavily on the pre-event shakedown.
We also hear stage by stage, how his team of technicians were able to replace a gearbox in 12 minutes.
As we have learnt throughout this series, irrespective of your role, the same advice for success in all of life’s challenges keeps shining through. John talks about his attention to detail, total self-belief, having a don’t give up attitude and being committed, determined and passionate.
Enjoy the show.
Learning and action points
There was plenty of learning in there, so let me quickly recap it with some suggested actions for you: –
- 16 mins 20 secs – Forward planning and attention to detail are vital if you want to be a world leader at anything. You’ve got to do things a little bit better than your competition. Continually ask yourself – “How can you I do this better?”
- 35 mins 20 secs – Don’t give up, even if all the odds are against you. Dig a bit deeper and push on…
- 36 mins 54 secs – Have total self-belief, you can do it if you want to.
- 42 mins 09 secs – Be committed, determined and passionate.
- 42 mins 40 secs – Create a bond within your team, get everyone on the same wavelength and focus on the fact that you’re doing it to win.
- 44 mins 20 secs – Aim to love every minute of it.
- 49 mins 28 secs – Don’t react by going into the red and panicking. Instead keep it in the green, pause, think clearly and respond calmly.
- 51 mins 45 secs – Use the difficult times and experiences to make you stronger.
- 1hr 06 mins 40 secs – Bond with your team in a genuine way.
- 1hr 07 mins 28 secs – It’s very important to embrace your team to earn respect.
If you found this show helpful, make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss any future episodes.
If you could take just 60 seconds or so to write a review, that would be much appreciated. That will help me to reach out to even more people. Liking and sharing the details on social media is also a great help.
For show notes check out my blog at https://www.stagebystage.com/blog
If you’d like to get in touch, our email is info@stagebystage.com
That’s it for now, thanks very much for listening, until the next time, take care.