PR Friend Press Releases

On the 17th of April John George took 16 JAG employees on the PalmerSport Day at Bedford Autodrome in Northamptonshire. The day comprised of a full briefing, followed by colleagues and co-workers racing each other in a series of seven different high-performance vehicles.

John managed to win the Palmer Jaguar JP1, Porsche 911 JP3 and Caterham 7 Sprint races; making him the overall winner of the day. To his dismay, Andy Whitaker beat John over the line in the Renault Clio Cup session; despite John’s previous racing experience in the Clio Cup.

One highlight of the day included Business Manager Hayley Luxton being “blue-flagged” (a warning given to drivers to move away from the racing line when they are about to be overtaken). Hayley complied with the warning at first and pulled her car over, before changing her mind and re-entering the racing line, pushing Group Operations Manager Scott Fulfitt into a “brake here” sign in the process.

Despite his little accident, Scott had a good time, finishing in 7th overall for the day. He said: “The day was excellent and a huge amount of thought was put into it, from signing in, the food, travel… it was good to see that everyone, including people who were not that sure about driving too fast had a good day. It was great to meet everyone in such a great atmosphere.”

The event was made possible by Orange, who also sent five of their own staff to the event to mingle with JAG’s employees and compete against them in the racing. JAG’s ongoing Preferred Partner status with the network comes as a result of the company connecting so many users to Orange; the PalmerSport Day was a further incentive, and a thank-you from the network to JAG.

JAG invited five of its branch staff to the event, for selling high volumes of various different Orange products. Although the incentive was open to all JAG branch staff, it was only Branch Managers who made the mark. Andy Macey, Manager of JAG’s Shirley branch, Lee McBride (Manager, Gosport) Steve Turner (Manager, Falmouth) and Maxine Ryl (Manager, Belper) all attended the racing day.

Maxine said: “It was a very competitive day and we all had a great time. Working for JAG is like being part of one big team, and the Palmer Day really showed that.”

Andy Whitaker, JAG Group Manager who has raced rally cars competitively in the past said: “This wasn’t the first time I’ve been on one of these days, but whenever I get the chance to go, I go. It’s so well organised, the cars are well-kept and the instructors are brilliant. It’s a fantastic place.”

Area Manager Joanne Whyman said: “It was an incredible experience. I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to race seven different super cars in one day. We had professional racing drivers in the cars with us showing us how to do it all and they really pushed us to the limit. I liked the Land Rover bit best –it was more skill than speed.”

John George, the most experienced racer present on the day said: “It’s terrific to share my hobby with my friends and colleagues –the day was good for teambuilding and getting to know some JAG staff a bit better. Everyone got into the spirit of the day and I’m delighted by how much they all enjoyed it.”

The Palmer Day was another example of the wide range of perks and incentives available to JAG’s employees across the board, from Sales Executives to Senior Management.

Branch Manager of JAG’s Falmouth branch, Steve Turner said: “I’ve known most of these people for years, but it was great to get to know some of the new staff JAG has taken on, in such a relaxed and enjoyable environment. It was the day of a lifetime.”

ENDS

You are invited to this very special event that will have smart owners & enthusiasts in attendance. The event is the 2008 Cannonball Run/One Lap of America which will have the 2008 smart fortwo project car as one of the featured vehicles.

This is one of 11 events that will be held at locations across the USA between May 3rd and May 10th. The events are looking to be very exciting with celebrity guests, nearly 100 very fast cars and it looks like some of the events will have smart USA representatives talking about the soon to be released aftermarket parts and accessories for the smart. By attending you will defiantly get the inside scoop on some of the up and coming parts for the smart and get a chance to see many of them in action on the smart project car.

Some added fun to this year’s event is that there are several broadcasting companies that are working at filming the events so while we can’t guarantee you will get on camera you will defiantly be able to say you where there when it all happened.

There will be smart owners and enthusiasts attending from various smart websites on the Internet as these events are open to all of the smart community and since we are busy preparing for the event, if you could please help out the smart community by post about this event in your local forum or blog and please invite your friends out to the track as lets do what we can to make these 11 events ones people talk about for years to come.

With nearly 100 of the world most exotic and fastest vehicles you can also expect to see Vipers, Porches, BMWs, Le Mans styles race cars and maybe even the a Ferrari or two but of course you’re coming out to see and to cheer on the smart.

Website for the 2008 smart fortwo Project Cars Entry:

http://www.451s.com/oloa

Complete list of Dates & Locations of the Events

Saturday May 3 in South Bend, Indiana

Saturday May 3 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin

Sunday May 4 in Pacific Junction, Iowa

Monday May 5 in Bryan, Texas

Monday May 5 in Sealy, Texas

Tuesday May 6 in Belle Rose, Louisiana

Wednesday May 7 in Kershaw, South Carolina

Wednesday May 7 in Greer, South Carolina

Thursday May 8 in Alton, Virginia

Friday May 9 in Wampum, Pennsylvania

Saturday May 10 in South Bend, Indiana

May 3, 2008, the Tire Rack, 2008 One Lap of America will be at Tire Rack Testing Center and from 9:00am to 11:30am there will be nearly 100 vehicles racing on the track. Come out to Tire Rack Testing Center and watch the One Lap of America, formally known as the Cannonball Run.

There are the common racing events like NASCAR, F1 and WRC but one of the more notoriously famous races the Cannonball Run is something most never witness. That is now changing as the Cannonball Run has transformed into the One Lap of America and now does all its racing on official race tracks around the United States. While there is still nearly 4,000 miles of driving that happens between tracks the drivers are given enough time to get from track to track with the average speed of 51.8mph, but doesn’t leave much room for gas stops and any sightseeing along the way.

The 2008 One Lap of America will mark the 25th anniversary of this event and on May 3, 2008 the One Lap of America will be at Tire Rack Testing Center. If you are nearby Tire Rack Testing Center this is the perfect chance to come out and watch nearly 100 cars race the track and meet some of the amazing participants. One of the vehicles that will be at the track is the 2008 smart fortwo project car named forfiveone. The smart team has a website http://www.451s.com/oloa where you can find out more about this 2008 smart car. Stephen Noton the driver of the smart said “when people ask why enter a smart I tell them we are not out to win, we are out to show that the smart is not only an economical car to drive it also has some performance and style”.

Tire Rack Testing Center will start its One Lap of America event at 9:00am on May 3, 2008 and generally the gates open 30 minutes before the start of the event. Tire Rack Testing Center is located at 7101 Vorden Pkwy, South Bend, IN 46628 and their official website is http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testingProgram.jsp. Some more information is found here http://www.451s.com/May3TireRackTestingCenter and http://www.onelapofamerica.com. The event at Tire Rack Testing Center will end at 11:30am, come early as the faster vehicles run first as to give them enough time to reach the next track event which is at Road America.

The Tire Rack 2008, One Lap of America (formerly named Cannonball Run), will celebrate its 25th anniversary race around the United States and Stephen Noton along with his 451 smart fortwo will be a part of this historic race.

The smart has only been on sale for a couple months in the USA and Canada but it has already sparked some amazing interest from all types of car enthusiasts. While most people see the smart as an economical form of transportation Stephen Noton is showing that a smart can also be a very cool and fun car to drive.

Stephen Noton says “The smart is like a Ferrari, it is a 2 seater, rear wheel drive, rear mounted engine European exotic and it even beats the Ferrari in one performance metric, MPG”. That is very true and with some vehicles in the One Lap of America averaging less then 10mpg the smart at 41mpg might even have an advantage during the 4,000 mile event.

Stephen Noton along with his co-driver, Tony Abou-Assaleh, will be driving the 451 smart fortwo nicknamed “forfiveone” which has been modified with racing springs, wider tires and some nice interior enhancements. The car has its own website at http://www.forfiveone.com which is hosted on the 451 smart fortwo Owners & Enthusiasts website http://www.451s.com and for now http://www.451s.com/oloa is the dedicated page established for the smart participation in the One Lap of America.

Will the smart catch on in the racing world? Well if history repeats itself as it has with owners of vehicles like the Mini Cooper, VW Beetle, and the Miata, it might not be long before we see smarts showing up at local Solo I and Solo II events. The smarts entry into the racing world will be made easier if smart Canada or smart USA brings in the smart that is sold in Europe which has some impressive performance specifications such as 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 170 all from its 999cc 3 cylinder engine (those numbers are in km).

If you would like to see the One Lap of America or the forfiveone first hand you are welcome to attend anyone of the official race tracks which are posted on the One Lap of America website at http://www.onelapofamerica.com. Entrance to most tracks is free and you will even be able to access the staging/pit areas to get up close and personal with the nearly 100 exotic vehicles and their drivers.