Talent Assessment Drives Up Racing Success

Motor racing is a complex, ultra-competitive sport in which every thousandth of a second is measured. Whether it is in the car's mechanism or the driver's actions, any gain can produce a significant difference in the team's ability to win. Find out how talent assessment is being used to nurture young talent.

One of our clients, V1 Logic, specializes in identifying and developing the winning racing drivers of the future. It’s an interesting area and we’ve been working with them for many years.

With the metrics and psychophysiological data gathered from V1 Logic's research including our assessment tools, the team at V1 Logic has been able to ascertain the specific characteristics that make for a successful racing driver. Using this success profile, they now have the capability to benchmark young talent and determine if they have the abilities and competencies needed to compete at the next level. Once identified, the team then works with the young talent and develops best-in-class solutions including on- and off-track driver development systems to embed winning skills and behaviors.

Knowing all this, we were delighted to hear that one such young driver has just won his first championship even before the end of the season. Joshua Vallance had been identified as a talented racer, in part, by completing our assessments and comparing his scores with known successful drivers on the Formula 1 grid. He has been winning on the kart racing circuits since he began racing at the age of nine years and now, at 15, he has become the 2019 Motorsport UK WMKC Junior Rotax champion.

Through his research, Jay Marshall of V1 Logic is able to show that the base skills inherent in talented champions are the same the world over - self-motivation and a driven, enquiring intellect. Josh has both these qualities, which allow him to take on relevant information quickly, develop any upside and drive faster than the competition.

Of course, at Aon, we have long understood the value of understanding people to achieve business objectives and it has been fantastic to see how this scientific, analytical approach can be applied to the world of motorsport to effectively identify and develop future talent.

We congratulate Josh on this great achievement and will follow his future success.

You can read the full case study here.

About the Author

Howard Grosvenor is an experienced HPC-registered Chartered Occupational Psychologist with almost 20 years industry experience designing, implementing and leading talent management and assessment projects for clients large and small. On joining Aon’s Assessment Solutions (formerly cut-e), Howard ran the UK business for 6-years, ensuring projects were delivered to the highest standards of professional practice and putting in place the infrastructure for a skilled, pragmatic and professional consulting team. His current role spans global markets, where he is involved in key large-scale strategic projects, and also maximising client value in the new Aon-integrated business.

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