Off and Racing at Sachs Masters 2008

Sachs Masters Australia is an Auto-Tech Skills Competition, which is constructed in a way to replicate real life, day-to-day situations in a workshop. Competitors - comprising a team of three technicians - have to repair a car within 2.5 hours. The team must work together against the clock, discuss and brainstorm, agree on solutions, share tools, use available spare parts and observe work safety.

ZF - one of the world's leading suppliers to car manufacturers commercial vehicles, agricultural, construction & mining equipment, marine vessels, special purpose vehicles and a wide variety of industrial machinery - created this new platform, a competitive one, to identify and reward the most skills technicians team in the "independent" workshops. BMW was a supporting partner in this endeavor and the competition itself was being held in the BMW Training Centre, and it was soon agreed that the competition should be made open to all "independent" as well as "authorized" service centres.

This platform is to encourage better skills development and to showcase excellent talented professionals in the industry as a shining example for others to follow.

What's SACHS Masters about?

World Skills has been successfully organizing the skills competitions for many skills categories including automotive, and whilst its competitions are partly government funded and focuses on apprentices, Sachs Masters, alternatively, is completely funded by the industry and is strictly organized for practicing technicians in the industry.

The Sachs Masters is a unique opportunity for experienced Automotive Technicians to use their skills in a competitive environment. 24 teams from across Australia will compete in a three day event, where they will be required to service, diagnose and repair various aspects of various late model vehicles in a limited time frame of 2.5 hours.

The competition finals were held from 24th- 26th July 2008 at BMW's National Training Centre in Mulgrave, Melbourne. During the competition, industry leaders and trade associations gave training and presentations, which were open to competitors and trade spectators.

In order to showcase the best talent, the SACHS Masters is only open to teams of 3 competitors who are fully qualified, each with at least 1 year post-apprenticeship experience in the trade. Minimum age for this competition is 22 years. After registration, teams aree required to complete an online assessment to prove their skills & qualifications.

Grant Petch - as we see in the video - is a Sachs Masters Judge, and he says that Sachs Masters is for the "best of the best..we are not highlighting independent mechanics or authorised mechanics...we're here for automotive excellence." Grant feels that Sachs Masters is doing a good job in creating a support network and filter of knowledge down to independent mechanics. Grant also says that Australian mechanics are amongst the best in the world - Aussies do well in international competitions and any qualified mechanic should have no trouble finding work overseas.