« Our motto is no extraordinary effort.»
Brad Kettler, Technical Director, ADT Champion Audi 
By Kate Shaw
Photos © Davi Babcock

LA SARTHE, France (June 10, 2004) – Perhaps the busiest man at Le Mans this week is the Tech Director of Champion Audi, Brad Kettler. He was here with the team at its first outing in 2001 – which was decided upon after Sebring 2001. “We learned so much in 2001 that really helped us when we returned in 2003,” he explained. “And not only about racing or the car! We learned a lot logistically too. We are extremely fortunate that Mr. Maraj [owner of the Champion Audi dealerships] is committed to our team and willing to invest whatever it takes to be a winner. In 2001 we learned that there was such a limited amount of time between Road Atlanta and Le Mans that we really needed two sets of everything – and that alone was a four month job. And when I say everything, I mean just that: from toilet paper and aspirin, stationery and office supplies, to every nut, bolt, cable and washer used by anybody anywhere on the team.”

ADT Champion Audi is committed to the motto “No Extraordinary Efforts”; that is, every possible contingency must be anticipated and prepared for well in advance. “There are plenty of things that can go wrong in racing that you can’t anticipate,” said Kettler. “We strive to be so prepared for those things we can control that the other things don’t throw us off our stride.” The first thing he had to do, however, was document or have documented every last thing that had ever gone wrong at Champion Audi. “I’m not a nag,” said Kettler, “but I do admit to pushing my people for details.” These glitches include such mundane sounding things as a toner cartridge that did not work properly, an appliance that had the wrong plug, a fitting that didn’t fit, or a delay in getting ordered supplies. “We don’t waste time on things we can’t fix, either,” he continued. “We practice a form of triage on our problems; if something we are working on is not responding quickly enough and threatens to disrupt our schedule, we drop it and move on. At Le Mans, if you fall behind, you will never catch up. Keeping to your planned schedule is key.”

Kettler is the maestro of “plug and play”. Careful drawings are made of the ADT Champion Audi pit to be certain that every piece of equipment will fit exactly into the space allotted for it. Even the Le Mans transporters are specially designed with 3 inches on either side and the special lift gate designed to exactly the right angle for the space provided. Another example of Kettler’s attention to detail is the fitting for the French nitro bottles. “Here in France we have had a constant battle with connectivity and power cords and the like. We’ve worked hard to get everything into a condition of plug and play. For example, the French nitro bottles use a peculiar one-piece fitting that's unique to France. We have designed and had manufactured 12 of these special fittings and we are the only team who can pull right up and hook up and be ready to go.” He shook his head in amusement. “There are so many of these things – frequencies are different, the video system here uses PAL instead of VHS … it’s all on our list and it’s all attended to when we find out what it is and what it needs. It’s a matter of focus. Other teams take ideas from what we do, because they know we are the experts in this field.”

I asked Mr. Kettler if he had any co-pilot in this extensive and exacting endeavor. “Mike Peters works with me,” he answered, “but Mike stays out of Europe. Me, I like the challenge of Europe. Sometimes we get so good at what we do that we give ourselves an extra day!”

Another thing Mr. Kettler is responsible for is the well-being of the people who work at Champion Audi. “I try to give the guys a chance to go home as often as they can, but there’s a lot of stress in this job and I tell them to be on their best behaviour when they get over here. It’s an honour to get here, after all. I find that taking a personal interest in the guys can offset the morale problems that are inevitable when people travel away from home a lot, and I try to be sensitive to those crises that are inevitable in the home lives of the people who work for me. They can have a sick child, a sick wife, their cat could die … there are a lot of reasons that a guy might need to go home, and I try to do everything I can to accommodate them. I have a wife and two kids; I know what it’s like.”

The other way Mr. Kettler keeps morale pointed in the right direction is by promoting collegiality. “We all travel together on the road; we rely on each other more because there are fewer distractions to us. Like we’ll turn off the TV and radio and we’ll just sit around and talk. We also keep the same schedule for everyone; we get up and answer roll call together, we have breakfast and go to the track together, we work together and we go home together. It can be very distracting when someone gets off the same page as the rest of us – for example, if I go out on my own and park the van in a different place, and I go home without telling anyone where I put it. Then you have guys ready to leave and they’re milling around looking for their transportation because I forgot to tell anybody where I left it!” Champion Audi people are generally not encouraged to work late either; on occasion, Mr. Kettler admitted, he would approve 2 hours extra overtime, "but I make sure to tell the guy he has to answer roll call just the same as all the rest of us!” And if anyone wants to change roommates or needs his own space for awhile, that also can be arranged. "It’s not like they take a dislike to each other, you understand; it’s just that a guy sometimes will say, “nothing against him, but would you mind if I had a change for awhile?” And I always try to accommodate them if I can.”

Finally I asked him if there were any innovations on the horizon. “Well,” he said, “we are going to get Secret Service type radios for some of us to communicate with one another. And other things are always coming up. We strive every day to eliminate as many hindrances as we can, and I am looking forward to the next thing coming along!”

RFM Sports thanks Brad Kettler for taking so much of his valuable time to update us on the Attention to Detail of ADT Champion Audi.