One of my earliest memories as a child was joining my Grandparents on a Car rally around Sydney organised by my uncle. We were in a FJ Holden and I was certain we were going to win.
From the Opera House to Manly, Sydney University and finally finishing somewhere North of the harbour bridge. My Pop was a competitive practical person, he worked on the clues as my Nan drove.
They were great at making me feel that I was a major contributor to every checkpoint challenge which would have been great for my confidence had we not come in dead last.
THE BRIEF
Fast forward 30 years and I now run my own Amazing Race Style Urban adventure team building company. We were contacted by Holden and asked to come up with an Amazing Race – Car Rally that would showcase the new Holden Colorado. My brother had a Colorado on order so was majorly “fanboying”.
THE EVENT: AMAZING RACE CAR RALLY
We understood they had held an internal competition asking for team applications from all areas of the Holden business. We came up with the concept to showcase the Colorado Ute by placing checkpoints along the great ocean road on an Amazing Race to Lorne.
THE SET UP
We had done a similar event for a large Wine company the year before so were familiar with the route. What we had to work out was the best way to showcase the various aspects of the Holden Colorado and we wanted to have fun with it.
Our biggest obstacle was safety, most of our Amazing races work with time as the main driver. Although our games are never solely based speed, it does play a part. In this instance, for safety reasons we needed to take speed and time out of the equation when designing the Race.
We decided to make the race about Kilometers travelled. Various Holden bonuses along the way would win teams valuable kilometer deductions and our main checkpoints would earn teams Kilometer deductions based on the level of skill and teamwork they displayed during the checkpoint challenge.
HOW TO WIN
We would take an odometer reading at the start and the end of the race and it was the team that completed the race with the least number of kilometres considering their chosen route and all deductions earnt along the way that would win.
UTE TRAY TETRIS
To showcase the Tray (Boot Capacity) we designed a checkpoint where teams would drive up to a pile of Random objects; Boxes, blow up toys, buckets, hoses, paint tins planks of wood.
They would then have 5 minutes to play tray Tetris and try to fit as many items as they could into the Tray. Each item was allocated a point value based on size and shape and the teams that score the highest overall points would win kilometres of their total distance.
COUNTRY TIME TRIAL
To showcase the handling of the car we had teams find a countryside property and set up an advanced driving/obstacle course. This was the only time that “time came into play” but there were no road rules here.
A designated driver had to manoeuvre their Colorado through a series of poles, cones and bridges. Penalised for touches and mistakes. Once the course was complete teams had to stop the clock by throwing a series of balls into matching coloured buckets. Teams with the best times at this checkpoint won the kilometre deduction.
BELLS BEACH TRIVIA
To showcase the specs for the Holden vehicle we set up a trivia challenge on Bells beach. Teams had to make their way through a minefield of trivia cones to answer as many Colorado and Holden based questions as they could in 10 minutes. The teams with the highest scores won Kilometer deductions.
CARPOOL KARAOKE
To showcase the Amazing Sound System and the Apple Play feature built into the car. We set teams the creative challenge to shoot a video of their team singing their choice of song. In the style of ‘Car Pool Karaoke’ this was to be used in their internal social media channels and as a way of breaking up one of the longer legs of the drive.
WHAT A DAY!
It was all in all an Amazing Day. Holden were a spectacular company to work with and we had some very grateful participants. The success of this event lead to Holden cementing their relationship with Great Race by asking us to run their annual induction day activity for their 70-100 new staff members. An Amazing race around Melbourne in Holden Cars.
They felt they wanted to showcase the passion and innovation that makes Holden the brand it is but also to expose their commitment to building relationships and making work a fun place to be. As the Masters of fun, we are proud and committed to make that happen!
WANNA RACE?
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