Introductions, #330 owner here. For those that don’t know – the short version of my Fraser… We threw everything at it, except a sequential. Supercharged Honda K20A (that’s the proper type R engine with 11.5:1 compression). Weighed in with road trim, tools etc at 673 kg with 3/4 tank.Power is 330hp at the wheels, which roughly gets to around 540hp/tonne… yes, it is a handful!
So it was a rather special car as all Fraser’s are, little did I know it would lead to the world’s only software for tracking Vehicle Builds called GlobalWorkshop.
I thought it fitting to take a few minutes out of coding and tell you all about how what you know as the Fraser Pit, is part of a much bigger software platform. The Pit is “account #1” of GlobalWorkshop that is now being rapidly adopted by some of the biggest names in the world. Eagle E-Types, Retropower, MST, Alan Mann Racing, Valley Motorsport – closer to home RaceLab, Dickey Boats and more. We are now a year from official launch and have client #45 paid up … UK, US, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand. We might just be adding an Italian to the
list shortly.
How the heck? What the heck? Well you can mosey on over to www.globalworkshop.com and look at some of the videos on our homepage – I won’t repeat what’s there just to say we’re the only dedicated platform for tracking from concept to component lifing every part on a car, or boat, or plane.
So how did we get from Beach Haven to Le Mans? Well you see when I started my Fraser I was living in Canada, and couldn’t visit the workshop. I thought “well wouldn’t it be great that the factory could keep an online diary of my car…” one thing lead to another, and sure enough out came the Fraser Pit which did exactly that. I then thought “well I wonder if others might be keen?” Not one for doing things by halves, I went straight to a F1/Indy restoration shop in the UK – a series of phone calls, then a month later we had his clients on it. I had none other than Ayrton Sennas Lotus 98T on the platform, and I sat in it!
But it was all a bit too early so I went off to the world of Windows and Doors software from where my career started and spent 8 years there. So let’s fast-forward. Now we’re in 2021, the company I ended up jointly running got acquired, and I’d decided to step down from corporate life. A ring around proved that no-one had brought out a competing system and the old clients said “yes, please, bring it back to life”. In March 2022 my last day of full time work began and my first day of working for myself started.
I’d been introduced to Retropower [www.retropower.co.uk] who make these absolutely mad Restomods, Callum and the team will literally make anything you can dream up making old cars awesome. Their big claim to fame is Gordon Murrays Mk1 Escort Restomod – you can see the entire build history here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSiG7oNXC6w] and see a review here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcqDAv5utAY] . Well Cal started saying things like “you really need to build an inventory system“ after much arm twisting I relented and the slippery slope started getting covered in some good Motul 300V and things started accelerating. Splitting time between development, running contractors and sales I started building up a client roster, RaceLab came on board. Pioneer Aero. Auto Restorations and more locally.
Fast-forward to August `21, and I was due to fly up to GoodWood Revival and start visiting prospects. I had no idea how the trip was going to pan out – I had been put in touch with Eagle GB (yes, the E-Type restomod) and a few other companies so had a couple of meetings
booked, but quite a few spare days… . 3 days before the trip Cal dropped a video on YouTube without me asking, a 19min “how they use it”. It’s fair to say at this point the rest they say is history (well it’s still all been b——y hard work, but that got the ball rolling).
I went to Revival and met a lady who became my UK agent, and toured some of the most amazing workshops. Part way through I looked to see if I could change my return ticket ($5000 later said no). Revival was mind-blowing. I’ve got loads of photos here [https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y9ktRECjJ9fn4zed8] 135’000 people across 3 days!
So I came home slightly buzzing that this might just work. Now of course I had feature requests out the wazoo, a driven sales person, and prospects to impress. Oh did I mention I now had another director ? Heck… this is getting real. The next 12 months was absolute madness.
Coding like my life depended on it, releases, releases and more releases. 3am application fixes. Non-stop work. We kept polishing the website, improving marketing, and building, building, building. More and more I heard the same stories from workshops, “we’ve been looking for something like this for years”.
My (now mate) Cal suggested “maybe we should go to Le Mans Classic” and “while you’re up here, maybe we should finish off with GoodWood Festival of Speed”. Well that took 50 milliseconds of convincing.
This trip, was now much different. 3 weeks out from the trip a handful of meetings, 2 weeks out more meetings, 1 week out “sh_t! We’re juggling workshops..” By the time I was on the plane, we had no free days left. I flew up to the UK, got to Cals place 6pm, ready for the 6am RV drive to Le Mans the next day… Not knowing what to expect.
The short version is, absolutely, unbridled, classic petrolhead heaven. 235’000 people, 4 days, 9000 display cars. Grid after grid after grid of cars going from out from 1920’s Bentley Blowers to 2000’s GT1s. Without the red tape and safety nets of other countries it was ever so slightly chaotic, and absolutely brilliant. Imagine taking a little train around the circuit, then a Panoz GT1 comes past you on it’s way back to the pits. Or hearing the legendary 787B from the end of the Mulsanne straight. Or seeing the worlds largest collection of old Bentleys, or going to sleep at night hearing the grid of cars disappearing down into the forest getting quieter, then coming back up the forest, lap after lap after lap. I’ve got a photo album you can check out here [https://photos.app.goo.gl/areGfMYeXz1omMjH9]
The next 2 weeks we literally visited and spoke to almost everyone in the top end classic and restoration business in the UK. In total across 3 weeks we talked to 30+ companies and visited 22 workshops. It culminated with finishing up at GoodWood Festival of Speed, and this says it all – we got on a bus from the RV Campground to GoodWood House. As people walked past us on the bus we heard “That’s Caroline and Rowan from GlobalWorkshop”.
Holy shit.
So who knows where this will go, from one workshop in NZ, you’ve seen some of your Frasers on it, to this incredible array of Hot Rods, Arrive and Drive, Restomods, Warbrids, and more around the world…
Thanks Fraser’s for giving it the first kick at the can!
Rowan Hick – Founder of Global Workshop
