How a gap in the market led one champion driver to start software business ‘Racing Connected’

Shared by MIA Member, Racing Connected.

How a gap in the market led one champion driver to start software business ‘Racing Connected’  

Linked with both Mclaren GT and Aston Martin Racing, Andrew Watson has competed at the highest level of Sportscar racing. 

With podiums in the World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge and the Bathurst 12 hours, it’s fair to say that the 2023 British Touring Car Rookie Champion has got plenty of experience both on and off the track. 

It was this expert knowledge that led him to spotting a gap in the industry – for a dedicated supply chain software solution to cater for the £6bn global motorsport industry’s specific needs.  

At the time, Watson’s day job was in the food industry at Foods Connected, a business that designs software solutions for the sector. He realised that all the pain points he’d seen in Motorsport could be solved using a similar product. 

He says, “I saw that we could partner with Foods Connected, leveraging their learnings from the ultra-streamlined food industry to drive efficiency across motorsport.” And so, the work began to build Racing Connected - a cloud-based, centralised platform for motorsport supply chain management.  

The aim was to manage all the different aspects of the industry from supplier and product management, procurement, and quality, to sales, forecasting and event planning. “We targeted issues such as part delays, shortages, quality issues, plus the masses of complex and ever-growing spreadsheets and the raft of separate management systems,” explains Watson.  

With the industry’s forecasted growth of nearly 10% before 2030, he knew that the problems would only get bigger if not remedied. So, he started gathering his experiences - across different teams and championships - and began looking at what was currently available in the market for both the manufacturers, constructors and teams. It was clear the ideal tools weren't available. There was nothing purely focused on the unique complexities of the motorsport industry. This made the use of Excels, emails, multiple different systems and manual processes all very common. 

“I spoke with team managers on one side and manufacturers on the other, and there was a general feeling that things could be vastly improved with better tools, processes and integrations. Lead times, part shortages, quality issues, manual admin and a lack of traceability were all big discussion points. I knew I wanted to turn their frustrations into innovations. ”.” 

Another key factor was the inherent fast pace of the industry. With updates frequent and changes guaranteed , across hectic race schedules, having the appropriate flexible digital solutions was even more vital. Especially when critical reliability and safety-related changes needed to be managed. Watson was able to draw clear parallels with the food industry and knew Racing Connected would be game-changing. 

“The competitive landscape for big businesses involved in motorsport, the value of the parts and the importance of managing everything effectively, all clearly pointed to the fact that this was a great opportunity to go after. Working alongside Foods Connected allows us to build upon the streamlined and stringent management processes which were already embedded in that industry, tailoring them to our own Motorsport solution. Off-the-shelf cross-industry solutions claim to do everything for every industry, which in my experience is impossible.” 

From all the conversations he had, one theme stood out - that managing trading, planning and quality both up and down the chain was time and admin intensive for the manufacturers, their suppliers and customers - sometimes leading to rather urgent responses. 

“I remember so many of the teams I was driving with had to fly parts out in suitcases at the last minute, because we needed them for the weekend, or people would have to get in a van and drive overnight to Europe. Of course, there are unforeseen circumstances where teams had to do this, but it was so common across the paddock. This also adds to the overall freight costs for the teams.” 

Spreadsheets are used in every business, but Motorsport seemed particularly reliant on them to manage sometimes critical tasks. While they were great at certain things, spreadsheets weren't well placed to deliver the automation and visibility required in such a fast-moving industry. 

“I felt like a lot of the effort and focus was on the performance of the cars on track, which isn't exactly surprising. However, the knock-on effect was that supply-chain efficiencies and automated management processes and systems, like in the food industry, were an afterthought. This meant that there was a lot of outdated systems, which often didn’t link together. Big business software such as ERP and MRP platforms are massively complex, and you often need a degree to be able to use them. We wanted to deliver a product that works for the industry and integrates with all these other systems efficiently if required.” 

Founded in 2021, today, Racing Connected’s cloud-based platform counts two of the largest sportscar constructors in the industry as customers. “It’s been such a great journey so far with our development partners,” says Watson. “And we’ve only just scratched the surface. Delivering tangible efficiencies for these legendary companies is so satisfying. Our solutions cater for organisers, manufacturers and big global race teams, with a focus on driving automated management and insights from the data with a user-friendly experience.” 

The development, support and data analytics teams at Racing Connected are continually striving to create the best solutions for the Motorsport industry. Not only does the platform automate and streamline processes, but it can also collect a wide range of data, which can be turned into bespoke dashboards. 

Overall, Racing Connected offers a unique current state review and future-state planning process that ensures the ideal software solution and way of working for each individual business. It’s a business that continues to grow, and, as Watson puts it, “the potential for the platform is simply massive.”


For further information on Racing Connected, you can visit their website or LinkedIn.