How many miles can you drive in 24 hours straight?  A three driver team managed to travel 2,581 miles in that time-frame during last weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, at an average clip of roughly 108 miles per hour. That includes shifting up to nearly 200 mph on the brief straightaways  and then down-shifting to about 60 mph to negotiate a hairpin turn in the infield chicane.  Oh, and that average includes pit stops, driver changes and multiple cautions throughout the race.

Their synchronized effort earned them a victory piloting the Seventh Generation Racing Corvette (C7.R for short) in the GT LeMans (GTLM) class. It’s my favorite class to watch in this 24 hour race, since these cars are closest to their high-performance street version cousins.  (The Daytona Prototypes – “DP Class” — are a bit sleeker and slightly faster, but they don’t seem as “real” to watch.)  In any event, to win such a race by less than half a second after 24 hours is stunning and it represents Corvette Racing’s first victory in 14 years, after returning to the 24 hour race last year for the first time since 2001.  For those of you who are inspired to learn more, you can dig in deeper at http://www.corvetteracing.com.  For the rest of you, I’ll relate what I witnessed at Daytona to lessons that are applicable for running a high-performance business.

To replicate in business what Corvette Racing accomplished in the C7.R, you’ll need:

• A Superior Product and Service.  Nothing less than “best in class” will do, when it comes to design, engineering and delivering peak performance. 
• Teamwork.  You can’t win the race by yourself. It’s the ability to substitute drivers seamlessly, while providing operational support to the people in the field, that makes the difference.   Everyone has a crucial role to play and they all matter. 
• Perseverance. Rather than quitting in the face of challenges, or simply resting when the going gets tough in the middle of the night, high-performance teams press beyond the fatigue and turn in their best performance. When others falter, they accelerate. 

The lessons from the racetrack ultimately result in better and safer cars for all of us, just as customers benefit from the work of dedicated employees who pursue excellence in all they do.

Enjoy the (High-Speed) Journey!