NEWS
OUTSTANDING CAPRICORN SUCCESS FORMULA SAE MOVES TO CALDER CONTINUES Australasia’s largest automotive cooperative, PARK FOR 2023 Capricorn, has reported another year of The competition will be held across December 14-17
Formula SAE-A will move closer to Melbourne for the 2023 event and will be held at Calder Park, which is being transformed under the direction of circuit manager, Rowan Harman. The first phase of the regeneration has occurred with a better surface on the main track, new seating, signage, painting, and new undercover areas, with more upgrades to come. Formula SAE says the facility has been developed to the standard required by Motorsports Australia (nee CAMS) and that the management of Calder Park has shown itself to be very open to making improvements both short term for this year’s FSAE, as well as in the long term, which it says is very encouraging for the event.
Conveniently located on the outskirts of Melbourne, Calder Park is a quick trip of less than 20 kilometres or half an hour from Tullamarine airport and just 30 kilometres from the CBD. Calder Park’s closeness to both the airport and the city of Melbourne make it much more user friendly for teams. Local teams can easily access their facilities and even those teams from out of town are able to more easily source parts and equipment. Calder Park has been in existence since 1962 with the main circuit retaining a very similar shape to the current one. The national circuit is 2.280 kilometres long with a shorter club circuit that is ideal for FSAE. For more information about volunteering, contact isaac.j.baldry@gmail.com or call 0475 517 244. For more information about Formula SAE, visit www.saea.com.au or email formulasae@saea.com.au or call 0403 267 166. 10
Australian Automotive Aftermarket Magazine November 2023
outstanding business growth and success
Capricorn says it returned $82.8 million in value to its 26,000 plus Members across Australia and New Zealand during the 2023 financial year. This included the distribution of more than $50.1 million in Capricorn Rewards Points earned by Members from purchases of almost $3.4 billion from Capricorn Preferred Suppliers. Capricorn states this extraordinary sales result represented an increase of 16 percent compared to the Member purchases made in 2022. A trade rebate of $17 million was paid to Members in the form of Capricorn Bonus Rewards Points for trade account purchases made throughout the year. Member shareholders also shared in Capricorn’s 2023 financial year profit by receiving a seven percent dividend payment which was fully franked in Australia and partially franked in New Zealand. The total Member distributions paid from Capricorn sales generated in 2023 represents the highest ever return that Capricorn has provided to its Members in the company’s almost five decades of highly successful co-operative structured automotive aftermarket based operations. Along with the significant growth in automotive parts and business essentials product sales through Capricorn trade accounts during the past twelve months, Capricorn Mutual Limited wrote $121.9 million in gross written protection. In addition to this, Capricorn Insurance Services wrote $20.6 million in gross written protection. Capricorn says these results testify to the competitiveness, efficiencies and customer service that Capricorn Members are accessing by using their own specifically tailored risk protection and financial services options. The year also saw the announcement of an exciting
Capricorn Chief Executive Officer - Risk, Rod Scanlon
Capricorn Chief Executive Officer - Automotive, Bradley Gannon
new Capricorn joint venture with leading global automotive tech company Repairify. This joint venture enables Capricorn to provide world class remote automotive diagnostics and ADAS calibration capabilities to Australian and New Zealand automotive repairers, service centres and collision repairers. The Capricorn executive management team, led by Group Chief Executive Officer David Fraser, has diversified with the inclusion of a Chief Technology Officer, Mary Karborani, Chief Experience Officer Jacky Mills, Chief People and Culture Officer Kerryn Gavin and Chief Innovation Officer Kim Radalj. These roles are working alongside the Chief Executive Officer of Automotive, Bradley Gannon, and Chief Executive Officer of Risk, Rod Scanlon, in leading Capricorn to continue delivering the best possible results for its Members. Capricorn will be spreading these messages of success and more to its Members across Australia and New Zealand at its annual Gala Dinner and Tradeshow events being held through to the end of the year. “2023 was a truly outstanding year of growth for Capricorn and all of our Members. We have managed to generate significant business growth both for our Members and for our highly valued Preferred Suppliers,” Capricorn Group Chief Executive Officer, David Fraser, said. “As an organisation that is committed to the longterm success of our Members, we also continued to grow our business support, financial and risk protection offerings over the past 12 months. This is an ongoing process of constant development across all of our operations.” Capricorn states that more than 26,000 Capricorn Member automotive repair, sales and service businesses across Australia and New Zealand continue to benefit from being part of what it describes as “the region’s strongest performing co-operative structured organisation.” To find out more about becoming a Capricorn Member, visit www.capricorn.coop/join
