A degree in Motorsport Technology.....

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.....useful, or not?

Been really getting into motorsport recently and have been wanting to go to uni for a long while (I'm 25 now). My current job is eating my soul and I am thinking perhaps it's time for a change.

I'm wondering if this would be a good degree to do. I'm not convinced by it's real world potential in terms of employment prospects, particularly outside of motorsport. My reasoning is more based on I would find it interesting and would most likely complete the degree with a high final mark.

Not a great deal more interests me at the moment, I did have my heart set on engineering but I think my maths is too poor by a long chalk.

For those interested, this is the course I propose undertaking.
 
I thought the Swansea one was supposed to be the best in the UK - this is going back a few years though.

I used to race RC with a few that were on the course. One of them works for Pirelli F1 (he used to work for Bridgestone F1 but got picked up by Pirelli, I think they mostly all did) One of them works for Ford R&D and he told me about 2 years before the Focus RS came out that it wouldn't be 4WD and no one believed me. He used to take a private jet to Germany once a month. One lad came over from Thailand for the course and now works for a Thai racing team (at the time he was 19 and have an EVO7 back home)

If I could stop work and retrain then I wouldn't hesitate, plus Swansea is only down the road from me.
 
I spent a lot of time around the motorsport lot at Oxford Brookes.

Seems like it is very technical, requires hard work and seems very engineering based. I am not sure on the job prospects outside the industry but it seems a challenging course so I don't see why it won't open other avenues.
 
EddScott said:
I thought the Swansea one was supposed to be the best in the UK - this is going back a few years though.

I used to race RC with a few that were on the course. One of them works for Pirelli F1 (he used to work for Bridgestone F1 but got picked up by Pirelli, I think they mostly all did) One of them works for Ford R&D and he told me about 2 years before the Focus RS came out that it wouldn't be 4WD and no one believed me. He used to take a private jet to Germany once a month. One lad came over from Thailand for the course and now works for a Thai racing team (at the time he was 19 and have an EVO7 back home)

If I could stop work and retrain then I wouldn't hesitate, plus Swansea is only down the road from me.
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Thank you for the insight, all sounds very interesting! I'm kinda tied to stafford, at least for the time being, although those ties will be far more flexible by the time I've finished a degree.

Seems to be definitely something worth thinking about though!
 
shoes said:
.....useful, or not?

Been really getting into motorsport recently and have been wanting to go to uni for a long while (I'm 25 now). My current job is eating my soul and I am thinking perhaps it's time for a change.

I'm wondering if this would be a good degree to do. I'm not convinced by it's real world potential in terms of employment prospects, particularly outside of motorsport. My reasoning is more based on I would find it interesting and would most likely complete the degree with a high final mark.

Not a great deal more interests me at the moment, I did have my heart set on engineering but I think my maths is too poor by a long chalk.

For those interested, this is the course I propose undertaking.
Click to expand...
im doing motorsport tech its just like watered down mechanical engineering with motorsport filling the gaps. so I dont see why you cant go for most if not all engineering jobs outside of motorsport, there is a lot of maths just about every module involves maths and there is two hardcore maths modules engineering science being the worst
 
red eye said:
im doing motorsport tech its just like watered down mechanical engineering with motorsport filling the gaps. so I dont see why you cant go for most if not all engineering jobs outside of motorsport, there is a lot of maths just about every module involves maths and there is two hardcore maths modules engineering science being the worst
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You'd struggle getting any decent engineering job with a Bsc in Motorsport tech, like I said, you'd be better off doing an accredited BEng/MEng.
 
red eye said:
im doing motorsport tech its just like watered down mechanical engineering with motorsport filling the gaps. so I dont see why you cant go for most if not all engineering jobs outside of motorsport, there is a lot of maths just about every module involves maths and there is two hardcore maths modules engineering science being the worst
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Agree entirely. When I was at Swansea the course was in it's infancy and overall I wasn't that impressed - but I don't know if it was me or the course that was the problem.

Do not underestimate the maths content - there is a huge amount of mathematics involved and it's not the sort of "practical" sort of mathematics that you might expect.
 
Dunks said:
You'd struggle getting any decent engineering job with a Bsc in Motorsport tech, like I said, you'd be better off doing an accredited BEng/MEng.
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Accreditation is the key, currently my company are recruiting mech grads but they're not interested in people without accredited degrees.
 
Dunks said:
You'd struggle getting any decent engineering job with a Bsc in Motorsport tech, like I said, you'd be better off doing an accredited BEng/MEng.
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What kind of engineering jobs are you talking about? Just out of interest,

Im only on on this course because I have an interest in motorsport and for something to do and put on my cv while im out of work. If I decide to go back for 3rd year I can swap for mechanical eng
 
red eye said:
What kind of engineering jobs are you talking about? Just out of interest,

Im only on on this course because I have an interest in motorsport and for something to do and put on my cv while im out of work. If I decide to go back for 3rd year I can swap for mechanical eng
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Well, I'm currently looking at graduate schemes in the oil and gas sector and the majority (if not all) require a BEng or MEng accredited degree. It's the same for most sectors as well really.

If you look at non-grad jobs, they usually require you to be working towards CEng status if you don't already have it, which requires said accredited degree.
 
do normal mech eng degree at an accredited uni and then in your final year (if you still want to be into motorsport)base your project/research on something motorsporty

they usually share the same fluids/mechanics modules anyway (the maths ones) the difference I've seen is that when they touch on the design/management modules they stay within motorport instead of covering a broader range
 
I agree with others at Motorsport Technology being a crappy version of Mechanical Engineering.

A few VERY important points:
1. Make sure you study a B Eng (or M Eng), not an inferior Bsc due to it being a 'Technology' degree. Firms seeking engineering graduates don't rate the Bsc versions of engineering degrees.
2. Don't even consider some horse **** University like Oxford Brookes. Go somewhere that industry actually gives a toss about!
3. Don't do anything with motorsport in the title. If you want to go into motorsport, do an automotive engineering degree (or aeronautical, they are fairly similar) or a mechanical engineering degree (manufacturing engineering is very similar).

I graduated in Manufacturing Engineering in July and have heard nothing of this 'bad job market' that everyone goes on about :).

I am 23 years old and know people who are engineers from various top Universities.
I also know people who did courses that sound good but at crap Universities and they cannot find work. Funny that.
Everything I have said is from my personal experience and from what I have seen people my age go through.
By all means go to Uni to do a good degree, but these days 'I have a degree' means nothing in itself.
 
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mglover070588 said:
I agree with others at Motorsport Technology being a crappy version of Mechanical Engineering.

A few VERY important points:
1. Make sure you study a B Eng (or M Eng), not an inferior Bsc due to it being a 'Technology' degree. Firms seeking engineering graduates don't rate the Bsc versions of engineering degrees.
2. Don't even consider some horse **** University like Oxford Brookes. Go somewhere that industry actually gives a toss about!
3. Don't do anything with motorsport in the title. If you want to go into motorsport, do an automotive engineering degree (or aeronautical, they are fairly similar) or a mechanical engineering degree (manufacturing engineering is very similar).

I graduated in Manufacturing Engineering in July and have heard nothing of this 'bad job market' that everyone goes on about :).

I am 23 years old and know people who are engineers from various top Universities.
I also know people who did courses that sound good but at crap Universities and they cannot find work. Funny that.
Everything I have said is from my personal experience and from what I have seen people my age go through.
By all means go to Uni to do a good degree, but these days 'I have a degree' means nothing in itself.
Click to expand...

Weve had "uni peeps" on 1 year work release from various Uni's, some are very good,some dont know their **** from their elbows.
 
I personally think Motorsport degrees kind of push you in to a corner a little, however as noted as long as they're giving you a good amount of general mechanical engineering course.

I'd say find a good uni with a Mechanical Engineering degree and a half decent Formula Student team then you're set for both worlds. Gives you 3 or 4 years of motorsport experience and applies your skills well.

There's plenty of companies that wont even look at engineering grads that havn't done Formula Student, or at least they'll almost certainly be looked at.

Being IMechE accredited is what you need, and ideally you want to do an MEng course if you want to become chartered.
 
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