Engineering Within Motorsport

gamerTM21

gamerTM21

gamerTM21

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25 Jan 2008
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West Midlands
Hi guys

I've just finished up my 3rd year of my Mechanical Engineering degree, and I should be doing 1 more year of a Masters. I was just wondering if there are any engineers around here within Formula One or any other type of motorsport to give me some advice and guidance on how to get into the automotive/motorsport industry, as it is my dream sector to go into after Uni!

Thanks for all the replies I get :)
 
You might get lucky, your best bet is to send off your CV and get your name to the teams. a lot of the engineering they do is contract work and you wont be up the standard required for a good 5-10 years depending what route you go down. Try for example getting into Mclaren Automotive dont just focus on the teams themselves once your foot is in the door you can pop in a request to join the racing division, same applies for the other big teams.

Be warned though they really want that pound of flesh from you and the hrs can get pretty bad for permanent staff at times with no reward apart from prestige. Wasnt so bad for me when contracting though, i just kept putting the invoices in.
 
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I have a few friends in various F1 positions, and I think typically in this industry there is a lot of knowing the right people to get your foot in the door.

Throughout uni I had wanted to go in to motorsport as a career, but after doing so much Formula Student and seeing other people go in to it, I realised it wasn't for me and I went in to work in a consultancy instead, ironically working for McLaren Automotive for a few years.

You need something about you that makes you stand out, doing things like Formula Student or other motorsport related activities, extra curricular stuff that shows you aren't just a 9-5 person. The money isn't amazing, and the hours are rather silly sometimes, so you need to be prepared to sacrifice a lot of personal time. If you're that kind of person, then you'll enjoy it.

Teams will get CVs all the time, if the CV doesn't have any applicable experience and just a degree on paper, then it'll probably be filed in the bin.

Most F1 team people don't even get to go to the races (team size dependant of course).

Think about what kind of job you want to do too, as there's a lot of disciplines that you could be in - aero, engine, electrical, transmission, vehicle dynamics, tyres, logistics, tea boy. Try not to go in just looking for a job in F1 for the sake of it.
 
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