F1 Mechanic

Hi Steve and Reece

How are things going?

To cut a very long story short - been chatting to a friend of mine tonight who incidentally is good friends with someone who works in Formula Ford. I have asked if they wouldn't mind asking on your behalf for some advice on getting work experience at Oulton Park (dont know if I've spelt that right).

The guy concerned works for the Comtec team that Francesco Weiler drives for. http://www.britishfo....uk/drivers.htm

So if you pop me your contact details by pm I can pass them on to the guy concerned, it might come to nothing but I thought nothing ventured nothing gained so to speak.

Chiara x

Hi.

Sorry I have not been keeping up with this thread but I hope what I can contribute maybe useful.

I used to work in Formula One a few years ago for (a then) leading team. My advice would be this:

If anyone wants to get into motorsport, don't do a motorsport degree. There are a number of places that do degrees in motorsport, Cranfield, UWE Bristol to name a few. Anyway my reasoning is two-fold.

Firstly, you narrow your options down greatly. If you can't get a job in the motorsport industry then you leave yourself short for when you apply for a different job. There are basic aspects of engineering that will not be covered in enough depth on these courses and many of the students become far too narrow minded.

Secondly you appear overly enthusiastic to some employees. You have to remember that getting a job with a top motorsport team is very difficult, they will have a large number of applicants. Now if you go into an interview and say, "Oh I love motorsport, everything I do is dedicated to motorsport, etc..." then they may not look at that in a preferable light. I knew one guy who worked with us, very good engineer, but he only lasted a few months because he was "star gazing" all the time. He wanted to go to all the tests and races just so he could be there. Teams want well rounded individuals who have other interests because people who are "fans" very rarely make good employees. I remember being asked in my interview if I wanted F1. Now what they want is someone who says "yeah I watch most of the races but if the other half wants to go shopping then I have no choice", they don't want "I watch every practice session and every event, I go and watch the test at Silverstone" that will put people off.

So what would I recommend?

Yes get experience or working in a motorsport environment, if is a unique and very rewarding environment and something that you will never forget.

With regard to qualifications, do a degree in mechanical engineering and try and tailor that towards motorsport, ie do a final year project that looks at motorsport gear-box construction. That would impress a potential employee.

Anyway I hope everything works out well.

Good luck!

Chiara - PM sent
ry1808 - Good advice and something that will be looked at seriously. As mentioned before Reece is 13 (sorry nearly 14 lol) and whilst interested in motorsports, cars etc isnt the type of person who will die if he doesnt see a race. He has always shown an interest in working within the industry and we are now at the point of being able to do something about that, Mechanical Engineering is the probable route and the advice regarding final year project is good, hopefully we can get Reece setup with some experience now. I think like you say is to treat it like a job and not get carried away with the people around you being stars but fellow employees.
Thank you everyone for your help,
Steve and Reece.

As an example go to the Honda Racing website -> Team -> Key People -> Ron Meadows and look at his career history.
Send him a letter to find out what he recommends - he was race team manager at Honda for years and is a nice bloke, I'm sure he'd answer you.

Originally posted by k1ngy
Hi,
Not sure if this is the right place to be however -
My son has always wanted to be an F1 mechanic. Now obviously i understand it is not the kind of job you step off the street into unless your dads Ron Dennis or something but he is about to choose his GCSE subjects and i was wondering what would be his main ones - He is looking at Resistant Materials and Business studies (In case he wants to open his own garage, his desision) Now what options is he looking at moving forward? does anyone know?
Thanks,
Steve.

Originally posted by Bloggsworth
I believe the De Havilland campus of the University of Hertfordshire runs a degree course specifically tailored towards motor racing engineering - I'm sure it's not the only one.

It's the college lane campus in Hatfield. There is a BEng Automotive Engineering with Motorsport or BSc Motorsport Technology.

There is also a scheme called Formula Student that he could get involved with if he goes through University that seems to give good hands on experience and access to good contacts for people wanting to work in the industry.

Hello all,
Well on Saturday we took the long drive oop noorth to Croft circuit for the F3 and Formula Ford fixtures.
It was a good day and got to see alot of the action, we also got to speak with a couple of people in the pits.
We spoke to one in the F3 pits i forget the team. Unfortunately he didnt have much time. We then went over to the Comtec team from Formulaford and the young lad was really nice and said that he and another guy from another team had come from the National Motorsport College he then pointed out Guy who was working in the JTR team and is involved in the college. We then went over and had a good talk with him and he advised Reece to get a placement with a team at least a year before he finishes school and to then get an application into the college.
It was a very positive day and Reece enjoyed himself which matters alot.
I have said that i will try and approach local teams to see if they will take him on for the experience of being around a team but as he is only 14 in June there may be some issues (employment laws?) He would wash wheels etc for free any ideas?
Thanks for all your help