Hello to all.... I am new to this forum, however not new to this site, or many of the others around. I am currently a mechanical engineering student, and I wish to enter either F1, FIA GT or Le Mans series racing at the bottom level obviously, and maybe some day be an active race engineer. I would like any advice on what I should be doing now, or after graduation with an ME degree, and what steps should be taken to acheive these goals, maybe some in here are already where I want to be, thanks alot for any help.
-Dave.
Motorsports Engineers?
Started by
SennaVsProst
, Apr 07 2001 09:51
3 replies to this topic
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#2
Wedge
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- 41 posts
- Joined: September 00
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Posted 07 April 2001 - 19:06
Welcome Dave,
I'm in the same prediciment as you. One thing that I've heard is that the best thing to do is get some experience somehow. Bit of a catch 22 though. No work without experience and no experience without work. My one suggestion is join an SAE team. Formula SAE is a good place to start becuase you get a good practical hands on application of open seat racing. I know that a couple of guys from our team ended up working with Rousch (spelling?) Racing who are much apart of NASCAR. That's all I can think of right now. Good luck
I'm in the same prediciment as you. One thing that I've heard is that the best thing to do is get some experience somehow. Bit of a catch 22 though. No work without experience and no experience without work. My one suggestion is join an SAE team. Formula SAE is a good place to start becuase you get a good practical hands on application of open seat racing. I know that a couple of guys from our team ended up working with Rousch (spelling?) Racing who are much apart of NASCAR. That's all I can think of right now. Good luck
#3
Top Fuel F1
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- 873 posts
- Joined: August 00
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Posted 07 April 2001 - 19:58
Originally posted by SennaVsProst
Hello to all.... I am new to this forum, however not new to this site, or many of the others around. I am currently a mechanical engineering student, and I wish to enter either F1, FIA GT or Le Mans series racing at the bottom level obviously, and maybe some day be an active race engineer. I would like any advice on what I should be doing now, or after graduation with an ME degree, and what steps should be taken to acheive these goals, maybe some in here are already where I want to be, thanks alot for any help.
-Dave.
My advice would be to see if any of the associated engineering shops (for instance Ilmor) had intern opportunities for university students. If you were in Europe this might have better prospects. The only home grown racing sport in California is Drag Racing, in which you don't seem to be interested. Besides, that would not have a single focal point for engineering on an entire entity.
Rgds;
#4
imaginesix
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- 7,525 posts
- Joined: March 01
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Posted 07 April 2001 - 21:25
I would say that prospective employers will want to be certain that you know entirely what you are getting yourself into.
Work as a mechanic for one season with any team, the higher ranking the better, but that's not crucial. Getting your hands dirty and working the 36 hour shifts is invaluable, even if you want an engineering position.
Another important qualification is race driving experience. Carroll Smith mentions this in the Feb/March Issue of Race tech.
One way of gaining this type of experience is by working for a racing school somewhere. Normally you will be given race driving training and seat time as compensation, and it will allow you to develop your mechanical experience at the same time. Also, because most race schools have a shop right at the track, you will have easy and frequent exposure to teams when they come and test, as they inevitably do.
I did just such a program a few years back, and I've seen it lead several people into the pro-racing circles in all fields.
Of course, getting into formula one will take more time, but this can be your foot in the door at least.
Work as a mechanic for one season with any team, the higher ranking the better, but that's not crucial. Getting your hands dirty and working the 36 hour shifts is invaluable, even if you want an engineering position.
Another important qualification is race driving experience. Carroll Smith mentions this in the Feb/March Issue of Race tech.
One way of gaining this type of experience is by working for a racing school somewhere. Normally you will be given race driving training and seat time as compensation, and it will allow you to develop your mechanical experience at the same time. Also, because most race schools have a shop right at the track, you will have easy and frequent exposure to teams when they come and test, as they inevitably do.
I did just such a program a few years back, and I've seen it lead several people into the pro-racing circles in all fields.
Of course, getting into formula one will take more time, but this can be your foot in the door at least.
