Career path(s) into motorsport engineering?

[robin_cox]

Hi all,

One for the hivemind on behalf of my daughter. She's nearly 15 and at the stage in school where they're looking towards the future education / career pathways. Geographically we are based in central Scotland near to Dundee. She is passionately interested in cars in general and motorsport in particular. Here's where it gets a little complicated. Recent experience of talking to careers staff at school they seem to be geared towards directing everyone towards University, which she doesn't want as she doesn't find that she learns much in taught lessons and gets much more out of hands-on 'doing', being very visual in the way she processes things. She's the only girl in the engineering class, and finds that probably the most stimulating course she does because it is largely based in a workshop-style classroom where they do get their hands dirty rather than something more dry / lecture style - the teacher is also brilliant and seems to have found a way that works for her as well as the rest of the class. She is also a natural at karting that has become apparent since we started going at Easter, since when she is delivering lap times in the same bracket as the kids who've been doing it since they were 9, and if she could head into any career she would love to be doing spannering in an F1 team - but obviously you can't just parachute into that without some serious prior experience and presumably something more formal such as apprenticeships coupled possibly to something vocational through a college course because clearly some baseline qualification is needed. I come from a fairly typical 1980s school / 1990s University / 2000s postgraduate / career background as a scientist and don't have a clue about where one would start if you aren't geared up for the academic sector.

Any thoughts would be massively appreciated.

All the best, Robin.

[DeskJockey]

Could this be a starting point?

https://motorsport.nda.ac.uk/news/motor ... rtunities/

Or Google Motorsports apprenticeships. There are many pages to trawl through.

[Gavster]

What about those hybrid degree apprenticeships that people do these days?

[Matty]

Re: University, check how much of a requirement that is in the field. Not many career paths require it, and unless you do, you'll be far better off with the experience.

What about those hybrid degree apprenticeships that people do these days?

That would probably be the ideal:
https://motorsport.nda.ac.uk/news/motor ... rtunities/

Problem is, apprenticeships seem incredibly rare these days. My nephew was incredibly fortunate to get a place on an Engineering apprenticeship but the applications were massive. 300+ applications, and only 2 places!

[TonyTorque]

Marshalling could be a great way in once she's old enough. Clubs always need volunteers and Knockhill isn't far from you, so she'd get into the paddock and meet people who actually work in the sport. Karting is another good route, she'd learn loads just from working on the karts. For the hands-on side a motor vehicle apprenticeship is a solid base and plenty of motorsport technicians started in a normal garage. Some teams and suppliers run their own apprenticeships too, so it's worth keeping an eye on who takes people on.

[Nefarious]

There were a few guys that passed through Strong Broo who went on to do bigger things in motorsport. The common factor is lots of voluteering and lots of pushy pushy. A couple of stories, in case useful:

Ryan is currently No.2 Mechanic at Oracle Red Bull. He did a apprenticeship with VW but never qualified because of Covid. He worked in random garages for a couple of year, and then volunteered with us for 2 seasons. He used the time in the team to meet lots of people and shake lots of hands. The fact that he was good and really enthusiastic really helped. Eventually he got a role with an F2 team. His Mrs was doing PR stuff and got a role at Silverstone. They moved down to near Silverstone and just ate, slept and breathed motorsport. After knocking on enough doors and not taking no for an answer, he landed a mechanic job in F1. Moral: Be good, don't take no for an answer, do lots of free shit until someone notices you.

Cameron was an ex-soldier and most recently was Composites Manager for Aston Martin F1. He worked with Strong Broo for just over a year, before going of to Durham to get a mechanical engineering degree. He found the academic stuff a bit sull and dropped out within a year, and worked doing fibreglass work for Eco trailers, using the facilities to also run a side hustle doing custom carbon firbe stuff, and also driving and spannering for an endurance karting team. He broke into motorsport proper by literally turning up at Ginetta's door Friday after Friday (a 3 hour each way drive for him) and saying "giz a job". They eventually relented and gave him a shot. Within a month he was Head of Composites for their LMP1 team. He was *really* good (and had superhuman levels of endurance), and ended up getting head hunted repeatedly across hypercar and sports prototype teams. Moral: Be good, don't take no for an answer, work three times as hard as everyone else until someone notices you.

Ultimately the way in is to get picked up by a team big enough that the place you *really* want to go is aware of their activities (e.g. F2 or LMP for F1 guys). And sad though it is to say, that team will only want to exploit you - either through free work or paying peanuts for you to work 18 hour days. But that's the price to pay. What they *want* (at paddock, rather than office level) is can-do competence and commitment. The guy or gal who gets the spot is the one who's there a 6am waiting for the rest of the team to unlock the pit garage and without lots of supervision will just go and change the engine, rebuild the calipers, etc. A safe pair of hands.

[IanF]

Apprenticeships in a particular field that’s used by motorsport may enable connections. Eg, my son did an apprenticeship at Cisco, £35-40k pa with a degree at the end and lots of connections. He’d done a couple of years on the Met Police before, so was put on the Blue Light team, updating the back ended of emergency services call centres and management, and used his practical knowledge to help improve what they offered… this got him an award at work as recognition of his hard work and him going the extra mile. He also worked as a BA Ambassador - doing promotional stuff, and is currently in Florida doing his fully paid for pilot training… so, as others have said, look at fields connected to the area you want your daughter to work in, eg Cisco does plenty with F1 teams, be interesting, don’t just do the work assigned but assist any way you can. Apprenticeships at a big car manufacturer or in an area that all F1 teams use will all offer the best opportunities for her to get the skills that they want…