Career in motorsport: Discuss!

[Guy Croft]

I get letters from folk who want to have a 'career in motorsport'.

I'd like to open the floor to members on this interesting topic here.

Over to you.

GC

[Nobby]

Everytime I watch a race on tv, everytime I see a photo of the latest track special Porsche 911, everytime I hear the bark of a engine splutter into life in a pitlane, everytime I smell burning brakes and clutches I get a thrilling sensation.
Then I remember what it felt like when I was 15 and didn't know what to do with my life. Why did I never pursue a career in motorsport!

I'm still fairly young (31) and living in the Thames Valley gives me an ideal opportunity do something about it. Heck, I'd even volunteer my time for free if it meant the chance to work on something special in the future. Its the reason why I read this forum more than I should - just don't tell my boss.

I really don't have an excuse. The truth is I still don't know exactly what I want and I doubt I will ever know.

Enough about me. These are the things I would consider if you were thinking about a career in motorsport.
- Why do you want to work in motorsport?
- How do you envisage working on motorsport? i.e What do you think its like? Speak to someone who knows.
- Would you be looking to specialise in anything?
- Do you have any practical qualifications?
- Do you have any experience?
- Its a cold rainy day in Hull, a driver isn't happy with you, you've done your best and so has the team. Still enjoying it?
- Motorsport is vast and competitive. Its not all F1, sipping Dom Perignon in Monaco. You need to be realistic and set yourself some goals.

Good luck

[cos]

What a subject!
Just to add to the previous reply: Motorsport is a big specialist field! You have Marketing, design, testing, data-logging, data analysis, track support, then you have sub fields like engine, gearbox, chassis, aero, suspension, tyres, braking and one can go on and on.
I would advise that one narrows down the area you will enjoy working and what one feels is good at.
Is there a race or rally team near where you live? track them down and ask if you can help. Don't sit there dreaming. Go for it. If you offer your free time at weekends and you show you are enthousiastic and keen, they may give you a chance. You will learn the basics and you'll see if this is what you want to do. In most cases you may start from the bottom, and i mean the bottom, like cleaning the car ot the spare wheels, or making tea! i know a guy who become an F1 technical manager, and his first job in motorsport was as a cook! and a track driver! If one is hoping to get a job in i.e. design or data loging, you will need good qualifications in engineering or computing. I know i'm stating the obvious here but you wont get a looking unless you got over that hurdle first. There are some so called "motorsport" engineering courses, but beware and seek advise before enrolling.

[1NRO]

Other than individuals who encompass a wide spectrum of services to the motorsport/tuning world it strikes me that employee's can easily get put in their slot and not get to absorb as much as they might wish. At least thats what I know of people who work at M-sport near me. Other than the carpark and their room of work they see little.
One fella I know travels the world doing what to me sounds like a dream job, he is quite scathing when I romanticize his daily grind.

Nik

[PersonaGrata]

Great as a hobby. Keeps the grey matter ticking along nicely.

Would I want to ruin that by doing it professionally? Having to depend on it to feed my family?

Ooooh. dunnno.

Tempting though isn't it?

[cos]

don't get locked into thinking that all jobs in motorsports require traveling though. Threre are a lots of jobs, ie design, Engine / gearbox / chassis building, done at base, no need to travel, but long hours are usually the norm.
I've been doing design work for over 12 years now, i only travel for testing purposes or to cover for an engineer who is on holiday. Every morning i wake up and can't wait to go to work. I won't change it for anything else!

[Guy Croft]

Who is actively recruiting in the UK the race engine field?

What experience or qualifications are they looking for?

What kind of roles are they offering?

I did a modest survey of the number of UK race engine firms some years ago and could only come up with about 50 (excluding F1), not many, there used to be hundreds. How long will motorsport last?

Does motorsport represent a good career for a bright young chap straight out of, say, university? Many UK faculties now offer motorsport but as far as I know there isn't anyone with a course dedicated to race engine prep in all its many forms. I ma of the view that motorsport is viewed as something rather glamorous, it's used constantly in advertising but few who 'crow' about it actually know much about it (as a whole). It's called an industry and much is made of 'motorsport valley' (eg: by the MIA). Is it an industry and is the 'dominance' of the Northampton area fair to the rest of the sector?

G

[cos]

On the engine side of the industry, i would say that very few places are available for new recruits. Due to a serious lack of manufacturer involvement in the sport, many big names have shrunk or went under. If it wasn't for it's recent F1 involvement Cosworth for instance would have gone. The motorsport relies heavily on manufacturers making a commitment on the sport. And then - just like that - pull out. Also i've noticed that whereas a few years ago you had a greater number of car makers, now they seem to be absorbed and owned by the bigger names like the Ford or the Audi group. So you can't have mr Volvo wanting to go racing, because mr Ford has decided to spend all it's money on Rallying and nothing else, can you see the picture that's emerging here in the manufacturing world?

In short, motorsport is more risky as job security goes nowdays, but you learn to live with it.

[WhizzMan]

Keep in mind that the motorsports outfits usually have a good pick of people wanting to work for them. They can afford to only hire the best and if they don't perform, get other people to replace them. If you want to get experience so you might qualify to work for them professionally, make sure you have relevant experience on your resume. If you want to be a race car mechanic, that means grinding in the rain and night voluntarily for your local rally driver that is willing to take you on to his crew. If you want to be a computer or design engineer, do your school projects on cars, get jobs as an intern at motorsports firms or car manufacturers. Go out there, show you are willing to put in the extra that they expect anyone in their team to put in.

Usually, there are no "wanted" ads from the good firms and teams. They get plenty of people applying, so don't assume they aren't hiring or looking, but send a decent letter with a good resume. You'll have to grovel to get in, but once you get a reputation as being good at what you do, you can make a nice career.

[kpsig]

What do you think of a folk, 38 yrs old married with 2 children, who has 6 years (latest) of experience in aeronautic industry (subcontractor), working 2 years in the technical sector (deputy production manager) and then 4 years as a commercial/new business director, who has a good hands on experience in automotive (programming ECU, design/troubleshooting harnesses, power electronics, sound mechanical/hands on experience, test driving, real time data capture and analysis, small participation in cross country races) as a hobby? This folk has also experience in marine/refinery/metal industry field support experience and presales engineering (4 years) and has also worked as a teacher for 3 years in high school (electronics)? Who very recently got his MBA while working?
Could that folk do a jump start in motorsport/automotive industry as a technical or commercial (or other relevant fields) manager?

[WhizzMan]

If that person would be willing to start as a "normal" mechanic on site, or maybe a bit more in a shop (think an F1 team, Lotus development or a similar place), he or she might have a chance. From what I understand, the hours can be killing and if you're on the road, don't expect to see your family a lot. I know someone that builds engines for a pro racing outfit and can do so comfortably in the workshop, 9 to 5 job. However, if there's a deadline, he may have to work 70 hours a week to get enough engines built to spec. He didn't get this job without relevant experience in building engines and proven track record for those engines.

[cos]

just to add to the previous comments ref jobs, that the Autosport magazine, right at the back pages, has appointment pages (only 1-2 pages), and on the odd occasion a race team has adverstised a possition for a junior, with no experiance. Long hours in this bussiness is the norm. In our place we often have to do overnighters to get an engine build for the weekend, and even on the design side of things we had to work till early hours of the morning for similar reasons.

[Guy Croft]

I worked for Brian Hart (Hartpower) in the late 90s. He was the last of the independent F1 engine manufacturers and was remarkable in that he employed folk almost regardless of qualifications and he paid very generously too. I don't think there are any 'Brian Harts' left now.

This means it's pretty tough for anyone (with exp/quals or not) to get into race engine prep unless they start their own firm, and that route can take many, many years to become profitable. If you want to make a lot of money you need to get contract work and that can really fall down if the OE companies stop spending.

Would I myself employ? No, I don't think so - the money's just not there these days and it would take years and years to get anyone up to the skill level I'd need from them while I'm paying them to learn what I tell them they need to know. I'm not interested in anyone with 'prior experience' I want it done 'my way'. And I'm competing with every man and his dog (who know a bit) and invariably people just choose on price these days. It is relatively easy to employ formerly unskilled folk in a firm like Hartpower because one-make engine production is principally just assembly work to drawing, repeated over and over, same way. With a modest element of skill those engines are going to go together. At firms like mine few jobs are the same.


G

[Rich Ellingham]

There appears to be, in my opinion 2 fields of motorsport,
1. Club level
2. Big Money motorsport

Club level is about knowing all areas of car prep but perhaps without a formal education in any part.

The big money is about having a part of a project and doing the work on that part, perhaps FEA or testing.

It appears that the so called motorsport courses are only interested in the Big money approach. I base this on the information of one of my friends whom is undertaking such a course where they do not learn fabrication skill like TIG or MIG welding but teach FEA. I fail to see how you can be in any kind of race car design unless you have been there and actually worked with materials and raced with the product. This is why I think there is a serious gulf between the club racers and the Big Money guys, such that graduate of these courses have little or no applicabiltiy for what must be the majority of motorsport competitors in the club level - although they may only make up a small percentage of total motorsport industry turn over? Who knows maybe the MIA?

Eitherway, there are very different levels in which a 'career' could be embarked upon, but I imagine those graduates are scraping around for very few jobs in the high end and have little valid experience at the club level. I recently met a graduate of motorport engineering, who quite clearly stated their course taught very very little about engine building. If club level engine builders do not train any future builders then we will be left with 'have a go' builders building poor and ripping people off, 'dyno demons' with a print out of BHP and no clue of reliability??

Guy, I dont think the MIA even recognises the club level??

[Guy Croft]

Some good points there Rich. I have no time for the MIA at all, high fees, men in suits. When they phone ME I shall listen with interest to their philosophies.

I wrote this in 2006:

Board of Directors
Motorsport Development UK
Silverstone Innovation Centre
Silverstone Circuit
Northamptonshire
NN12 8GX
16 Aug 06


Dear Sirs

I assume you speak for motorsport as a whole. I have read your website and others linked to it incl Motorsport Academy most intensively and I must say, I am at a loss to understand what you are really doing.
To be honest I - and all the people I know in clubman/National level motorsport - are deeply cynical about your various organisations so I have finally decided to make some points to you:


1

You refer to the disparate firms who make up the so-called ‘backbone of the UK tax-earning motorsport industry’ as a ‘cluster’. This is government techno jargon at its worst. It implies cohesion, some kind of brotherhood. There is no cohesion outside of F1. Analogy: the government referring to the ‘National Herd’ during the Foot and Mouth crisis, as if it were some publicly owned National Treasure. Your ‘cluster’ doesn’t exist, except on paper. So, on paper - am I on your list? I doubt it, perhaps because I cannot afford the ridiculous fees to join the MIA. I note with interest that ‘Motorsport Valley’ stretches as far as E Anglia but does not include Lincolnshire, which is, after all, E Mids. What ‘right’ do you have to draw those lines? Whatever you’re all doing, presumably the rest of the UK is excluded straightaway - including the whole of NI and the whole of Scotland. Is this right or fair?

2

You talk about retaining, developing, fostering enhancing etc UK motorsport. I see this bandied around a lot. Well, I have been in business in race engines for about 15 years, I have a degree in automotive engineering, I worked as an F1 engine builder with Brian Hart 97/98, and I was a Chief Engineer with Napier for 4 years. I have the credentials. I’ve seen and felt the devastating impact of government economics on the business and my friends. Motorsport does not exist to be a means of encouraging schoolchildren and students to do anything. However laudable this make look on paper and to the I MechE, at the level I work, motorsport certainly isn’t a kind of ‘starter-placement to encourage otherwise uninterested persons to go off and do something else (better-paid?) later on. It takes decades to become proficient at racing engines.

I’ll tell you the reality of being involved in my side of ‘motorsport’, and I don’t speak only for myself here:
- You get no help that you don’t pay for.
- You struggle to make ends meet every day. The sales are random, completely.
- Exports are almost zero because of the high £ vs every other currency.
- Your firm is under-staffed, under-constituted, undercapitalised and you work 14 hour days because it’s all you got and if it goes down you’re expertise vanishes.
- You don’t have the spare time or money to go to shows like Autosport & PRI and because you’re throughput is based on modification of client property you have little to exhibit anyway.
- You watch F1, WRC and Touring cars getting all the press all the time.
- You feel you have a right to part of the thing, you’re not really, because no-one visits you, encourages you, rings you, supports you, writes about you, does anything to make you part of the thing. So really, you’re a statistic (if you’re lucky), completely ‘out on a limb’, something vaguely used to make a point, no more than that.

3

Fact: Most graduates who study ‘motorsport’ will not be offered jobs in that industry.

Fact: Being in motorsport does NOT look good on a CV.

Fact: More people work outside of F1 than directly inside it.

Fact: Most firms who work outside top-level WRC, F1, and Touring Cars or who have not been going for 25 years or more are lucky if they can make ends meet far less make a decent living.

Fact: Most people get into motorsport because they are enthusiasts and most suffer acute hardship and stress and by the time they realise they’ve had enough it’s too late to do anything about it.

Fact: No-one can teach race engine design and development except guys like me and few have the will/academic or teaching expertise to do it and I don’t know anyone who would do it as a training scheme’ at their own expense.

Fact: In most of the discussions I see ‘motorsport’ referred to and then only the ‘cars’. Engines - unless for F1/Touring Cars or WRC is a ‘dirty word’.

Fact: Poor standards pervade the lower end of the business and are slowly destroying it and public confidence in it.

Fact: No-one has addressed the critical issue of eg: race engine industry standards regulation and as to ‘who’ or ‘who may not’ call themselves ‘an accredited race engine builder’. The same is true of car preparation.


I have read a huge amount in what you all say about ‘what needs to be done’ but I do not see anything useful in anyone’s mission statement or objective lists other than ‘advice’. That’s not good enough.

If I had a fraction of the funds available to all you I would start my own Motorsport academy and teach the race engine skills myself, before my particular skills are lost, which – because it is a generational thing - they will be in 10 years time - or sooner, along with the ‘precious’ skills of almost the entire aftermarket race engine preparation business.


Yours faithfully,

From memory I think the reply was along the lines of 'we're sorry you feel that way...'


During that year I was in discussion with the FER (Federation of Engine Remanufacturers) and my detailed proposal for creation of a Race Engine Division with membership rules etc was approved by the Board and got all the way to Technical Committee. I wasted a lot of time on this. It fell down (and this is so annoying and boring I can barely bother to mention it) because one particularly influential (outspoken) member said it was 'elitist'.

If any university in any country wants to talk to me about creating a 'race engine' course I shall be pleased to hear from them. I drew up a blueprint for that very thing many years ago for Greenwich University for a faculty in the Medway area and - surprise - they 'bottled' it. I shall expect the Chinese Embassy to follow this up quickly, half their nation seems to be over here getting PhDs and exporting the technology back to their country; they do seem to be keen to get the useful things in life that no-one here does.

Since the engine is 1/3 of the overall vehicle package I don't for the life of me understand how a college can teach 'motorsport' without offering the same level of precedence to the powerpack.

GC