Motorsport degree/BTEC... is it worth doing....

[cps13]

Sory if this is the wrong forum, just thought the people reading these threads might have some involvment in the industry...

I am looking into doing a BTEC, then a degree in Motorsport Engineering and I was wondering if anybody had experience of the motorsport industry who could offer some advice.

I am not blind stupid and expect that once I have learnt all of the theory I will walk into a job in MotoGP or F1. And I will be looking for unpaid work experience with performance/tuning companies and motorsport/aerospace companies during my studies. Once I have done this I will expect to start at the bottom and earn next to nothing sweeping the garage floors and polishing bumpers.

So,

What I am after is any advice from people who have done this route, was it worthwhile or did people just want people who had experience over qualifications?

Do prospective employers just looking at the qualification as worthless and I would have as much chance as joining the industry if I didn't have it?

Any help is appreciated.

[Simon Mason]

Its well worth doing if you know no one in a team who can give you work to build your experience. I would'nt employ anyone off the street as it were, without seeing them in action first and that makes getting a motorsport job a bit catch 22.

With a motorsport qualification it shows you wanted to be there and tried to open the door. The rest is frankly more down to you than the qualification itself, although for F1 and some other frankly limited engineering roles a degree is required regardless.

[dpbird90]

I didn't realise there was a specialised Motorsport degree. I always thought race teams looked for Mechanical Engineering? Only problem with Mechanical Engineering is its a little bit too generic i.e. you'd work on everything from cars to jet engines, which could be seen as a bonus, but I suppose the Motorsport degree could be seen as an advantage as you're more focussed.

Like you say though, best thing to do is to go out there and offer to work for free to get that vital experience. Even if its making the tea to begin with, as long as you learn from the experience it'll be worth it.

I'm currently doing an Engineering course at uni, love it but without the relevant experience I'm not going anywhere.

Good luck!

[cps13]

dpbird90 said:

I didn't realise there was a specialised Motorsport degree. I always thought race teams looked for Mechanical Engineering?

Thats my main concern, the entry requirements are much lower for Motorsport Engineering than Mechanical Engineering which suggest to me it may be a little bit pony.

Only one real way to find out...

Thanks for your advice guys.

Edited by cps13 on Friday 6th November 13:07

[Ranger 6]

Does the college/uni you're looking at get involved in formula student or similar? what's the motorsport heritage of their course?

Dig into their success stories and go for the best place.

[BigBob]

Look at Swansea Metropolitan Uni - the place has a world-wide reputation in motorsport/motor engineering degree courses.

I personally know of quite a few people in the last few years that have gone on to careers in motorsport after qualifying there. Some are in F1 teams, some work for F1 with Bridgestone and some in WRC - obviously a lot more are working in what are considered the 'lower' formalae.

If you want anymore general info pm me - I live in Swansea and my youngest son has just started his final year of a motorsport management degree.


BB

[dpbird90]

cps13 said:

dpbird90 said:

I didn't realise there was a specialised Motorsport degree. I always thought race teams looked for Mechanical Engineering?

Thats my main concern, the entry requirements are much lower for Motorsport Engineering than Mechanical Engineering which suggest to me it may be a little bit pony.

Only one real way to find out...

Thanks for your advice guys.

Edited by cps13 on Friday 6th November 13:07

Hmm, take a look at Aberdeen's Mechanical Engineering course. Long way to go I know but its worth it. And they give us free laptops.

[marine boy]

BigBob said:

Look at Swansea Metropolitan Uni - the place has a world-wide reputation in motorsport/motor engineering degree courses.
BB

I would say Cranfield and Oxford Brookes have a better world-wide reputation of the UK Universities and my comment is not intended to rubbish Swansea Uni's reputation in any way, it's just I have never heard of them.

Over the years I have given design/engineering motorsport work placements to quite a few students like you that were keen to get into motorsport. The main personal qualities I looked for was how keen they were, how well I thought they would fit in, did I think they had the right work ethic and how quickly I thought they could contribute.

There wasn't any Formula student back in my university days and I have to say having seen the quality of some of the cars built last year, it made me scared for my job. Have a look at past results of competitions to see which are the more successful and better funded universities. With the lack of UK further education funding you may find you will be better off going to Graz or one of the better German places.

Feel free to email if you want.

[Jon C]

Tresham College do a btec in Motorsport based at Silverstone, which seems highly thought of (certainly by ofsted!). Entry is very competitive though.

[Scuffers]

Jon C said:

Tresham College do a btec in Motorsport based at Silverstone, which seems highly thought of (certainly by ofsted!). Entry is very competitive though.

that's more a reflection on Ofsted's incompetence I would suggest....

[Chris944_S2]

dpbird90 said:

I didn't realise there was a specialised Motorsport degree. I always thought race teams looked for Mechanical Engineering? Only problem with Mechanical Engineering is its a little bit too generic i.e. you'd work on everything from cars to jet engines, which could be seen as a bonus, but I suppose the Motorsport degree could be seen as an advantage as you're more focussed.

I'd stick with mechanical engineering rather than narrow things down to something very accurate like motorsport engineering.
All motorsport companies recruit a large number of mechanical engineers. As long as you have a sound knowledge of engineering principles, the more detailed knowledge required in a specific field (be it motorsport or any other engineering discipline) will be taught to you on the job rather than at college or university.
If you go for a very specific degree however it limits yourself more to that field, and you may risk to get a bit stuck if a few years down the line you find that working in motorsport isn't really for you or what you expected it to be.

Best thing to do in my opinion is stick to something generic (mechanical, electrical, etc...) to avoid limiting your options but pick something as your final year project that focus's on motorsport to show future employers that this is your interest and the field you want to work in.

[dpbird90]

Chris944_S2 said:

dpbird90 said:

I didn't realise there was a specialised Motorsport degree. I always thought race teams looked for Mechanical Engineering? Only problem with Mechanical Engineering is its a little bit too generic i.e. you'd work on everything from cars to jet engines, which could be seen as a bonus, but I suppose the Motorsport degree could be seen as an advantage as you're more focussed.

I'd stick with mechanical engineering rather than narrow things down to something very accurate like motorsport engineering.
All motorsport companies recruit a large number of mechanical engineers. As long as you have a sound knowledge of engineering principles, the more detailed knowledge required in a specific field (be it motorsport or any other engineering discipline) will be taught to you on the job rather than at college or university.
If you go for a very specific degree however it limits yourself more to that field, and you may risk to get a bit stuck if a few years down the line you find that working in motorsport isn't really for you or what you expected it to be.

Best thing to do in my opinion is stick to something generic (mechanical, electrical, etc...) to avoid limiting your options but pick something as your final year project that focus's on motorsport to show future employers that this is your interest and the field you want to work in.

That's a very good point actually. Even better if the uni has a formula student team then its a very good idea to join it.

[olimeads]

Jon C said:

Tresham College do a btec in Motorsport based at Silverstone, which seems highly thought of (certainly by ofsted!). Entry is very competitive though.

I just want to say thanks for posting that, i applied and had a interview on Thursday. Just been on the phone to them and have been offered a place for September. Without you i would still be stuck going nowhere fast.

Oli

[scoby87]

Was just about to offer my input until I realised it was an old topic. Glad to see you've found somewhere to study. I'm in my first year at the afore mentioned Swansea Metropolitan Uni, doing a degree in Motorsport Engineering and Design. So far I'm loving it!

[Jon C]

olimeads said:

I just want to say thanks for posting that, i applied and had a interview on Thursday. Just been on the phone to them and have been offered a place for September. Without you i would still be stuck going nowhere fast.

Oli

Nice one! If they ever drag you to the Kettering campus, give me a shout.

Edited by Jon C on Saturday 6th March 19:19

[olimeads]

will do

[nick13]

I'm wanting to go down this route, really wanting to get into motorsport as its my passion and I'm looking for a new challenge in life, my worry is tho, I'm 25 and a qualified electrical engineer biassed towards industrial maintenance in Poole so it would be a complete turn around in my career.

having a quick look Oxford is my closest uni but I'll be honest I know nothing about universities and the structures of a course.

What would anybody who has done a similar turn around suggest I do?

[nick13]

I'm wanting to go down this route, really wanting to get into motorsport as its my passion and I'm looking for a new challenge in life, my worry is tho, I'm 25 and a qualified electrical engineer biassed towards industrial maintenance in Poole so it would be a complete turn around in my career.

having a quick look Oxford is my closest uni but I'll be honest I know nothing about universities and the structures of a course.

What would anybody who has done a similar turn around suggest I do?

[wicz]

Interesting thread looking forward to following the rest.

I'm currently studying Motorsport Engineering MEng at UWE Bristol having got A levels in Maths, Physics and Chemistry.

In our case The Motorsport Engineering degree is nt any less than the mechanical engineering course, in fact many of ur modules are the same, with a couple differing where we focus on applying what we have leant to more Motorsport based areas.
For example for one module we were designing a double wishbone suspension system whist the mech eng students were using the same design tools to design some sort of valve.

My initial concern was that Motorsport engineering may be narrowing down options and sounds like a watered down degree, which in some cases may be true, I think it depends where you go. But having just finished my second year I can see that the Mech eng and the Motorsport eng degrees are on par in terms of content. After thinking hard I decided to go the Motorsport engineering route as Motorsport really is where i want to be!

My main concern now isn't that my certificate will say motorsport engineering, but the fact it will say UWE! :P

[wicz]

cps13 said:

Thats my main concern, the entry requirements are much lower for Motorsport Engineering than Mechanical Engineering which suggest to me it may be a little bit pony.

Only one real way to find out...

Thanks for your advice guys.

Edited by cps13 on Friday 6th November 13:07

I would look into this more if you can.
Sometimes the entry requirements are based not on the quality of the course, but the popularity of the course. If the course is usually very popular and get more applicants than it has spaces for, it can set its entry requirements very high and skim the best students off the top.