Ask a LMP and GT mechanic/engineer anything

[mikewilliams79]

andybracing said:

ah ive been found out, as to the bumpers welll alot, was a pleasure working with you

Is your caps button broken?

[andybracing]

tyre smoke, yes and yes

[The Wookie]

andybracing said:

ah ive been found out, as to the bumpers welll alot, was a pleasure working with you

You too mate

Hope you’re well and all ok

[andybracing]

unfortunatly not so well, i wont say to much on an open forum, but lets just say lifr is very different nowdays

[The Wookie]

Sorry to hear that mate, will drop you a line elsewhere

[foggy]

When fitting up a race car what’s the balance between how many and what sorts of things are tightened by feel and how much is torqued up to spec? Is everything threadlocked/lock wired for good measure?

And does it go out the window a bit under pressure e.g. damage repair during a race?

[andybracing]

foggy, yes everything is built with lockwire etc, but in the heat of the moment, mid race etc, somethings get left out, due to speed etc, sometimes its worth the risk

[Total loss]

Do you know of any LMP, GT etc. mechanics jobs (I am one) going at the moment? I do already look at probably all the motorsport job sites.

[andybracing]

plenty of work out there if you know where to look, ive always been in the fortunate place that people have contacted me not the other way round, sorry if thats not much help

[n3il123]

Always curious about what mechanics and engineers do both between races and seasons. On something like a gt3 I assume there are only so many upgrades and setup changes that can be made.

With the BGT WEC etc only having 7/8 rounds that leaves a lot of downtime to polish the knobs so to speak!

[Ahonen]

n3il123 said:

Always curious about what mechanics and engineers do both between races and seasons. On something like a gt3 I assume there are only so many upgrades and setup changes that can be made.

With the BGT WEC etc only having 7/8 rounds that leaves a lot of downtime to polish the knobs so to speak!

Most freelancers tend to make their calendars fit around 2-3 championships and many teams do several series, so you might be doing 15-20 races in a season in total once the clashes are taken into account. If you work exclusively in SRO championships, where there are no clashes at all, you could be doing GT World Challenge, Intercontinental, British GT and maybe some of the GT Masters in Germany (not SRO but is a top GT3 series). With testing starting in February and the last races in mid-December you'd be surprised at just how little downtime there is in modern race seasons.

The 2020 GT3 was mental. Several friends of mine did 11 consecutive race weekends through September/October/November, with a couple of 24 Hour races thrown in for good measure. Some engineers even raced at Zandvoort GT World Challenge and the Nurburgring 24 Hours on the same weekend...

Mind you the guys who do WEC exclusively have a very easy life!

[andybracing]

i wouldnt say wec guys have an easy life, ive worked in most championships, and i would say wec is up there with the hardest, dont forget that the races are long and that means pretty much total rebuilds inbetween

[Ahonen]

andybracing said:

i wouldnt say wec guys have an easy life, ive worked in most championships, and i would say wec is up there with the hardest, dont forget that the races are long and that means pretty much total rebuilds inbetween

Yeah I was giving you a gentle ribbing! Mind you a season of VLN and World Challenge with the same chassis is pretty hardcore - two 24s and the shortest races are three hours long.

[andybracing]

never done vln, but heard good things

[richomk6]

Were you working in the GTS/GT1 era (2001-2009) and if so favourite car and biggest difference between those cars and todays GTE/GT3 machines??

I love those early 2000s GT1 cars-thats what got me into sportscar racing in the first place.

[andybracing]

yes i was lucky enough to work in those days, vipers always to me were one of the best, they did things they shouldnt have been able to