Jobs in Motor Sport Industry
Discussion
Along the same lines as this....sort of...so sorry if i'm hijacking it a bit, but...
I'd really like to get involved in a career of testing cars, but how on earth do i do that!? Numerous searches using various strings such as 'vehicle development jobs' or 'automobile test driver' just turn up the same old stuff that isn't what I'm looking for. If anyone has any ideas on this, that'd be much appreciated.
I'd also be interested in a job in the motor sport industry
Cheers.
I'd really like to get involved in a career of testing cars, but how on earth do i do that!? Numerous searches using various strings such as 'vehicle development jobs' or 'automobile test driver' just turn up the same old stuff that isn't what I'm looking for. If anyone has any ideas on this, that'd be much appreciated.
I'd also be interested in a job in the motor sport industry
Cheers.
1. Find your local circuit, and go along on a race day.
2. Take with you, an informal CV and a covering letter, explaining that you're willing to work for nothing, in order to learn the ropes. Tell 'em you'll make a good brew on a cold race day.
3. Give it to the teams direct, or follow up afterwards.
4. Work like hell, and don't give up.
Good luck.
PS: Go to the Historic Motorsport Show at Stoneleigh this weekend, and politely canvas people.
2. Take with you, an informal CV and a covering letter, explaining that you're willing to work for nothing, in order to learn the ropes. Tell 'em you'll make a good brew on a cold race day.
3. Give it to the teams direct, or follow up afterwards.
4. Work like hell, and don't give up.
Good luck.
PS: Go to the Historic Motorsport Show at Stoneleigh this weekend, and politely canvas people.
plcrtr said:
Along the same lines as this....sort of...so sorry if i'm hijacking it a bit, but...
I'd really like to get involved in a career of testing cars, but how on earth do i do that!? Numerous searches using various strings such as 'vehicle development jobs' or 'automobile test driver' just turn up the same old stuff that isn't what I'm looking for. If anyone has any ideas on this, that'd be much appreciated.
I'd also be interested in a job in the motor sport industry
Cheers.
In the case of the manufacturers the guys that do the day to day testing tend to be time served mechanics who work for a manufacturer and get a job at the test site. They just sort of progress towards testing. Then there are drivers who aren't as qualified and do a lot of mileage accumulation, driving to a set cycle, day in day out. And for all the glamorous tests like high speed accumulation in Italy, there is Pave at MIRA with a top speed of 30 mph and a busted bum for the 12 weeks they do it for.
A route to the more glamorous side is a degree in Mechanical Engineering coupled with landing a job at a top manufacturer. After beating all applicants for a job in the vehicle dynamics department you build up trust with your peers and boss to show you can drive consistently at speed and evaluate the vehicle in a calm and collected way. As time goes on, responsibilities increase.
What is different is that with road cars you are trying to make the car pleasant and fun to drive, comfortable and tolerant of mistakes. Racing drivers tend to be more focused on lap times, which is great, but shaking the fillings out of customers mouths is no good. Having a car that is still exciting to drive yet tolerates a driver backing off mid bend is far easier said than done.
If that sounds glamorous, then just consider that to do all that you have to be paid the typical Engineer's salary - in England this is best described as minimal.
I did the above job, and it is nowhere near as exciting as it sounds. And to be honest, driving my 250 kart was a great deal more exciting.
Personally I'd recommend getting a job in the City, working your nuts off and buying something fast to enjoy. British Automotive Engineers play with cars they cannot afford and generally live in dumps and drive unexciting non-PH cars because they cannot afford anything better.
Ahhh Moneypenny said:That depends on what your willing to do for it
In reality how difficult is it to get a job in the motor sport industry?
. Seriously though you might have to start working for a can of coke but eventually, if you establish a good track record (pun intended), you may find employment offers come your way.
GavinPearson said:
Personally I'd recommend getting a job in the City, working your nuts off and buying something fast to enjoy. British Automotive Engineers play with cars they cannot afford and generally live in dumps and drive unexciting non-PH cars because they cannot afford anything better.
have to agree. i did a decent 4 year masters in engineering at a good university. no interesting british car/motorsports company even had the decency to reply to requests for summer placements except aston who said they give preference to current employees family!!!! ended up working for chrysler in detroit which was excellent. now work for an investment bank.
GavinPearson said:
Personally I'd recommend getting a job in the City, working your nuts off and buying something fast to enjoy. British Automotive Engineers play with cars they cannot afford and generally live in dumps and drive unexciting non-PH cars because they cannot afford anything better.
So you only get to enjoy yourself on a Sunday morning, 'cause you'll be utterly $hagged through the week from doing work you don't really enjoy. You're not *really* getting the most from your Sunday morning experience either, because you bought your shiny prancing horse or pork slice as a compensation rather than as a result of true involvement.
Let's face it - one spends the overwhelming majority of his/her waking time on the job. Be sure to spend that time on something your heart is in - money can't buy it back.
Ahhh Moneypenny said:
In reality how difficult is it to get a job in the motor sport industry, talking about jobs like events organiser or stuff along those lines?
Is it really difficult to break into, a case of who you know not what you know? Advice much appreciated..
Depends what you mean by events organiser etc. and who for. If you mean for a team I guess as said above you get youself in at a low level as a paper pusher (I don't think you're talking about anything technical are you?) and then demonstrate your worth by working all hours of the week and making tea for the team on a wet Sunday at Snetterton!!
If you're talking about working for a club or a series who put on events then you have two options - neither of which pay much money!!
The Clubs (BARC, BRDC etc) use either their own staff to run events or "volunteers" who are either paid a small amount £(£50 a day) or not paid at all - depending on the club and/or the event.
Their own staff tend to work in their offices during the week and deal with marshals and competition entries etc. etc. They then act as Secretary of the Meeting or Dep Sec at weekends. It does lead to incredibly long working hours over the season!
I work as Secretary and Dep Sec for a couple of race clubs - mainly I just get hotel accomodation paid for, some of the clubs pay a small mileage allowance, some pay a more generous mileage allowance and an amount of "pay" per day - I also get shirts/coat from most of them.
I started off by turning up at race meetings as a marshal and working in the pit lane etc., I was lucky in that my then partner was involved as a senior official so I knew the right people! I moved through and ran radios for a while and then moved into race admin.
There are opportunities for the right people, you need to be very cool under pressure and be able to get on with everyone - there is no point getting bolshy at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon when it's all going pear shaped - you need to be able to get on with things.
Drop me a pm if you're interested in this kind of thing.
Hope its not too difficult to get a job in the end as No1 son started a Motor Sport Engineering degree in September. Part of which are placements with the likes of Maclaren/Prodrive amongst others. Which I assume can only help (failing that I'll speak to Paul at Austec to see if he needs another mechanic 
).
Hopefully something will come out of that or I'm wasting a lot of money funding his social life.
). Hopefully something will come out of that or I'm wasting a lot of money funding his social life
.I hate to say this - I turned down a job in motorsport journalism beacuse it didn't pay enough 
Now thinking about it that's not the only job I turned down in motorsport. I basically worked for free and they liked me and offered me a job.
Re: testing - generally an engeering degree is helpful - then you need to lead a team designing something that requires the car to be tested.
Now thinking about it that's not the only job I turned down in motorsport. I basically worked for free and they liked me and offered me a job. Re: testing - generally an engeering degree is helpful - then you need to lead a team designing something that requires the car to be tested.
The people I know working for manufactuers or associated companies passed with good marks solid mech/auto eng degrees, some with postgrad and joined the graduate intake. If you just want to be part of the industry in a non-tech discipline let's say sales, then a different approach altogether may apply.
i spent 6 years working as a race car engineer for various teams, its not what you know but who you know, although i did struggle to get taken seriously being a girl and all that!! i have been away from the sport for 5 years now and doubt i would ever be able to get back into it, also i dont think its a stable enough career if you have a mortgage to pay etc although i do miss it 
HarryW said:
Hope its not too difficult to get a job in the end as No1 son started a Motor Sport Engineering degree in September. Part of which are placements with the likes of Maclaren/Prodrive amongst others. Which I assume can only help (failing that I'll speak to Paul at Austec to see if he needs another mechanic
Hopefully something will come out of that or I'm wasting a lot of money funding his social life
Its not easy but not too difficult. I'm lucky as I have a pretty much guaranteed job when I finish in two years, but this is from two summers of unpaid work proving myself. To get the good work placements you need to know people, again I'm very lucky. I have my placement at a large racing team but mainly due to a family contact in the team.
Basicially, from my experience so far, you need to be willing to work hard for not much money and have some good contacts for when that fails. If you have both then you should be ok!
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