Driving ambition and a degree of excellence is the winning Formula

It is the dream of many a young petrolhead to get a job in Formula One, where state-of-the-art automotive technology gets pushed to its limits amid the razzmatazz of the Grand Prix circuit. And, for those with the right CV, it is a dream that can be realised.

“I’ve been an engineer at heart all my life but I got sidetracked by working in the City for 10 years,” says Nick Brown, 43, senior design engineer with Honda Racing F1 Team. Brown used his City earnings to study engineering at the University of Hertfordshire, where he enjoyed a placement year at TVR – “a fantastic experience” – and upon graduation joined British American Racing [now Honda Racing F1].

The F1 engineer started off designing components for the car – “I was thrown in at the deep end and it was quite daunting,” he recalls – and now works in mechanical design, specifically on the rear suspension for next year’s F1 car. It is, he admits, a fantastic job.

“The standard of engineering is the best that you can do,” says Brown. “It’s very hard work, there’s a lot of pressure and the job is always bigger than the time available, but it’s all about engineering excellence.”

He believes the key to his first job was the right degree and the right practical experience, particularly Hertfordshire’s participation in the Formula Student event. “At university you do a lot of theoretical stuff, but with Formula Student you actually have to produce a car,” says Brown. “You demonstrate you can work as a team and meet deadlines. And because the regulations aren’t as rigid as F1, it’s an opportunity to be creative and think outside the box.”

And employers seem to agree. Ross Brawn, team principal at Honda Racing, and a patron of Formula Student, says the competition is a fantastic career opportunity. “Just looking at Honda F1, we now have 25 people working with us who have had the FS experience,” says Brawn, who started his F1 career at Williams.

The key to getting started is to pick the right qualification, whether at FE or HE level (the industry is crying out for skilled technicians as well as graduate entry recruits). There are plenty of motorsport branded qualifications (see www.themia. com/education-links for a list of providers) but the quality of provision can be patchy. Students need to research their options thoroughly – a good guide is to pick courses that are accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers – and make sure rigorous academic study is combined with handson practical experience.

“The proof of the pudding is really whether the motorsport industry takes the graduates from a particular programme,” says Professor Denise Morrey, dean of the School of Technology at Oxford Brookes University. “We are one of the larger universities that produces graduates for motorsport, with most teams having at least one of our graduates and sometimes two or three. Last season one of our placement students ended up being David Coulthard’s race engineer, which was a pretty amazing experience.”

Qualifications are important, but they aren’t everything. According to John Kirkpatrick, a founding director of the Motorsport Industry Association, companies are also looking for the “motorsport mindset”. “This isn’t a nine-to-five job. Most motorsport people work when other people are at leisure,” says Kirkpatrick.

A career in motorsport isn’t just about the flash and dash of F1. There are some 4,500 companies involved in the UK’s £6bn-a-year industry, which supports 38,500 full- and parttime jobs, including 25,000 engineers. Some £1.7bn of the annual industry turnover is generated by the glitzy public face of racing, including events management, public relations, marketing and sponsorship. Key employers tend to congregate in “The Valley”, just outside Oxford, home to companies that build performance cars and the associated chassis, engines, brakes, suspension and transmission systems.

F1 may be the cutting edge of motorsport technology, but the industry is comprised of many different events and race series, from Le Mans to IndyCar. Wouldbe motorsport professionals should check out kart racing, the sport that has spawned the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, and Formula Student is another must for those looking for their big break.