Work experience with Strakka Racing on offer for one young engineer

By LJ Hutchins

Monday, November 30th, 2009

A golden opportunity for a youngster interested in working in motorsport is up for grabs from the organisers of an industry event.

The Inside Motorsport Race Car Engineering Seminar is offering two weeks’ work experience at British sportscar team Strakka Racing to one aspiring race engineer who attends, as well as the chance to work with that team during the 1000km of Silverstone race next September.

Organisers say that one of the event’s key aims is to help engineering students and post-graduates make the leap from academia to the motorsport profession. The work experience will offer one youngster the chance to get hands-on vocational experience and make that hope a reality.

Silverstone-based Strakka will be aiming for home success in the LMP2 category of Le Mans Series with drivers Danny Watts and Nick Leventis this year during the September 10-12 event.

Inside Motorsport says that the candidate will work with Strakka’s technical director Piers Phillips in the week leading up to the race. They will get the chance to work on the car and help prepare the race strategy as well as engineering the car through the race from the pitwall.

The work experience will conclude with a detailed post-event analysis of all the chassis, engine and driver data.

Phillips said: “For an aspiring race engineer to be given the opportunity to work with a top international sports car team like Strakka Racing at the Silverstone 1000kms is the type of work experience money can’t buy.

“Whoever joins us will become an integral part of the team and play an important role in the build up to the event, over the race weekend itself and during the post-race technical debriefs.

“It normally takes many years of working your way up the motorsport ladder to work at this level, so it will be a fantastic insight into the real life operations of a professional racing outfit for someone starting their career. I wish I’d had this type of opportunity when I was starting out.”

The Inside Motorsport Race Car Engineering Seminar is the creation of Dan Walmsley and Jay Davenport, graduates of Oxford Brookes University and well respected top-level race engineers.

Walmsley added: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to gain an insight into a leading international race team, and we hope the experience gained from this will directly influence someone’s career.”

On offer at the seminar itself is the chance to hear speakers including former Formula 1 team technical director Gary Anderson, touring car champion Jason Plato, Formula 1 World Championship winning race engineer and Teamcraft team principal James Robinson, motorsport and America’s Cup engineer Jonathan Moury and one of the world’s leading aerodynamic experts, Dr Mark Handford.

It will also include an exclusive behind-the-scenes technical tour of a Formula 1 team’s headquarters.

• The seminar will be held at the Silverstone Innovation Centre on 4-8 January 2010. For more information on attending, including prices and booking information, visit the event website here.

Read more about 1000km of Silverstone, Danny Watts, Strakka Racing.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Careers, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Author: LJ Hutchins. Supports McLaren, kind of. Thinks James May gets a rough deal off the other two. Drives a Subaru Impreza but regrets its lack of bright blue paint and gold wheels. Is very nearly old enough to know better but probably never will. Is a supporter member of the BWRDC. LJ has written 1117 articles for us.

4 Responses to “Work experience with Strakka Racing on offer for one young engineer”

Comments

1

Adie says:

November 30, 2009 at 1:20 pm

Wow! That’s a hell of a prize.

The frustrated-wish-I’d-pursued-a-career-in-motorsport-when-I-was-younger envies the winner of that competition a lot!
2

LJH says:

November 30, 2009 at 1:32 pm

Yup. It’s the classic case of needing to decide at around age 11 what you want to do in life…

But Lord Drayson’s the shining example of how you can turn that around.

Decided aged 43 that he wanted to become a racing driver while at an Oulton Park track day. By age 49 – and having persuaded the FIA that he should have an unprecedented international licence despite being blind in one eye – he’s raced at Le Mans and has a team running a LMP1 car.

Of course, being a multi-millionaire has probably helped a bit ; – ))
3

Kayleigh says:

November 30, 2009 at 5:49 pm

Ah great info (I decided at 17 I wanted to work in the industry and have just graduated with motorsport engineering degree from oxford brookes as it goes!) such a shame the event itself is so expensive!

Glad that this company are offering such great experience :)
4

LJH says:

November 30, 2009 at 6:03 pm

Would you like to do us a guest post on what it’s been like to study that subject? And on where your career takes you from here?

Brits on Pole