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Dear Motorsport Academy,

I am an avid rally fan. I have recently finished a Foundation Degree in Motorsport Engineering and have decided to take a year out to gain experience in engineering. Over the last two years during my course I have contacted upwards of 30 engineering companies and rally teams (from Prodrive to Racing Green Mosler to Xtrac) looking for a work placement or job and I have been unsuccessful.

I have been to Wales Rally GB, the Tempest Rally and the MSA British Rallycross Championship at Lydden race circuit. While at these events I got talking to mechanics and team managers enquiring about work experience and qualifications - and although the inital conversation was good nothing in the end came of it despite repeated phone calls and emails etc.

I do intend to go to more rallying related events and hand out my cv and contact details as it seems unlikely to obtain work experience through just writting letters.

I wish to know how to differentiate myself from everyone else and how to be more successful with gaining work experience, preferably in a rallying discipline. Also what is the best career route to become a WRC Engineer/Technician?

Prodrive has told me that I need to pursue qualifications as high as possible and gain work experience and contacts to become a WRC technician/engineer, but is it essential that I get a full degree? I fully intend to do what they say, but it is a lot harder than it sounds. 

Apart from my course and a small week long placement at a classic car garage when I was 16 I have no additional experience in engineering. I seem to be trapped in the 'trying to get work experience but not having enough experience to get a work placement' cycle!! 

Can anyoone shed any light on this situation please?

Regards,

   Owen 

Hi Owen,

Many thanks for your very full appraisal.  Your experiences are quite typical, and the name of the game in working towards your ideal is to keep being persistent and very flexible in what you're prepared to do to get there.

One thing reading your appraisal - you seem to be focusing very much on the 'motorsport primes'.  By reputation, they are very competitive to get involved with, and all of those mentioned are inundated with thousands of university and college students all trying to do the same as you.  Try looking at the Tier 1 and Tier 2 type companies, and details of many of these are available on the MIA website and also as exhibitors at the Autosport International Show.

Also, do send your CV to our Recruitment Manager, Amy Kirk, on amy.kirk@motorsportacademy.org, and she will do what she can to help you.

In terms of your best routes to become an engineer/technician, well a good mechanical engineering degree is the prefered route for an engineer, and ideally one that is IMechE Accredited. Employers will be looking for you to have very strong maths and physics to support this, as well as work experience and practical engineering skills.  To be a Techncian, the industry-prefered route is through an apprenticeship programme which follows an engineering/manufacturing pathway, although specialisms can be gained in areas such as engine, composites, electrics/electronics, race car preparation and welding and fabrication.  Your Foundation Degree may have already covered some of these applications, but at vocational level the main requirement is that you have hands-on core engineering skills and knowledge.

I can help point you in the direction of the most appropriate programme for you.

I hope this is of use to you - good luck!

Alex Hope - Education Manager, Motorsport Academy