Motorsport Jobs: Is motorsport education a route to working in F1?

Alan O'Neill from SCU Motorsport understands the complexity of the educational format within motorsport and goes through the positives and negatives of the motorsport educational system.

What is the current state of education within motorsport?

To start with a positive, the UK has the best motorsport education infrastructure in the world. However, there is plenty of room for improvement, particularly at the further education (FE) level.

The FE level is the hands-on level, where the future F1 mechanics will start their careers in a bid to develop skills and experience, as well as a qualification, that will hopefully support them in finding their dream job in the motorsport sector.

Here lies the first problem. The majority of the so-called motorsport qualifications that are available are based around automotive technology, and although that is partly correct, a lot of the skills needed for motorsport are actually engineering based.

This point was exemplified when one of my ex-students joined his first race team, and one of the first things they asked him was "You have done a motorsport course...why can't you fit DZUS Fasteners?" (a quick release body fastener used to attach panels to the chassis). This was closely followed by "Why can't you weld?".

The way these qualifications are run will also allow a student to spend all of their practical time in the college workshop and never attend a race meeting, thus avoiding the pressure deadlines of having to get the car ready at specific times; scrutineering, practice, qualifying and the race itself; and this pressure increases if something goes wrong, an accident or a failure. The pressure of having to get the car ready adds to the learning experience. There also no requirement for the college to have a race car.

How can education within motorsport improve over the next five years?

The qualifications need to be more closely reflective of the skills that the motorsport sector need. Those who provide the qualifications need to talk to the teams. I know of an LMP3 race team where the team owner has been unable to get either a number one or a number two mechanic.

I think there is also a need to support colleges who want to run motorsport courses, but don't know how to start. A one stop shop - a web forum, where colleges can go to ask advice. The colleges also need to promote their courses more. When I was running the motorsport course there was very little promotion of it.

The course details were hidden on the college website, so unless you specifically knew where to find it, it was difficult to access. Not only that, it was not positively promoted within the college itself; you could walk into the entrance and there were engines, and motor vehicle items, but not motorsport related items.

In terms of the qualification itself, a move back towards grading of students, Distinction, Merit and Pass must be introduced so that potential employers can easily see who has put in the most effort. I would also advocate a grading system for colleges, so that a college that goes out with their own car and gives students the necessary experience gets graded A for motorsport, and one that doesn't leave the workshop a C.

What makes SCU Motorsport different from other concepts?

SCU Motorsport are developing the first race series that does not focus on driver development, it focuses on the development of mechanics and engineers; but it is so much more than a race series.

At present there are very few concepts to support the education sector, Formula Student is the biggest, most popular and most recognised. It is aimed at the higher education (HE) sector, and for degree level students, and involves design, development and manufacture.

It is a great learning platform, but with Formula Student there is no racing; the teams assemble at Silverstone once a year, and undertake a sprint, a stability test, braking test, handling test as well as a project presentation, but no actual racing.

SCU Motorsport have developed a proper race series, with regulations that will make the cars as equal as possible; we will even be operating weight equivalence, so that all participants have a chance of winning, and winning can only be achieved by setting the car up properly.

We have engaged with the British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC), who have stated that they want to run the race series. The race series can also accommodate both FE and HE, and will also encourage the FE and HE sectors to engage with schools, with a view to promoting the progression from schools, through colleges and then onto university.

In formula student the university team designs the car, SCU Motorsport will be supplying the car in component form, for the college/university to build up and then compete. Originally it was intended that the race series was just for colleges, but then we had a number of universities ask if they could compete, as there were many examples of foundation level students enrolling to do degree courses, but they had never even held a spanner; how can they get involved in design when they don't understand the design envelope.

So we agreed to allow universities to compete to allow foundation students to learn practical skills that will help them understand the design envelope. We were then asked by the same universities whether we would allow design, and if this was the case they would consider doing the race series in addition to Formula Student, as a race series added realism to the design and development process, and the design class was introduced.

SCU Motorsport want to work not only with the race teams, and the manufacturing organisations, but also the clothing suppliers, helmet suppliers, tool manufacturers, tool cabinet suppliers, etc, so that we offer a full package.

What does the future hold for SCU Motorsport?

Things have moved on massively in the last six months, and they are gaining pace. We are currently working on the design of two prototypes; one petrol and one electric. The petrol version will feature the tubular steel chassis - class 1a to showcase the car as it will be supplied in kit form, and the electric version will have the composite monocoque (class 2c) to demonstrate the option if the college decides to include a composite module and wants the students to lay up a monocoque.

We are in advanced talks with Wolverhampton University about a partnering arrangement that could see us utilising their 3D printing, autoclave for composites, and their wind tunnel to support the development of an aerodynamics module.

We are also in contact with one of the University Technical Colleges (UTCs), as one of their students; who is 10 years old, has designed a steering wheel and we want to make the wheel using composites and then use it on our race car.

We are also in discussions with a potential partner in the USA to try and secure an engine deal with the North American arm of a large Japanese car manufacturer to utilise one of their engines.

We have also been in discussions with the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) about re-writing their motorsport qualification so that it reflects the needs of the motorsport sector and also linking the qualification to the race series.

The key aim is to get a prototype designed and built by August 2018 at the latest, so that we can undertake testing during September and October 2018. We plan to launch the car to colleges at the World Skills Show in November 2018.

This is the start of a journey to change motorsport education, and we are in it for the long term. The plan is to make the race series, tied to a qualification, available to any country that wants to adopt this approach to motorsport education, and this could be the catalyst to stimulate a motorsport infrastructure in countries that do not currently have one.