Motorsport Jobs: Why data engineering is a key motorsport career
AmD Tuning British Touring Car Championship team managing director Shaun Hollamby believes anyone aiming for a top-level motorsport engineering career should start as a data engineer
Hollamby has 30 years of experience in national motorsport, and currently fields a four-car team - two Audis and two MGs - in the BTCC.
He describes data engineering as "an important skill" and one that has become "sort of the only way into engineering".
A team's data engineer is a vital link in the organisation, interpretating the information logged by the car's sensors and the drivers' feedback to help the team's work on set-up and developments and drivers to refine their performance.
But Hollamby warns that not all data engineers he has employed at AmD have lived up to expectations.
"We have other data engineers that just want to look at video all day and talk about how they can be a racing driver," Hollamby told Motorsport Jobs.
Hollamby believes the most valuable quality any engineer coming into the motorsport industry can have is a strong work ethic, suggesting such an attitude can outweigh academic qualifications.
"Don't get me wrong having the degree is obviously good, having the letters at the end of your name are always going to be a benefit, but to start with you have to have a work ethic and in all honesty not everyone with a degree also has a work ethic," he says.
The AmD boss advocates getting practice work experience as soon as possible, and to start at a local level.
"The best thing to do is to find a local motorsport team - there is always going to be someone near you - contact them, and see if you can spend some evenings down there.
"First of all you could load the truck. If any team boss sees someone willing to get stuck in, loading wheels into a truck and they have an eye for detail, not damaging things, they will be keen to get them in for the weekend."
Previous article
New S5000 single-seater series wants to become Australian IndyCar
Next article
Why Porsche’s black sheep was doomed to fail
About this article
| Series | General |
| Author | Adam Arbon |
LEGO Ferrari 488 GTE
Why Campos Never Made It Into Formula 1
The F1 and Indy 'nearly man' that found contentment in Japan
Having had the door to F1 slammed in his face and come within three laps of winning the Indianapolis 500, the collapse of a Peugeot LMP1 shot meant Japan was Bertrand Baguette's last chance of a career. But it's one which he has grasped with both hands
The female all-rounder who arrived "too early"
From Formula 3 to truck racing, Dakar and EuroNASCAR via a winning stint in the DTM, there's not much Ellen Lohr hasn't seen in a stellar racing career that highlights the merit in being a generalist. But she believes her career came too early...
How Radical's latest machines fare on track
The lightweight sportscar manufacturer has not rewritten the rulebook with its latest machines, but the new SR3 XX and SR10 still provide a step forward on its previous successful models
The real-life racing rogues stranger than fiction
The forthcoming Netflix film linking the world of underworld crime and motorsport plays on a theme that isn't exactly new. Over the years, several shady figures have attempted to make it in racing before their dubious dealings caught up with them
How a GP is thriving in a COVID-free territory
The New Zealand Grand Prix's mix of rising talent and big-name stars thrilled the crowds (yes, remember crowds?) assembled for the Toyota Racing Series meeting at Hampton Downs last weekend and left distant observers craving a repeat
How a much-changed Macau GP kept the party going
OPINION: The 67th edition of the Macau Grand Prix might have been a largely muted affair to the outside world without its international influx and star line-ups, another victim to the COVID-19 pandemic, but organisers deserve huge credit for keeping the party going
Engineer's view: Motorsport's revolutionary braking tool
Although brake pressure and temperature logging is commonplace, measuring and understanding braking performance hasn't been so straightforward. But that's about to change following the introduction of a groundbreaking new sensor
The high-tech materials helping Renault in its F1 rise
The Renault F1 team is at the vanguard of innovative solutions pushing development of the V6 turbo hybrid engine rules, embracing the full potential of material science in its bid to get back to the top
