Motorsport Jobs: How students can make a difference in teams

Sharp Motorsport race in the British F4 Championship, running a one-car outfit for Jamie Sharp, competing alongside larger and more established teams.

The British F4 Championship has become the perfect platform for students to learn their trade in an competitive environment.

Sharp explains what he is looking for from an employee.

"The advice I would give is to offer something different, come up with an attractive package," said Sharp.

"We get so many enquiring but they are all the same.

"There are so many people that want to get into motorsport, so re-invent yourselves be prepared to work hard, most of the time for free.

"Don't ask silly questions, take it all in and use your initiative, show us what you can do.

"Don't just wait to be told what to do, don't be scared of asking questions, but also don't be scared of offering ideas, sometimes problems are clouded by overthinking and a new young fresh set of eyes can come up with a solution."

Sharp Motorsport's involvement with universities, including the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) and Silverstone University Technical College has grown in recent years.

"We work with UCLAN quite a bit, mainly on advice and ideas, we want to push this more as they are local to us," said Sharp.

"We believe that the future is young talent in every department, so it needs to be encouraged to show us what they can achieve in the right environment and also under pressure in the field, or workshops.

"We have worked with Silverstone University on a few occasions last year with a couple of work experience (students)."

Racing with a limited budget has stretched the team but Sharp believes a unity within the team has helped it perform.

"Our biggest challenge is the off season, as most teams will sometimes lay their staff off in the winter months.

"We keep our guys on, which is difficult to fund when little income comes in."

Sharp adds: "I'm a great believer that you look after your team, and keep the best.

"Otherwise you have to start again every year with different people and it's difficult to build a working relationship up before the start of the season."