Education and Training
Action Resources provides personnel & training services to organisations both within the motor-sport/performance engineering sector and beyond it.
Action Resources' directors and associates have spent all their working lives in people development and we have an overriding interest in two key outcomes - (1) that employers should be able to secure the best possible candidate for each and every vacant opportunity and (2) that those showing an interest in employment should have easy access to the relevant and important information needed to guide their career decision-making and development. Many of the leading-edge practices that generate competitive advantage in other industries remain missing from much of the British motor-sport sector -and some of the objectivity in people selection that leads to commercial success too.
We are constantly asked by users of this site - young and old - how to break into a motor-sport related career.
The answer is always that you will need to be able to demonstrate possession of appropriate skills - sometimes to a very high level - and an enthusiasm, probably even a PASSION for the sport and for the sector. A quick straw poll of those registering on our Recruitment Register in 2010 revealed that some 70% of those who were not already working in the industry (but who claimed that they wanted to) were not even a member of a motor club; they spent none of their spare time pursuing their (alleged) interest...and are, frankly, unlikely to convince anyone else that their interest is genuine. Why not become a marshal perhaps? If you are interested in joining the British Motor Racing Marshals Club contact Chris Hobson on 01844 290 631 or email him at chris.hobson@unisys.com . If you are interested in the British Rally Marshals Club go to www.marshals.co.uk or write to Bob Rae at 98 Ranby Road, Greystones, Sheffield S11 7AL.
To be a Technical Director, say, of an F1 or MotoGP Team, a high-level degree in an engineering discipline is essential - probably mechanical engineering for preference so long as you have had some experience of related areas such as aerodynamics. But, in order to get on to interview lists, you MUST be involved in some capacity at the grassroots level of the sport - and then don't aim to be in a Grand Prix Team too quickly - concentrate perhaps on the lower levels of professional motor-sport where the challenges are the same but where you can accumulate the broadest possible range of experience. You have got to show that you are essentially a well rounded individual, fully capable of working calmly in arguably the highest pressure environment around.
So where are the good sources of information?
The Motorsport Industry Association (in partnership with the Engineering Careers Information Service) publishes an excellent guide to specific motor-sport related courses of a technical and managerial nature available in the UK. It is called "MOTORSPORT INDUSTRY CAREERS GUIDE" and the address of the MIA is Federation House, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire CV8 2RF.
The telephone number is +44 (0) 247 669 2600, the fax is +44 (0) 247 669 2601. Email is info@the-mia.com and the website can be found at www.the-mia.com (or go to "LINKS" within this site since the MIA is a linked organisation).
Another interesting source of information for the UK automotive sector as a whole is the British Department of Trade & Industry's website at www.autoindustry.co.uk Useful for information, data, statistics, dedicated industry news, regional activity and company directories, the email address is info@autoindustry.co.uk The address is : Auto Industry, DTI Automotive Directorate,
Regional Unit, 6th Floor, 77 Paradise Circus, Queensway,
Birmingham B1 2DT. Tel number is +44 (0) 121 212 5040 (fax ends in 5053).
Otherwise, in Britain, it can sometimes be helpful to contact your local office of the Learning & Skills Council and/or your local Careers Service.
In January 2004, the BRDC (British Racing Drivers' Club) and the National College for Motorsport announced plans to put in place a joint project to create trackside technician training facilities at Silverstone Circuit aimed at providing students with hands-on experience of all types of competition cars.
The next pages give some UK course-specific information.
We hope and intend to add to this shortly but are dependent upon Colleges and Universities paying a small fee for their entry.
Updated information received from the UK's Cranfield University, November 2010 www.cranfield.ac.uk for so long at the forefront of education related to the sport and to performance engineering in general - has now been added to this site, detailing their flagship Motorsport Engineering and Management MSc. Click on to Cranfield's page listed below.
Interesting 'education and training' news snippets follow:
Marussia Virgin Racing, which will be competing in its second season of Formula One racing in 2011, has agreed a "long-term partnership" with on-line Business School SMC University. The Swiss-based institution will gain access to the Team through initiatives such as work experience programmes within Virgin Racing's commercial department. SMC logos will be dislpayed on team clothing and on paddock equipment [item dated 23.02.11].
A team from Devonport High School for Boys in Plymouth has won the F1 in Schools World Championship which took place in Malaysia at the time of that country's F1 Grand Prix. The team's miniature F1 car defeated 24 rival teams in a knock-out performance test. The four students in the team were: Andrew Lees (16), Thomas Simpson (17), John Ware (16), Samuel Wood (15). The four receive Automotive and Motor-Sport Engineering Scholarships at City University, London, as part of their prize [item dated 28.03.08].
Fernando Alonso has revealed plans to provide sponsorship for 12 Spanish students to study Motor-Sport Engineering at Oxford Brookes University - the McLaren-Mercedes driver described the Institution as "the most prestigious university offering expertise in this area" [item dated 25.09.07].