Motorsport engineering or mechanical engineering?

[Vinny_VSX]

In a few weeks I have my interviews for these two courses but the thing is, I really cannot decide which course to go for. Both of them really interest me, mainly because I get to work on cars (my passion :)).

I am swayed towards the mechanical engineering course, as I can still go into the motorsport side of engineering and also branch off into other things like eventually having my own diagnostic garrage for example.

With the motorsport engineering the course will allow me to go work in a rally pit lane and study into everything well involved in motorsport which would just be absalutely fantastic. All of my mates keep saying go into the motorsport side which I would do but I feel that I won't be able to branch off into other things later on in life by doing this course.

Have any of you guys or even ladies ;) done either of the courses? I am sure Adslayer will be a great source of information here :P

Cheers chaps

[JC-Furio]

Pretty hard choice, but what would you rather do?

Own your own diagnositc garage

OR

Work in a rally pit lane etc.

imo, the motorsport course sounds more exciting and would probably be more enthusiastic about it which will motivate you to learn/work to the max. :y:

[Raz]

im with your mates on this one....working in a rally pitlane will be very exciting and will look good on your C.V lol

do what you feel is right mate....maybe enquire about it with the course? see what they say?

[girlracer1597]

i have done an avce in motorsport engineering and im going to honest and say that its not easy the motorsport industry is hard work working in a rally pit lane does sound fun but the reality is you will either have a broom in your hand or a kettle. (for the first few months at least) expect never to have any kind of social life during the winter months (build season) you will expected to work at least 16 hours+ over your normal working hours per week. But if you have the determination to work through all of this it will be worth it in the long run.

[jamiemol]

same as your mates i was thinking about something like this how do you get into something like this and is their an age restriction on the course?

[mattg]

They are 2 great opportunities, I would defo go with the motorsport course, alot can be learnt from both but imagine the feeling and the memories, you wont forget it.

Both do sound great but its your choice, which will benifit you most;)

[Vinny_VSX]

Pretty hard choice, but what would you rather do?

Own your own diagnositc garage

OR

Work in a rally pit lane etc.

imo, the motorsport course sounds more exciting and would probably be more enthusiastic about it which will motivate you to learn/work to the max. :y:

I will have to wait until I meet the course lecturers so I can get a whole prospective on the courses and what they involve subject wise. To be honest I would rather do the mechanical engineering course to get more knowledge on how a car actually works and the electical side of it. Which I think I would be quite good at, as I am a bit of a computer nerd when I want to be lol.

I just can't say no to working on rally cars and just being around anything to do with motorsport gets my heart racing ;). I just absalutely love it. But later on in life, I think I will just be restricted to motorsport and wouldn't be able to have my own garrage.

Hmmm... Bit confused

[Mieran]

I'd say go for Motorsport engineering because its more into cars than just how stuff works.

I'm currently doing Mechatronics (Mechanical and Electronic) engineering and the mechanical part doesnt have much info about cars, its mainly CAD, CNC and principles.

[AlexR]

Motorsport engineering is just mechanical engineering with a few extra modules in motorsport tbh, more or less the same thing.

[Vinny_VSX]

i have done an avce in motorsport engineering and im going to honest and say that its not easy the motorsport industry is hard work working in a rally pit lane does sound fun but the reality is you will either have a broom in your hand or a kettle. (for the first few months at least) expect never to have any kind of social life during the winter months (build season) you will expected to work at least 16 hours+ over your normal working hours per week. But if you have the determination to work through all of this it will be worth it in the long run.

I do have the drive and am a hard worker. Especially if I am working on something I am so passionate about. Lol, I don't mind so much about the social life as I want to crack on with getting a decent job which I will be excited to go to work and I know that going down the motorsport side I will be 100% commited and throughly enjoy it

[Vinny_VSX]

same as your mates i was thinking about something like this how do you get into something like this and is their an age restriction on the course?

No age restriction and I just went to my local county college and got a prospective mate. Found it and fell in love tbh :)

[Vinny_VSX]

Motorsport engineering is just mechanical engineering with a few extra modules in motorsport tbh, more or less the same thing.

Your right there Alex.

Ahh I have a question for you. You have been involved with a fair bit of motorsport (well so I have read on forums), have you come across anyone who is involved in it as a profession? If so, is it a good place to be working in?

:) :hug:

[AlexR]

One of my old mates who i don't see any more :( anyway he did 3 years motorsport engineering and now travels the world working for a race team on F3 cars. He's the only person who did his course that got a job in motorsport though and he's one dedicated hardworking motherfucker, he drives: mini cooper vtec, mini cooper sport(2001) and a merc 190E AMG...
Don't really know of anyone else who works in it. Marc(Boni) on ssc is towards the end of his course of motorsport engineering and is working for honda racing(bikes) and loves it.

When i was gonna do the degree hertfordshire was the best place to do it pretty much.

[JC-Furio]

No age restriction and I just went to my local county college and got a prospective mate. Found it and fell in love tbh :)

Is it a college course, or uni course?

Also if you were to do the motorsport course, in your spare time i'm sure there's things you can do to educate you about general mechanics etc. which would also give you the option of maybe opening your own garage further down the line...

Who knows mate, even if you make the 'wrong' decision and regret not doing the other one... doesn't stop there. I'm sure there's ways to get into both these areas of engineering after college/uni.

[johnny_vts]

Mechanical Engineering - broader depth and more potential opportunities should you wish to change career later on!

[Vinny_VSX]

One of my old mates who i don't see any more :( anyway he did 3 years motorsport engineering and now travels the world working for a race team on F3 cars. He's the only person who did his course that got a job in motorsport though and he's one dedicated hardworking motherfucker, he drives: mini cooper vtec, mini cooper sport(2001) and a merc 190E AMG...
Don't really know of anyone else who works in it. Marc(Boni) on ssc is towards the end of his course of motorsport engineering and is working for honda racing(bikes) and loves it.

When i was gonna do the degree hertfordshire was the best place to do it pretty much.

WOW that sounds absalutely fantastic. That is what I would love to do as a job, work on race spec cars *drouls*. I will speak to boni at some point and see how he is getting on :).

Cheers al

[girlracer1597]

Your right there Alex.

Ahh I have a question for you. You have been involved with a fair bit of motorsport (well so I have read on forums), have you come across anyone who is involved in it as a profession? If so, is it a good place to be working in?

:) :hug:

i was in it as a profession :panic:

[Tobs]

mate theres one anwser Motorsport:P come join the massives with me:)

[frankie]

vinny.

im going to talk to my person at trowbo and see if i can do motorsport engineering at lackham tomrow

[Barry123]

I'd have to say having spuzzed out a mechanical based engineering degree just recently to go for the Mechanical Engineering side of things.... Think of it as a long term investment as employers generally want a rounded individual with a broad range of abilities... Although Motorsport engineering is very similar to mechanical engineer it could be seen by employers as being too specific - even though the course probably wont be, employers are fickle mofo's.

I doubt on a Batchelors Motorsport Engineering alone you'd have the skillz needed to get into Motorsport at a meaningful level - put it like this McLaren wont touch anyone with a Batchelors unless its backed up by yyyyyyyyyyyyears in the F1 industry. Even with a masters they're unlikely to choose me - I'll need a PhD to get in (and its the same for a lot of top flight motorsport teams).

Secondly, you'll never know want to might want to do in 3-4-5 years, my course has completely changed my ideas of what I want to do so don't limit yourself too much.

Good luck dude :)

[Predator_R32]

mechanical mate :y:

[johnny_vts]

I'd have to say having spuzzed out a mechanical based engineering degree just recently to go for the Mechanical Engineering side of things.... Think of it as a long term investment as employers generally want a rounded individual with a broad range of abilities... Although Motorsport engineering is very similar to mechanical engineer it could be seen by employers as being too specific - even though the course probably wont be, employers are fickle mofo's.

I doubt on a Batchelors Motorsport Engineering alone you'd have the skillz needed to get into Motorsport at a meaningful level - put it like this McLaren wont touch anyone with a Batchelors unless its backed up by yyyyyyyyyyyyears in the F1 industry. Even with a masters they're unlikely to choose me - I'll need a PhD to get in (and its the same for a lot of top flight motorsport teams).

Secondly, you'll never know want to might want to do in 3-4-5 years, my course has completely changed my ideas of what I want to do so don't limit yourself too much.

Good luck dude :)

Ads, as usual, speaks sense.:y:

[Vinny_VSX]

I'd have to say having spuzzed out a mechanical based engineering degree just recently to go for the Mechanical Engineering side of things.... Think of it as a long term investment as employers generally want a rounded individual with a broad range of abilities... Although Motorsport engineering is very similar to mechanical engineer it could be seen by employers as being too specific - even though the course probably wont be, employers are fickle mofo's.

I doubt on a Batchelors Motorsport Engineering alone you'd have the skillz needed to get into Motorsport at a meaningful level - put it like this McLaren wont touch anyone with a Batchelors unless its backed up by yyyyyyyyyyyyears in the F1 industry. Even with a masters they're unlikely to choose me - I'll need a PhD to get in (and its the same for a lot of top flight motorsport teams).

Secondly, you'll never know want to might want to do in 3-4-5 years, my course has completely changed my ideas of what I want to do so don't limit yourself too much.

Good luck dude :)

Thanks for that Ad made me think a bit. You are so right there about changing ideas on what to do later on in life. For many a year I have wanted my own garrage, so hopefully I can stay on track with that :).

Would you say pal that if I was too chose the mechanical engineering side, that I could branch off into motorsport? Being that I would have knowledge of engines yadda yadda yadda

[Curran]

i'm doing a mechanical and automotive engineering degree.

tbh the mechanical part of the course you will learn little about cars. you will know some of the theory behind it but the the course wont concentrate on cars as there will be other people on the same course who are interested in other types of mechanical engineering. e.g. electrical. there are lots of different mechanical engineers on my course. we all do the same base subjects.

the automotive part is concentrated on cars and nothing else. this is the bit i am most interested in along with the CAD :)

if i was in your position i would probably choose the motorsport option as i couldnt do straight mechanical engineering now having done my first year. the straight mechanical engineers miss out on the best part of the course imo.

[VTR-LEE]

Mechanical mate if i had to choose out the 2.
I went for Marine Engineering only work 6 months of the year and get paid for 12 bonus

[Jazz]

My dad did a degree in mechanical engineering many years back.. learned feck all about cars tbh, more about computing materials, applied technology and various other things IIRC.

[Curran]

i would be very dissapointed in the mechanical engineering if you thought it was going to be based on cars. its not at all.

[bbewekim]

mechanical is a good idea overall, but motorsport for me. i applied at a couple of motorsport places around where i live, flipping fantastic! welding, engineering, mechanic all in one oh and racing :D. they would litterally design the parts, make the parts, fit the parts and race using them. My dream job, especially as they purely base their products for diesels (allard motorsport), hard to find companies and when you do, snap them up as its a dog eat dog world.

[MidlandVtr]

its an easy choice mate i do motorsport engineering in my last year now and if i could do it again id deffinately do mechanical just because for exactly the same course you get an engineering qualification and not a bachelor of science

[Vinny_VSX]

The mechanical engineering course is actually the motoring side of the course. A mate of mine did it and it was 2 years of learning about everything to do with motors. Which would be quite cool.

One thing that worries me about the motorsport engineering course is that the mathematical side of the course is quite intense and well to be fair I am not the greatest at maths. I got a C at GCSE. One the other hand I have always been good at working with my hands, so the pratical side of things I would be quite good at.

Hmmm

[MidlandVtr]

i got a c in maths gcse and yes the maths is well intesnse. in the last year the maths seems to be in every lesson

[Vinny_VSX]

That is what I am concerned about. If I did decide on this course, I would deffinately get some extra maths lessons :)

[MattWilliams]

I'm doing a 4 year apprenticeship in Mechanical Engineering. All I can say is the maths part like MidlandVTR said is intense. Go for it though as you'll reap the benifits soon enough. Plus there is a shortage of engineers so I would'nt be that hard to find a job.

[Barry123]

I can't stress enough how much maths is involved in an Engineering Course (except maybe trainging to be a Gas Engineer or something).

Is this at Degree level, HND, etc?
Degree is a shocker. I have a B at A-level for maths and I really struggled with the mathematics in my lectures - still boshed out the exams with a lot of revision but its not a comfortable position to be in to be honest.

[Curran]

you NEED to be good at maths to do mechanical engineering. no doubt about it. every lecture involves maths at degree level.

i got an A in A-Level maths and a B in further maths and i struggle with some of the maths in my course.

[LSOfreak]

im doing a diploma with motorsports, quite good in my opinion, you've also got alot of opportunities if you graduate from uni

[ShaneVtr]

I just want to be a mechanical engineer, goto work, work, come home from work. Iv seen the world i just want a decent job!!

Motorsport is awesome though... :P

[Bowey]

mate theres one anwser Motorsport:P come join the massives with me:)

yay and get paid peanuts! :geek:

[LSOfreak]

well different jobs in motorsport pay different rates

[Vinny_VSX]

Bump

Last week I had my interview for motor engineering and I was accepted onto the course, woop. It did seem like a good course and I know I would deffinately enjoy it.

Today though I have my interview for motorsport engineering, quite nervous to be honest as I don't know what to expect. But then also really excited as I love anything to do with motorsport so I know I would be like totally wowed by the course.

Anyways I am off to sort some stuff out ready for the interview. Wish me luck :)

[Vinny_VSX]

I got accepted onto motorsport engineering. I cannot wait, the course sounds absalutely fantastic. I will be working in castle combe along with being at college in their workshops where there is a few formula ford and other race cars there. The course is going to be really hard and I will struggle on the maths side but I cannot explain how much I want this, so it will be time to nuckle down :).

So freaking excited right now :)