jobs in motorsport

[madmalc]

hi everyone hope you all had a good christmas

just wondering if anyone can give me any pointers, im looking for a job in some form of motorsport as a full time job
im currently working full time as a mot tester and on my days off for a kit car company welding and fabricating the chassis. i have grown up around cars and is all i have ever known, i just feel so restricted doing just general servicing and mechanics when i am capable of so much more
i am qualified in all areas of mechanics and vehicle repair along with over 8 years experience i have extremely good refrences to back my compitence up
i have also had alot of experince of building high performance engines, optical wheel alighnment, tig and mig welding, fabrication, milling machines and lathes i have qualification in CAD and can demonstrate my skills in this area.

any information would be great
thanks lee

[Herman Toothrot]

Good lurking, 35 months and one post

Sounds like you'd need to look at either team mechanic posts or workshop fabrication type posts (that you may find no more rewarding that what you do; just has a bit more prestige). Keep in mind if you land what may appear to be a perfect mechanicing job in F1 you won't be home for more than a month or two a year. I'd say write a CV with professional help and send it to all the teams you can think of and be prepared to relocate.

[GreigM]

Paying jobs in motorsport are sadly few and far between, you'll find that the mechanics working on most race teams are doing it for the love of it, rather than the rewards. The few paying jobs there are with big semi-pro teams and upwards will mostly have been earned through years of doing it on a voluntary basis as above.

I'd imagine the real high-paying world-travelling F1 jobs are staffed with guys with Mechanical Engineering/Aerospace/IT degrees and very few who aren't fairly highly qualified (at least the ones who get near the F1 cars, although I suppose they do need guys to service the trucks).

[Herman Toothrot]

GreigM said:

Paying jobs in motorsport are sadly few and far between, you'll find that the mechanics working on most race teams are doing it for the love of it, rather than the rewards. The few paying jobs there are with big semi-pro teams and upwards will mostly have been earned through years of doing it on a voluntary basis as above.

I'd imagine the real high-paying world-travelling F1 jobs are staffed with guys with Mechanical Engineering/Aerospace/IT degrees and very few who aren't fairly highly qualified (at least the ones who get near the F1 cars, although I suppose they do need guys to service the trucks).

They don't operate as charities, they do pay. My old nextdoor neighbour when I lived in Oxford worked for Renault F1 as a mechanic, he rented the house because so much travel was involved, he said there was no point buying as he spent such little time in the country. Still he had a nice motorbike, nice sports car and found money to rent a house at £1300 a month.

[PaulG40]

A mechanic's job is about circa £26-30k a year iirc in F1 and your looking at 60hours a week. Ive a mate who worked for a lowly race team in Grantham, then got prodrive as a machinist, then bagged a job at Delta Composites near Brawn, he recently left to set up on his own doing composites. I believe he was on around £36k at Delta.

The hardest thing is to get in the F1 circle, once in your sorted and can move around alot I believe.

[XDA]

One if my mates works for a BTCC team as a Race Engineer - You usually need a Motorsport Engineering BEng degree as a bare minimum. My mate studied Motorsport Engineering for 4 years iirc and then started off at the bottom i.e washing the cars and chief tea maker etc.

Competition for these types of jobs is massive, as its a dream job for a petrolhead.

[williamp]

yes competition is massive, so start by volunteering. Dont think anything is beneath you- be prepared to get involved, and get your hands dirtier then before. It may seem like a backward step volunteering for your weekend to do womething which you would'nt bother to accept as paid work, but stick at it- get along to race meetings, get a name for yourself as a hard working, professionl person who is useful to have around.

Make sure you start to meet others, and get invovled there too. Also look for teams which are close to where you live- you'll be surprised by the unusual locations of some of the teams.

[GreigM]

Herman Toothrot said:

GreigM said:

Paying jobs in motorsport are sadly few and far between, you'll find that the mechanics working on most race teams are doing it for the love of it, rather than the rewards. The few paying jobs there are with big semi-pro teams and upwards will mostly have been earned through years of doing it on a voluntary basis as above.

I'd imagine the real high-paying world-travelling F1 jobs are staffed with guys with Mechanical Engineering/Aerospace/IT degrees and very few who aren't fairly highly qualified (at least the ones who get near the F1 cars, although I suppose they do need guys to service the trucks).

They don't operate as charities, they do pay. My old nextdoor neighbour when I lived in Oxford worked for Renault F1 as a mechanic, he rented the house because so much travel was involved, he said there was no point buying as he spent such little time in the country. Still he had a nice motorbike, nice sports car and found money to rent a house at £1300 a month.

I wasn't meaning F1 - of course the employees there are paid, I was talking of the hundreds of other race series/teams in the UK - very few of these will have paying mechanics positions

[madmalc]

thanks for all your replies i dont expect to go straight in at the top nor do i belive anyone is below me everyone has a job be it washing cars or building them i dont mind valenteering i just want to be given the chance i already have a profesionally writen cv so i have a start just wasnt sure if there was some for of recuitment compant that dealed with this sort of thing

[PaulG40]

GreigM said:

Herman Toothrot said:

GreigM said:

Paying jobs in motorsport are sadly few and far between, you'll find that the mechanics working on most race teams are doing it for the love of it, rather than the rewards. The few paying jobs there are with big semi-pro teams and upwards will mostly have been earned through years of doing it on a voluntary basis as above.

I'd imagine the real high-paying world-travelling F1 jobs are staffed with guys with Mechanical Engineering/Aerospace/IT degrees and very few who aren't fairly highly qualified (at least the ones who get near the F1 cars, although I suppose they do need guys to service the trucks).

They don't operate as charities, they do pay. My old nextdoor neighbour when I lived in Oxford worked for Renault F1 as a mechanic, he rented the house because so much travel was involved, he said there was no point buying as he spent such little time in the country. Still he had a nice motorbike, nice sports car and found money to rent a house at £1300 a month.

I wasn't meaning F1 - of course the employees there are paid, I was talking of the hundreds of other race series/teams in the UK - very few of these will have paying mechanics positions

Most I know are paid, they work for the garage/team but the race weekends aren't paid for.