Looking for some help and guidence. 5

[jisu009]

This one could be a first in here....

I am currently 26 years old, I have been in sales for about 6 years and done fairly well.

I am a high school grad, with no college.

I want to go back to school and earn a degree in Automotive Engineering. I have an undying passion for all things fast...I want to tranfer that passion into my career.

I want to engineer shocks or suspension systems for race cars. F-1 maybe?

I know this is an unusual post, but if someone could possibly lend me some insight on where to start, that would be wonderful!

-Jeremy Selg

 

[jisu009]

I have the books you mentioned MintJulep. Good stuff! Again, I appreciate the comments and imput. What are the rules about cross posting? Can I post a link to this thread in the automotive forum?

Thanks guys!

 

[GregLocock]

Please don't cross post this particular topic.

In general, cross posting needs to be done very carefully, and is generally innapropriate for non technical discussions. This is the right forum for this subject.



Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[jmw]

PS: In the UK a lot of the F1 teams started using the RAE Farnborough wind tunnel and now many teams have their own wind tunnels.

Aerodynamics is a big part of the design of any component in the air flow which would also include the structural elements of the suspension.

A veriety of diferent disciplines all coming together which suggests to me that some familiartity with the other disciplines will be key to becoming an effective member of the design team.


JMW

http://www.viscoanalyser.com

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[PSE]

Jisu009,

You might start by joining the SAE (Society for Automotive Engineers). Engineering within a race environment is a tight nit group at the high levels. Historical knowledge is of prime importance in terms of setup and improvement for a car on a certain track under certain weather conditions etc. You will have to become "known" by some of the existing pro's before you have a chance at entering that type of environment. That is unless you have the resources to start your own team. Mechanical, electrical, aeronautics, all would be applicable in terms of your engineering interest. If you want F1 you better have a couple of languages under your belt as well.

In any case, good luck and regards,

 

[buzzp]

Beggar said something you should consider in selecting a school. Many have programs such as mini baja, mini F1, and other sorts of racing cars where the students build the car from scratch with a professor as the mentor. This could give you some great contacts, not to mention experience.

 

[Heckler]

Buzzp has a great suggestion. What you should do is research what schools have automotive focused engineering programs. You could check on SAE's website for the Mini Baja and Formula results for this year. I competed in Mini Baja and our team did extremely well for a non-automotive school. We fielded two vehicles placing 1st & 7th in the west and 2nd and 4th in the Midwest. I specialized in suspension design. Our school has a great SAE club due to the local industry and college support. One of the key instructors specializes in engine design so that was a be motivation. He's one of a handful of people in the US that has built/Raced purpose built motors. His current project is to capture the landspeed record for streamliner motorcycles. Anyway, the college competitions are a great experience to what one would encounter in the "real world of racing". Personally, I've also raced my Datsun 510 that I built for the autocross circuit. I guess what I'm trying to say is you're the that can make it happen. Best of luck

Vince

 

[ml13]

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my alma mater, Clemson, has a Mototsports Engineering program. See this link:

http://www.clemson.edu/centers/brooks/miaarticle.htm

and search around there a little.

There a lot of NASCAR race shops here, just north of Charlotte.

Good luck.

 

[dcampbellpc]

I have my BSME from a Lawrence Technological University, just outside Detroit. They offer a Masters in Automotive Engineering, but you'll obviously need you BS first. Even in the Mechanical Bachelor program, you can get a specialized degree in Thermal Sciences (Thermo, Heat Transfer, etc.), Mechanics, Electrical, or Automotive. The curriculum is only slightly different, in that you chose your electives based on your specialization. So, for an automotive, you would take classes like vehicle dynamics, vibrations, etc. Also, wherever you go, get involved with the school's race teams, like Formula SAE or the like. Great experience and a lot of fun. At LTU, you get class credit (Senior Project) for participations too.

http://www.ltu.edu

 

[SusTestEng]

I've been down this road!

1st: MOVE! Sell everything you have and move to Europe. Gain Citizenship or Work permit in England or Germany.

2nd: Get your Mechancal Engineering degree from one of the well known schools in England(you know the language already)

3rd: Get job with one of the suppliers that deal with motorsports, like ZF Sachs.

4th: Get snatched up by a team that you work with on a regular basis(ZF and Ferrari work together on clutches and dampers)

5th: Get burned out by all the fast paced and time critical projects, and endless travel all over the world.

6th: Come back to the US and get a job at an OEM and enjoy the slighlty more simple life!


I know this is sort of a smart@$$ response, but it is very true. The racing industry in a whole is a terrible place to work, unless your whole life is that car....no family, no friends, no vacation, no home....nothing besides eating, sleeping, and breathing that race team's desires. I don't want to discourage you, I had the same drive when I was doing it, but it is a HUGE commitment. And to top it all off, the pay is terrible for the hours worked. On average if you add it all up working for an F1 team, your pay would end up being about $2-3/hour...that's no joke! But that doesn't really matter, because you have absolutly no time to yourself to enjoy the money you make. The only time any of this might be different is if you are the head guy.... but then the stress will kill you before you are 50.

Cheers and good luck with your future! I wouldn't trade my time doing it, but no way would I ever do it again!

 

[SusTestEng]

jmw,

"As i understand it, in F1, springs and shocks went the way of he dinasaur. ... function of the tyres and the wishbone; hence materials science is likely to be a big feature....

I am sure the automotive guys will set me right on this."

This statement has a good deal of truth, yet not as much as some think. Yes, the tyre is one of the main suspension components on the car. The tyre is what accounts for almost half of the body roll and suspension movement. At the same time though, the setup can be very different from track to track. Some track require massive amounts of down force, where a severly overdamped and high sprung car is required. On the otherhand some track are very bumpy and low down force is the key, where the suspension can get pretty soft in relation to the prior situation. So... springs and dampers still play a major role in the setup of the car, but tyre suppliers work very closely with the team's suspension engineers(actual wishbone development) to insure that their tyre is being used to it's full potential. This is the case with Michelin and Renault as of 2 yrs ago, and Bridgestone and Ferrari as always.

This is rather way off topic, but you can see that, yes, materials is a great background to have, but good old dynamics is still a big part of the teams. The only problem is that recently, the teams are really stressing the point that they want almost 99% of all the components built inhouse, so there is no outside eyes and ears. So getting into the teams through a supplier may become very difficult in the near future. I still think that the highest number of race/development engineers in F1 teams are originally from the tyre suppliers or the major parent company or OEM backing the team.

 

[jmw]

Thanks SusTestEng.

JMW

http://www.viscoanalyser.com

Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.

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