Race Mechanic Thread

bump

thanks op you're the best

This is my last year as a high-school student and I want to follow a dutch university to study automotive engineering. My goal is motorsports and I was wondering what important stuff should I join or do to go there. I want to move to electric cars, be one step ahead and maybe prepare for a domain in Formula E or similar types of motorsports in the future. Pass me the knowledge OP, tell me the hints and secrets.

Start with reading the paste file :^)

(Not op)

Current Formula E rules allow for teams to develop their own powertrain and maybe their own electronics too (don't quote me on this one tho, last year the electronics were all in charge of McLaren and I don't remember if it's still like that), so there is plenty of room for R&D positions in most teams.

Needless to say, you should focus on car-related electronic studies.
Look in the document I posted in the OP (and read everything in it if you didn't do that already), open the RaceStaff link, there is a job vacancy for Roborace which is the side event of FE and has pretty much the same engineering requirements, check that out so you can see what are the skills they are looking for.

You can also try your way with suppliers of electronic equipment like Cosworth, Magneti Marelli or McLaren so you can develop useful skills for your end goal.

There are so many things you can do as an electronic engineer, just keep in mind you will hardly ever have any responsibility on the car, like deciding setups and stuff like that.

You better find yourself a good field to specialise into, because in big teams there is not a guy in charge or everything, but a lot of guys in charge of many different things, like comms, telemetry, race strategy, engine management, networks and stuff like that.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, but engineering is not my field, I can only speak for what I have learnt by talking with engineers and looking at online job advertisements.

Thanks for keeping the thread bumped, guys

Bumping with another alignment measurement technique.

This is one of the many variants of hubstands you will find on race cars, it has been set up to check alignment by measuring the distance from one end of the hubstand to the corresponding end on the opposite one (see the measuring tapes going under the car).

This technique works just as good as the other one, the only "problem" is that the result you get is a total toe value for left and right rather than the single toe value for each individual wheel.

With the technique shown here you get, let's say, 2mm of toe out, but with pic related you will get 4mm of toe out. In this case you just have to make sure the steering wheel is straight (not a problem with rear wheels) and divide the result in half.

In the pic you can also see the hubstand is resting on a scale (notice the electric cable coming out of it), but the scale is sitting directly on the ground.
Of course this situation is not ideal, but works good enough for amateur levels.

Pros of this technique:
- less stuff to use (no poles and fishing lines)
- faster
- just as precise as the other technique

Cons:
- if the steering wheel is not straight, you won't notice it by the measurements alone.
- usually needs two people to execute