Exploring!

On Saturday morning, Jack, Will, Jason and I relaxed and (re)watched Senna.  If you haven’t seen this movie documentary, you must do so now.  We’ve been setting up our laptops to play on the TV and using our awesome UE Boom Infiniti-Red Bull Racing edition Bluetooth speakers.

One of our UE Boom I-RBR edition speakers

These speakers are unbelievable.  You can use two of them in a stereo mode, and they make for awesome additions to our flat.  We got them when the three of us were in the Paddock Club at Silverstone as VIP guests during the British Grand Prix.

Paddock Club at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix in July

The First Week

Phenomenal.  That’s how I’d describe my first days in the design office.  I’ve been thrown right into the mix, which is where the biggest difference about working in the offices of Infiniti-Red Bull Racing compared to my previous experiences comes into play.  The amount of resources and speed and efficiency at which they operate is incredible.  Personnel, hardware, software, IT support, training…we are able to get anything we need to do our jobs nearly instantly.

I was tasked pretty much immediately, and my previous blog post mentions the type of work that I’m doing.  Being able to sink my teeth into projects so quickly is not something I’m used to.  It typically takes days to get software installed, for example.  The process side of things is just quicker here, and I’ve been able to hit the ground running.  The first week included sessions on the simulator with a younger driver, which is a lot of fun, as well as validation being immersed into the data acquisition and analytical software packages.  For me, this is extremely exciting.  I’m already using Matlab on a daily basis, looking at telemetry, and doing a bit of refresh training on NX (CAD software).  This computer work is all within the context of the cars and the simulator, meaning that my work results are tangible.  My deliverables will have measurable impact, which makes my job more stimulating than simply staring at a bunch of screens.

Working into the evening hours, #BecauseRacecar

The Beginning of Something Special

FINALLY!!  The big day has arrived!  Jason, Will and I all got up early to make sure we were awake and ready for our first day working in Formula One.  Fortunately we didn’t have to report until nearly 10am today.  Our real workdays will start an hour or more earlier, of course.  We were super excited as we drove to work for the first time.

Pulling into work for the first time!

When we got there, we met the film crew and did a bit more arrival filming.  Rob Gray, one of the chief designers who had been there throughout the assessment in July as a judge, met us first and welcomed us to Infiniti-Red Bull Racing.  We then went through some more HR stuff, got a short tour of the facilities, and went on to lunch with some of the industrial placement students.  These other students are in their third or fourth year of university study, so they’re all slightly younger than us (much younger than me, of course haha).  They have been at I-RBR for a month to two months, and they were great to talk to, very welcoming and keen to discuss backgrounds and interests.  Two of them, Gleb and Sam, are also part of the vehicle dynamics group, which is where I will be working.

Arrival to the UK

Wednesday, 10 September 2014 - Sunday, 14 September 2014

On Wednesday, I finally arrived in the UK, 2 days behind schedule due to delays in getting my visa.  I departed Philly at 10:15pm and arrived at 10:15am local time at Heathrow.  Flying on a 787 was a pretty awesome surprise, and it was mesmerizing to watch how much the wings flex.  For those of you who aren’t aerospace nerds, the 787 is the first jumbo jet to use composites as the primary structural materials, and this will change how planes are built.

View of 787 wing over UK