Welcome!

The purpose of this blog is to inform those who are interested about my journey as one of three students from around the world who earned placements at Infiniti-Red Bull Racing as a result of the Infiniti Performance Engineering Academy. Family, friends, colleagues, aspiring engineers, and any other followers are welcome to visit this page and, if desired, give me feedback or ask questions. It is an effort to streamline documenting the next 12 months for all of these varying audiences, some of which do not participate in social media.

I have never written a journal, never written a blog. This is a first for me. This being the most meaningful and fantastic opportunity I could ever dream of, I would like to share best I can the details of what goes on in my day-to-day during the academy. I am incredibly honored to have won a placement at Infiniti-Red Bull Racing, and I seek to make this opportunity worth everything it possibly can be.

I will write once or twice a week, depending on the accumulation of events and catching up on the previous few days. If you'd like, you can sign up for email notifications for when I create a new post! See the link toward the bottom of this page. I hope you all enjoy, and thank you so much for visiting!

Thursday 5 March 2015

Welcome to the 2015 IPEA

If you asked me a year ago where I’d be today, there’s no way I would have even thought to suggest living in the United Kingdom and working in Formula One.
 


 

When I found out about the Infiniti Performance Engineering Academy late last March, I knew I had to apply.  It seemed like a perfect fit: a unique and high profile program allowing a full year of experience in Formula One and highlighting the technical and people exchange between road cars and race cars.  Despite my enthusiasm and confidence in my abilities, I never thought I’d get past the first stage, let alone win.  But this was my shot, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make something of myself and my passions.  I’m glad I didn’t let the opportunity pass me by, as it seems to have worked out quite brilliantly.  Mental!



Meeting the legend.
 
I’ve really enjoyed my tasking at Infiniti Red Bull Racing thus far.  The past two months have been exceptionally engaging.  I’ve never had such an awesome blend of challenging and fun projects.  In addition to working on some nice open-ended mechanical design, I’ve been able to work with aerodynamic map data and aero test planning, test virtual components on the simulator, characterize suspension geometry and perform simple kinematic analysis, create a new vehicle model for simulation, and participate in the support of the race engineering and strategy teams.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the variety of work and the challenges that have come with it.  There is so much to learn!



 
Being a part of this prestigious culture is pure excitement and thrill.  Above all, it is a huge honor to work alongside incredible talent and to truly feel like part of the team.




With the launch of the academy this year, I feel it to be my duty to encourage anybody who has a passion for motorsports, for automotive technology, and for being pushed to the absolute limit to apply to the academy.
 

This year features new opportunities, given the groundwork laid over the last year.  The successful candidates will not only work at the Infiniti Red Bull Racing factory in Milton Keynes, but they will also spend four months at Infiniti in Cranfield connecting the dots between road and track.  Five candidates will be chosen this year!


The highlight of the application this year is a 90-second video answering: “Why do you deserve this opportunity of a lifetime?”



My advice for applicants is to be yourself, and take your time in making a quality video in terms of its content.  This is your chance to really show who you are.  You have the floor for a minute and a half to tell some of the best engineers in the world why you deserve to be here.  Answering a “why” question isn’t easy.  Beyond what you bring to the table, what do you hope to learn?  Why do you want to learn it here?  What is your ambition, and how does this opportunity speak to that?

These are only my personal suggestions.  See more at the application site.  How you answer is completely up to you, but however you do it, make it count!  The application window closes on May 22.

There’s a lot more to being successful in this competition than your knowledge or maybe that you’ve worked in a Formula Student team.  So in an upcoming post, I will advise and provide suggestions for how to become a successful engineer, whether that be in the motorsport/automotive industries or elsewhere, based on my own experiences and understandings.  Keep an eye out or subscribe to the blog!

Also, I’d like to take the opportunity to answer questions in a future blog post.  I’m more than happy to help out as I feel appropriate!  So do not hesitate to leave your questions or feedback in a comment below.
On behalf of Jason, Will, and myself, good luck to all applicants!










6 comments:

  1. Hi Eric,

    I look forward to your post regarding the program. Sadly I am to young at this stage and not in a position to apply, although I'd love to take this opportunity to learn as much as I can about the academy for when I am eligible. I don't have any particular questions, just what you have found has/had prepared you the most and what I could be doing to equally prepare. Any insight and tips are extremely appreciated, thanks again!

    Regards,

    Jackson

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    1. Thanks for your continued following, Jackson! Great that you're reaching out early. I will absolutely address the things you're talking about in an upcoming post in the next week and a half. Keep an eye out!

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    2. Jackson, please check out my latest entry for a plethora of advice and suggestions!

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  2. eric first of all thank you very much for those great insights , what would you suggest for a guy who is not very much accessible with Motorsport or any form of racing.I live in india, i would also like to know what kind of technical skills would they be more interested in like specifically in Aerodynamics like learning CFD simulation on ANSYS would that help? thanks i would love to interact with you in personal

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    1. Thanks for your comments, Deepak! I'll go into more detail in an upcoming post, but for now I will say that focusing on fundamentals of the science behind racecar engineering is a must. The rest will come. Analytical software tools, especially those based on complex numerical methods like FEA and CFD, are very useful for implementing your knowledge. However, using them before learning the fundamentals behind them will get you into some trouble. So, there's an important balance to strike if you want to go far. Great question, and I'll elaborate more soon!

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    2. Deepak, please check out my latest entry for a ton of advice and recommendations!

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