Category Archives: Drivers

Student gets ‘Drive of his Life’ for Placement Achievement

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Final Year BSc(Hons) Motorsport Technology student, Matthew Brill enjoyed the ‘drive of his life’ recently courtesy of his placement company.

Matthew undertook his year-long placement with Staffordshire University partners Slidesports Race Engineering, who currently undertake a wide variety of consultancy motorsport engineering projects alongside their racing commitments in the UK and internationally.

Matthew with the Pallex Slidesports Porsche Cayman GT4 in Hungary recently. Photo: M Jenkins

Matthew with the Pallex Slidesports Porsche Cayman GT4 in Hungary recently. Photo: M Jenkins

His excellent progress and commitment to the placement didn’t go unnoticed with Slidesports providing him with an end of placement experience to remember – tuition and solo laps in a race prepared Volkswagen Scirocco.

Team Principal Mark Jenkins said,

“Matthew came to us in September 2015 and he’s made himself an invaluable member of the team, he’s worked extremely hard all season and that’s why we arranged this experience for him. I’d be happy to do that again for any placement student that showed the same calibre Matthew did.”

Slidesports have worked in partnership with Staffordshire University for nearly a decade to provide ‘live’ work based learning experience to students on the Foundation Degree and BSc(Hons) Motorsport Technology awards.

Matthew following his solo laps in a race prepared Volkswagen Scirocco. Photo: M Jenkins

Matthew following his solo laps in a race prepared Volkswagen Scirocco. Photo: M Jenkins

During Matthew’s placement year he has worked on an extensive range of cars including the Pallex Slidesports Porsche Cayman GT4, the Team BRIT Volkswagen Golf GTi and rally cars.

Matthew had very little mechanical experience prior to his placement, and feels he;

“gained an amazing amount of experience during the placement, allowing the classroom knowledge I’d gained to be put into practice.”

For more information on Staffordshire University Motorsport courses, click here, or contact enquiries@staffs.ac.uk or to contact Slidesports Race Engineering, info@slidesports.co.uk

What can Formula 1 teach business leaders?

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The World Economic Forum is taking place in Davos, the event is attended by around 2,500 delegates, who mainly consist of world leaders and business people. Doesn’t seem like the first place you would expect to find two-time Formula One World Champion, Mika Hakkinen however, does it?

  

It took the Finn seven years competing in Formula One to win his first Grand Prix in Jerez, at the 1997 European Grand Prix, he went on to take the Drivers World Championships in 1998 and 1999. 

 In this BBC News Article by Emily Young, he credits his success, at least in part, to doctor and mentor, Aki Hintsa. He spoke at the forum about the role Dr Hintsa played in helping him sharpen his focus – suggesting that his concerns off the track, were affecting his potential. It is this ‘extra edge’ that interests the delegates though – how can they perform consistently better than their rivals?

“Operating three nights in a row on just five hours’ sleep is equivalent to driving a car drunk”

Dr Hintsa’s message, along with Mika and four time champion Sebastian Vettel, seems to be simple advice to follow – you can not function to your full potential without a good night’s sleep. The other messages, including avoiding alcohol and smartphones/computers before bed, are nothing new – but it’s surprising how few of us actually act on this advice.

Really, the message here is about looking after the whole, all parts of your life to perform better. Not just about working harder, but achieving better in the same amount of time.

Here we see top athletes advising business and world leaders on how to achieve their potential, this isn’t the only aspect of motorsport that can carry across in to the wider world though; technology, marketing, business processes can all feed across too. The skills that motorsport encourages are extremely transferable to the business world.

Justin Wilson – Obituary

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Just over a month ago we wrote about the sad death of Jules Bianchi – following his serious accident at Suzuka 9 months previously. Overnight came more bad news from the motorsport community, the loss of British racing driver Justin Wilson, aged 37.

Justin Wilson, who has passed away aged 37. Source: www.autoracing1.com

Justin Wilson, who has passed away aged 37. Source: Rob Chinn/www.autoracing1.com

Justin Wilson suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of flying debris from an accident involving race leader Sage Karam during the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Karam’s nose cone hit Wilson’s helmet and cockpit area as he passed the accident scene and Wilson immediately veered left towards the wall – seemingly unconscious. He was airlifted from the scene in a coma and passed away yesterday.

Justin Wilson was born and grew up near Sheffield, he began racing karts in 1987 before moving into Formula Vauxhall with Paul Stewart Racing (Paul being the son of Scottish racer Jackie Stewart). International attention came when he won the inaugural Formula Palmer Audi championship.

He was one of the finalists in 1998 for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award – Jenson Button was the winner that year, Justin’s brother Stefan won the award himself in 2007. In 1999, he joined the FIA International Formula 3000 championship, wining the title in 2001.

He then spent a year driving in the Telefonica World Series by Nissan and tested for the Minardi Formula One team – however his height (6ft 4in) meant he was not able to race the 2002 car. He however signed for the team in 2003, when the car was designed around his frame. Although the car wasn’t the fastest, Wilson performed well against highly experienced teammate Jos Verstappen. For the last five races of that season he replaced Antonio Pizzonia at Jaguar Racing scoring a championship point at the 2003 United States Grand Prix.

Justin Wilson in the 2003 Jaguar Racing F1 car. Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/

Justin Wilson in the 2003 Jaguar Racing F1 car. Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/

For the 2004 season he moved the the American Champ Car World Series, also taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Dome-Jude S101. He won his first Champ Car race in 2005 at Toronto. In 2008, the Champ Car series and the Indy Racing League merged to form the IndyCar series. He took his maiden win in the new series at Detroit that year. During this time he also found time to compete in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona several times – winning the event with his co-drivers in 2012. A single race appearance in Formula E at Moscow and a handful of V8 Supercar races show a versatile racer willing to try his skill at any event.

Justin Wilson in the Andretti Autosport IndyCar. Source: LAT Photographic

Justin Wilson in the Andretti Autosport IndyCar. Source: LAT Photographic

Mark Glendenning writing for Racer refers to a man who;

“…commanded universal respect and affection from his peers for his speed and racecraft inside the car, and intelligence and generosity outside of it.”

Away from racing Wilson was a passionate supporter of the causes close to his heart, including promoting awareness and understanding of dyslexia – himself being a sufferer. He is survived by his wife Julia and two daughters, Jane and Jessica.

At this time it’s too early to say the impact this latest high profile death will have on the motorsport family, we’re all still in shock, especially those of us who knew well or had spent time with Justin, however as a community – even knowing that our sport is dangerous – we need to look as the recent accidents to see if there are lessons to be learnt, steps to be taken, design changes to be made – and, most importantly, how to keep those competing in the sport we love, people who have become family and friends, as safe as possible.

Quote Source: Racer Magazine: Justin Wilson 1978 – 2015