RobinSherwood

Hi all,

I meant to post this question last week but ended up having to go away.

I dropped my 15 year old godson at Prodrive this morning to start a weeks work experience in the Rally Car Department.

(and yes before anyone asks I did consider locking him in the spare room and trying to pass myself off as 15 )

Now he knows how to make a good cup of tea and being serious he knows to ask lots of questions and show he is interested (he has already done 2 weeks at Fox Motorsport during the summer working on Lola and Chevron racing cars)......

but does anyone here have any tips I can give him this evening to help him make the MOST of the rest of his week at Prodrive?

Any suggestions gratefully received and many thanks in advance to anyone with ideas etc.,..

Regards,

Robin

SirFozzalot

Lucky git!

Daz34

Wear trousers and a jacket with deep pockets

RobinSherwood

Well I did wonder if they would notice if I got him to sneak my WR1 into the workshop for a bit of a makeover

Has anyone got any serious suggestions though?

Robin

SPIKE LIKE MIKE

find out where they keep the keys!!! dissapear out for a few laps at lunchtime

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Doesn't look like anyone has any sensible questions or suggestions for you, what a suprise.!!!!!

Tidgy

try to pick up any lieterature he can,

work his nutts off and jump at the chance for any overtime etc, you never know he may be back there for a holiday job if he makes a good impression and asks nicely

Rioja

He could always decide which type of job he would like when he leaves school; electrical, engines, chassis design etc. then ask those engineers how they got where they are today? it may give him a clearer career path and showing a bit of aptitude and initiative never hurts.

Secondly, warn him of the 'little pranks'; being sent to the stores for a left handed hammer or a 'long weight' is always a favorite.

RobinSherwood

Tidgy - Thanks for that, good idea I will make sure he knows that if they ask him to stay late he only needs call me and let me know what later time to pick him up.

Rioja - Thanks also, he wants to go to university and do a degree in car design and engineering (with a motorsport bias). He is especially interested in suspension design so I will suggest he mentions that.

Though that career path is a backup to his potential career as a racing driver - and no this is not a schoolboys dream - I went out to Valencia with him last week for him to test for Formula BMW where he passed his ARDS test, so at 15 he has a National B Race Licence he cant use till he is 16! We are now waiting to hear if he gets invited back for the Formula BMW Scholarship Final.

Regards,

Robin

StickyMicky

get him to ask why so many classics blow up

the definate answer
also ask about scottish police and ppp exhausts

StickyMicky

must admit, when i were a lad i wanted to be a rally driver

it did not happen, my dad said he could not afford a rally car
i have to make do with drifting my scooby in barriers and smashing it up

Reality

Make sure he talks to as many people as he can and for him not to be too Shy.

Of all the work experience guys I've seen I would only ever get back the ones that showed some sort of confidence (as a person). Not to be confused with someone that is a cocky little $hit - so be careful .

If he gets chatting to folk get him to drop in the odd "ScoobyNet is full of unhelpful saddos" he'll probably get on fine .

tmo

Top stuff hope he gets the re-call.

MickeyWRX

very lucky young lad, he'll be working with John Barnes then (smashing bloke)!

RobinSherwood

Thanks TMO we all have our fingers crossed on that one!

RobinSherwood

Thanks everyone for the input. Seems I didn't need to worry, he had a great time yesterday, got on with everyone well including finding out about the other technicians weekend projects etc.,.....

He's in the race shop and isn't allowed to tell me what he has been working on , but apparently he did get brownie points yesterday morning for being dropped of in a WR1

Thanks again everyone

Robin

RobinSherwood

tmo - and anyone else who is interested

Tom has been selected to go back to Valencia for the Formula BMW Scholarship finals which will now take place towards the end of October.

Interestingly they had 15 places for the final but have decided to only invite 12 back, so we know he is not there to make up the numbers.

We also have a firm offer from a front running team for him to race next season (subject to finding the appropriate backing of course).

Kind Regards

Robin

Houghton

iTrader: (1)

He sounds a very lucky lad but can't be all luck, he's obviously got talent and initiative too. Good luck for his future

Gerry

craigdmcd

iTrader: (2)

1: Has he previously raced karts, what's his name if he has and what class(es) has he raced in?, and how deep are your pockets if he is asked to race the Formula BMW!

2: When in Prodrive, make sure he is always assertive, try and only ask sensible questions, and most of all enjoy himself. If a technician gets too technical, tell him not to look on with a blank expression, but to ask the Tech to express it in layman's terms as he doesn't quite understand. Any good tech worth his salt will always be happy to teach an intelligent lad who is eager to learn. Also ask him to ask the Recruitment Dept what qualifications they look for to take youngsters on, as he is already in one of the best Race/Rally teams in the country, possibly the world, why do more than you have to, to gain employment.

Finally, my fee for this nugget of information is a set of front and rear Prodrive mudflaps

PS, could you please let me know about the Qualifications bit as my Nephew has similar aspirations

Steve777

iTrader: (8)

He needs to decide which area he wants to work in an show an interest in that

i.e. Support technician

Mechanical technician

or where the real money is electrics and electronics

Steve

RobinSherwood

Guys he did the work experience back in August! The post was jus an update on the Formula BMW ! But thanks anyway for the input it is much appreciated.

To answer you questions Craig he only started in Karts 5 months ago, only at club level racing Rotax Junior. At a test day, in the wet, after his 3rd kart meeting his father was approached by a representative from one of the front running Formula BMW teams with an offer for Tom to race for them in 2006.

In order to make this happen he needed to go to Valencia for the F BMW licence course at the beginning of August, his dad called me and I sorted it out and took him.

As I have already said he passed got his ARDS test etc.,.. and has subsequently been invited back for the F BMW scholarship final at the end of October. This is obviously pretty exceptional bearing in mind his lack of experience and the fact the other kids were all racing karts at national and even international level and most had won championships (not to mention the fact the had mostly been racing karts since they were 6 or 7 years old). We have had feedback from the team that BMW Motorsport were 'shell shocked' by his performance as he has so little experience.

So as you can see he has not followed the normal path to where we are now. This is of course due to luck at being 'spotted' and a pretty massive amount of natural talent on Tom's part. It is also worth noting that it is not just his natural talent behind the wheel that has attracted attention - below is a quote from the guy who spotted his talent:-

“The key thing that makes Tom special is that he is a complete package. He has immense natural ability and can adapt his race craft to suit situations as they arise. He is very smooth when at speed through corners, never wrestles with the kart or car he is driving and importantly he combines this with an ability to listen to instructions and quickly process them to drive even faster. In addition to this he is an immensely likeable young man who is able to communicate with people at every level and present himself in a positive way. He shows no signs of histrionics when things go wrong, he just gets on with the job in hand and despite every thing he has achieved so far (for instance being short listed for the Formula BMW Scholarship) he shows no signs of becoming big headed. I believe he has a huge amount of untapped talent and that with the right backing has the potential to go far in Motorsport.”

As for finance the team who are offering him a drive want him in the car enough that they have comitted themselves to finding 50% of the sponsorship for him to race for them.

Other than that he has a group of three people, his father, myself and another mutual friend all working on his behalf to make this happen. There is no pot of money but the media where he lives in East Anglia has already taken a great interest so with a lot of hard work from us we can hopefully raise the rest of the sponsorship that is needed.

It will obviously help if he does win a scholarship as that is £34k towards his drive and of course it will also help attract other sponsors.

His name is Tom Dunstan.

You don't say how old your nephew is but from the massive amount I have learnt in the last 6 months get him into Karts asap if he is not racing them already (Tom's lack of experience compared to kids who have been racing since they were 6 or 7 has made things harder). When he is old enough (15/16) enrol him in the F BMW licence course and if he is any good he should get noticed and you will be in a position to either be approached by teams or to approach them yourself.

I've tried to keep this fairly brief on here but if you want to know more feel free to PM me or contact me offline.

Kind regards,

Robin