Danielle Farnfield: time to race!

Course studied: Level 3 Engineering National Diploma in Vehicle Technology – 2 years
                                   Level 4/5 Foundation Degree – 2 years
                                   Level 6 Top-up BSc Motorsport

Employment: Engineering Manager at West Surrey Racing

During my time studying at Brooklands College, I enjoyed a three-week work experience placement at McLaren Automotive, followed by two weeks at West Surrey Racing, with the latter leading to full-time employment.

I was part of the College’s racing team participating in the MSV Championships, as well as personally participating in the Henry Surtees Karting event.

After achieving a merit grade for my two-year Foundation Degree in Motorsport Engineering, I combined working for West Surrey Racing with continuing my studies, allowing me to ‘top up’ my degree.

My typical day:

On a day-to-day basis, I am based in the factory, where my role is the Engineering Manager. I primarily oversee the build of the race cars and ensure that health and safety standards are maintained. I am also responsible for looking after the tachos in our vehicles, ensuring that we are compliant with all of the regulations that we must lawfully abide by.

Preparation

A typical weekend of racing will start on the Thursday prior to the event. Working as part of a team, we set up the garages and the network in which performance data is stored on. We will also ensure that the radio communications are ready for the racing team.

A weekend of racing!

Saturday is practice and qualifying day. The data engineers are responsible for ensuring there is nothing untoward in the data in their car whilst also being responsible for the recording of video footage during practice. Sunday is the big day – race day! Three races are run on a Sunday for the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).

A weekend of racing is practically a case of just constantly checking data after each race, looking at the finer details to make sure everything will run smoothly in the following race. At the end of a weekend, a data engineers’ report is completed; this report summarises the performance of the car over the weekend of racing and if any issues were encountered.