How were you involved with the Formula Student competition and what made you join?
My involvement with Formula Student is far from being standard, as officially, I was never part of a Formula Student Team. There were 2 teams at my formal university (Széchenyi István Egyetem), one which made the car (Arrabona Racing Team), and one just for engine and powertrain development (SZEngine), as a kind of supplier for FS teams. I joined the engine team as I realised early, that hands on experience will be the key for moving forward, and it was simply fun. For a true petrolhead, playing tennis in your free time is just not an option…After graduating I continued supporting more teams, e.g. BME Motorsport as a sponsor through BDN Automotive helping them in engine calibration and teaching about combustion analysis.
What was your biggest challenge during FS and how did you overcome it?
Formula Student introduced us to the motorsport lifestyle, which is pretty intense. Working 20 hours a day, forget about free weekends, or anything else, but the Team, and the race car. The biggest challenge is to stay focused, ambitious, and manage your time, but as I mentioned earlier, FS just gave us an introduction to it. Later on the career in the motorsport and high class automotive industry is more or less the same. It is, and will always be a hard work, but extremely rewarding!
Tell us about your current role!
Together with some former team members we founded BDN Automotive, and currently developing an AI based real-time combustion control system to increase the efficiency and performance of engines operating in varying ambient conditions, such as Hillclimb racing, or endurance. Besides that, I am working at Koenigsegg Automotive, where I am responsible for the powertrain software development, and engine mapping.
After competing, what made you go on to study an MSc with Cranfield University?
UK and the Motorsport Valley is the heart of this industry, and Cranfield has a proven track record in Motorsport Engineering. It is one, or maybe the only option to get into Formula One(TM), or any serious level motorsport, so all the best engineers from all the FS teams around the world meet in Cranfield, to finish their journey.
What aspects of your course did you enjoy the most?
Professors are amazing and helpful, the modules are super exciting and hands-on. Cranfield’s philosophy is that experiment and theory need to go hand in hand during the taught modules, and later during the Group Design Project and thesis projects as well. We used the facilities such as the wind tunnels, the impact centre – where the majority of the F1 crash tests are done –, the test track, the tyre test rigs, and many more smaller or larger test equipment to understand what they taught us the day before. The modules and the Group Design Project are held by professionals with relevant experience in the industry, who are always up to date with the latest technologies. Furthermore, during the weekends, we usually helped Mr. Temple – the course director – to fix his pre-war race cars and bikes, which made us become a true community, just like doing FS 80 years before!
What did Cranfield University’s course offer over others?
Besides the exceptional lexical and experimental knowledge and experience, Cranfield offers one more thing, which is its most important advantage: network. As all of you know, Cranfield Motorsport has been present in the motorsport sector for decades, where most of the current lead engineers in F1 graduated as well. The engagement of Cranfield alumni is pretty high, we had guest lectures every week from motorsport professionals such as Pat Symmonds! Clive also helps a lot finding the right people to support your thesis project, or finding a job. All in all, network, network, network, this is the key of becoming someone in this industry!
How did your experiences at Formula Student and Cranfield University help prepare you for your career so far?
Both experiences taught me how to become a curious, open-minded engineer and gave me the relevant engineering skillset. None of those will teach you how to use a specific CAD software or so, as this is not the point of activities / education at that level, but you will learn how to think, and what to do with the results you have. Cranfield gave me a brief introduction of all the different departments of race car development, such as vehicle dynamics, aerodynamics, powertrain, or advanced materials, which in my opinion is a must for every motorsport engineer. We must be able to speak the same language, however, everyone will specialise in a tiny segment of the race car, which then happened during the thesis project.
What skills and knowledge do you see as essential for young engineers to succeed in their future careers?
As an engineer, common sense is crucial. Engineers can be a little lazy, which results in the ambition of solving problems with the minimum effort. This requires thinking and creativity in the same way as it does when rules and regulations must be followed. It is crucial to be able to think in systems and assemblies, not components, as every engineering decision comes with a drawback. Designing a perfect system is impossible, but finding the best balance is a great challenge.
It is not enough to design something, as if you cannot sell it, it will be useless. This could mean actual selling, or convincing your supervisors about your idea, but communication, presentation and problem solving skills are just as important as being a good engineer, as you need to solve problems as a team, not as an individual.
What advice would you give to young engineers seeking employment post-grad?
Networking is the key to your future! Talk to everyone, go out for race events, and give your CVs to all the engineers you meet. Keep pushing as hard as you can, be up to date with the current technologies and regulations, but the most important is never give up. Many companies have graduate programmes, or thesis projects, which is also a good opportunity to gain some experience, or maybe get a permanent position there. When you are in FS, sometimes these are not options anymore, as your time is limited, but many companies appreciate the Formula Student years even more, than a previous employment – just like Koenigsegg does.
Please can you provide a recommendation for anyone thinking of taking part in the competition!
Formula Student is an engineering competition, but at the same time, an introduction to the motorsport world as well. It is definitely not for everyone, but if your blood pressure goes up when you see a race car, then apply to your local team, forget that you will not sleep during the next couple of years, and the amount of memories, experience and joy will compensate your efforts. It is very important not to forget that this is the place where you not only allowed, but sometimes forced to learn by your mistakes, which at the end drives the team forward! Have fun and become a member of our family!