Students from West Suffolk College are being inspired to get involved in car racing, as the job market for UK Motorsport is looking healthier than ever.

Last week, 60 Motor Vehicle students got the chance to meet Richard Egger, Regional Development Officer for Go Motorsport and amateur racing driver Hannah Ellis, a 22-year-old teaching assistant from Priory School and a member of West Suffolk Motorsport Club.

Mr Egger hopes that students will be inspired to now think about a career in motorsport and said that it doesn’t need to cost the Earth. “You just need to get involved in the sport because it’s fun,” he said. “The best way is to find someone locally who has a car and would like to race it, maybe an old car that needs doing up a bit.

“You don’t have to be a racing driver. You could volunteer as a marshall, become an engineer, and work as a mechanic, tyre fitter, a team manager or truck driver. There are so many opportunities now. It’s important to experience a live event."

He added: "My advice would be to go to a smaller event where they don’t charge you to get in and ask if you can look at a guy’s car. He’s not going to tell you to go away and that could just be the start of a very successful road to a flourishing motorsport career.”

According to the Motorsport Industry Association, around 41,000 people in 4,500 companies work in the £9 billion UK motorsport and high performance engineering industry and an increasing number of people are making a living from transforming ordinary cars into racing machines with very little budget.

West Suffolk College currently runs three diplomas in vehicle technology, maintenance and repair. If you’d like to find out more, go to .

Useful Links

Courses:

> Introduction to Vehicle Technology

> Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Diploma Level 2

> Vehicle Maintenance Diploma Level 1

In this story:

> Motor Sports Association

> West Suffolk Motorsport Club

Industry leaders set to gather at Europe's largest motorsports and engineering trade show THE WORLD'S motoring industry leaders will gather under one roof to show off their latest innovations and products this week.In what had been described as Europe's largest dedicated motorsport trade

WTCC Driver Alex MacDowall reveals he 'can challenge for the independent title and outright podiums' 22-year-old World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) driver Alex MacDowall, from Carlisle, finished an impressive 11th in his debut season last year in the leading international touring car series.With

HOW TO MAKE A RACING TYRE: Goodyear and Dunlop give an exclusive tour of iconic motorsport tyre factory  GOODYEAR AND DUNLOP has given Motortrades Insight a rare and exclusive tour of its motor racing tyre factory in Birmingham, where a 350-strong workforce make tyres for some of the world's most

West Suffolk College automotive students inspired to get involved in motorsport.  Students from West Suffolk College are being inspired to get involved in car racing, as the job market for UK Motorsport is looking healthier than ever.Last week, 60 Motor Vehicle students got the c... 

Building Cars Live on BBC 2: Amazon Prime presenter James May set for MINI car building challenge.  Every 20 seconds a brand new car rolls off a production line somewhere in Britain and approximately every fourth car built in the UK is a built-to-order MINI.On the evenings of Tuesday 20 and Wednes... 

FIA World Rallycross Championship: World RX prepares for final European round in Italy.  Tensions will be running high at the penultimate round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy which takes place at the Franciacorta International Circuit this weekend a... 

Hit and run driver sentenced after telematics data proves guilt in court.  Evidence provided by a telematics device has resulted in a suspended prison sentence for a motorist who ploughed into a pedestrian walking home from a Christmas celebration on 12 December last year,... 

Like many popular websites, Motortrades Insight uses some third party widgets that may set and may have already set cookies, for example the Twitter feed on our homepage. For more information see our cookie policy. By clicking close and continue you agree to our use of cookies.