Team Win for Motorsport Engineering at SERC

South Eastern Regional College (@S_ERC) is celebrating a local motorsport win, in a vehicle driven by a lecturer and prepared and managed by the students.

Motorsport Engineering Lecturer Stuart Parker said,

“The team from the Level 3 Motorsport Engineering course, based at SERC’s Newtownards Campus, have been very busy working on the Formula Ford 1600 in which fellow lecturer Stephen Wishart recently competed in a sprint championship, run by the Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs. A string of wins and strong finishes finally secured the championship title in class 13 for sprint cars. The race is contested over a series of events at Nutts Corner in Antrim and Kirkistown Racing Circuit on the Ards Peninsula.”

He added, “The Motorsport Engineering first & second year students took responsibility for the car and driver before, during and after event so it really was a team effort and gave the students the opportunity to see the results of their work in situ.”

Jess Robinson, (23, from Cloughey) a first-year student said,

“It has been great fun learning how a race car works, then putting all that knowledge into practice and being part of a winning team.”

Stephen added, “The two-year Level 3 Motorsport Engineering course covers all the essentials for motorsport vehicle maintenance and repair such as race car setup and inspections, engines and transmissions, diagnosing and rectifying electrical/electronic equipment faults and regulations. We also cover the engineering element through computer aided design, fabrication and welding, sheet metal fabrication, maths, and of course, engineering health and safety. It’s a great course for anyone interested in pursuing a career in engineering, the motor vehicle industry or further studies at degree level in Motorsport Vehicle Preparation or Engineering.”

Stuart continued, “Many of our students join the course after their GCSEs, but occasionally, we have people in their mid-30s with a long-held interest in vehicles who want to change career direction.”

The students are currently working on Formula Ford re-preparation and new setup permutations for the 2022 season start.

Photo shows Team Win for SERC Motor Sport: L-R SERC Motorsport Engineering Lecturer Stuart Parker, with Level 2 and Level 3 Motor Sport Engineering students based at the Colleges Newtownards Campus, Jessica Robinson (Cloughey), Joshua Parsons (Bangor), James Boyd (Comber), Colin Johnston (Newtownards), Ross Hanlon (Newtownards), Conor Devlin (Lisburn) and Stephen Wishart, Lecturer and