News

Student Motorsport Challenge at ESC

Our Motorsports Level 3 students were excited to welcome JP Latham, Founder of Student Motorsport and Simon Toolan from race parts supplier Essential Racing, as part of their preparation for the Student Motorsport Challenge.

The Motorsports students hear from JP and Simon

The Challenge enables young people to get involved in the world of motorsport, by converting a donor car into a fully functioning race car, fit for the track at the City Car Cup. For their Parts Delivery and Activity Day, JP and Simon brought with them a converted Peugeot 107, to show the students what they can work towards, as well as our green branded roll cage and other pieces of kit, ready to be fit into our own donor car.

JP shared: 

“The benefit of this challenge is not just learning how to convert a race vehicle, but it extends to learning about the breadth of the industry. This includes sponsorship, logistics, hospitality and most crucially, employability – the students will gain experience in speaking to people within the industry as well as in the career skills they need.”

After an introduction from our visitors, our students split into two groups, with one group cleaning the converted race car to a high standard, and the other group putting together the roll cage. Simon then showed the students a range of accessories and parts from Essential Racing, many of which our students will be using for their race car conversion.  

For the final part of the Experience Day, the students split into groups of 4 and prepared to take part in the Pit Stop Challenge! JP and Simon introduced a scenario where the Peugeot 107 has come into the pits for an unscheduled stop and the students had to work as a team to carry out a pit stop, completing all the necessary changes to get the car back in the race.

The tasks included changing the driver, checking and setting tyre pressures, cleaning the windscreen and changing the two front tyres. The students were given penalties for any mistakes or safety issues and loved taking part in the challenge. Team 5 were our winners, clocking in at a brilliant 4 minutes and 48 seconds!

Student Alexander adjusting the tyre pressures	Our Team 5 winners: Callum, Mo, Nathan and James

Reflecting on the day, our students commented:

“What I’m most looking forward to about the Challenge is hearing the car starting up when we’re done and seeing all our hard work."
Andrew

“From the beginning to the end of the day it’s been a really valuable experience. I’ve learnt a lot about teamwork and how to learn from mistakes.”
Aziz

“I really enjoyed the pit stop challenge and learning how to complete it faster!”
Indrit

Thank you to JP and Simon for bringing the race track experience to ESC, and we look forward to the rest of the project! Want to find out more about our Motor Vehicle courses? Visit our dedicated course area here.