ENGINEERING students at Loughborough College spent a morning in the fast lane being introduced to the amazing technology behind the glamorous world of Formula 1.
Guest speaker Brian O’Rourke, chief composite engineer of Williams Grand Prix Engineering, hosted a one-hour talk giving a first hand insight into the design and structure of the fastest cars on the planet.
Mr O’Rourke has been at F1 giants Williams since 1982 after switching from the aerospace industry. But his first step, as he explained, was studying for an ONC in mechanical engineering, a similar route to students who packed the College’s Lecture Theatre.
Afterwards the man, who has helped the likes of Alain Prost, Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell to glory, said: “Loughborough has got a great reputation in engineering.
“As a profession, engineering doesn't brag enough about itself because it’s the secret behind so much of today’s technology.
“Today’s engineering students have already made a good choice because anything is possible for them.
“They need to keep their career options as open as possible to be able to make changes similar to the one I did.”
He added: “Places such as Loughborough College are where you get the fundamentals. When you go onto higher levels, it is particularly important you have a good grasp of them. In my role, the rewards – and the possible penalties – are both large. You work very hard on a car that some 500 million people then watch in action on a Sunday and that’s satisfying. But, should something go wrong, everyone will find out about it very quickly!”
College Technician Keith Large, one of the organisers of the talk, commented: “It was fantastic to attract someone from the world of F1 to talk to our students and feedback has already been very positive.”