My new Job working for a Lamborghini GT3 team

[boost monkey 0]

Dear all,

 

Yes it is true, I have been employed by Team Modena (Website) part-time as a race engineer although being the new boy I am mainly doing basic stuff at the moment.

 

My first job was last weekend at Knock Hill for the Scottish round of the British GT Championships. It was a really good experience and even though I've had plenty of access to pitlanes and paddocks before through various friends, nothing really prepared me for how hectic a race weekend can be...I mean they only properly race for one hour a day, so how hard can it be? :shrug:

 

 

The team have the Lambo which races GT3 and will be getting another one shortly so they can run 2 cars each race. AFAIK, I will be working on the brand new one.

 

The Car: Lamborghini Gallardo GT3

Engine: 5l V10

Power: 530hp.

 

^^ This is the one I was working on last weekend.

 

(For those of you who are following the team, this is the lease car from Reiter Engineering which we used for the weekend as our Gallardo which rolled at Oulton Park is not quite back together yet.)

 

Modena also run an Aston Martin DBR9 (this thing is the sex :notworthy: ) which races in LMS and GT1 IIRC.

 

The Car: Aston Martin DBR9

Engine: 6l V12

Power: 600hp.

 

 

I think I will be doing Rockingham at the end of the month, and then be working for them full-time after that for the duration of the summer. :clap: :salute:

[VR6 0]

Do the majority of the mechanics prefer one sugar or two? :tongue:

 

Seriously cool job though!! What do you actually do though?

[boost monkey 0]

lolololol! :camp: Two, we're hardcore :D

 

Well at the mo I'm the wheel man (in a non-getaway driving kinda way) so I make sure the tyres are in good nick, the wheels are clean, they are balanced properly and have to make sure we have enough slicks and wets for each track session. I also measure tyre pressure and tyre temperatures at pit-stops and relay the info to the team boss. Avoiding smoking 8-pot front calipers is another thing I managed to learn quickly! Sometimes you have to have gloves on just to change the wheels cos the heat radiates out of the brakes to the hubs and to the wheels themselves :shock:

 

In the paddock, I pump out the fuel tank and refill it so we know exactly how much fuel we have for each session/race, plus help the mechanics do the tracking and toe-in etc on the car and generally do other helpful stuff really.

 

In a non-bitter kind of way, I'm actually more mechanically minded than the 2nd Mechanic on the car, but he's the guy who got me into the job as I know him from uni so I guess I should leave the hierarchy as it is!

 

Hoping to be able to do more stuff as I work for them more, interesting seeing the suspension geometry on a supercar though.

[Guest]

Wow. I can't really add anything constructive / technical to this.

All I can say is that must give you a hell of a buzz.

[boost monkey 0]

Yeah it's really cool, had a great time last weekend despite pulling 12-hour days (which I'm told are short :shock:)

 

Smelling like rubber/petrol/fumes all the time isn't so great though. They got the better of me on Sunday and I had a raging migraine for most of the day, but had to soldier on and take down the awning in classic Scottish rain which was about 5 degrees! :sad:

 

Whilst we're not racing, I'll be helping out at the base in High Wycombe. They have just moved out of the workshop which is shared with the Lamborghini Service side of their business and into new bespoke premises across the road which has enough space for 5 cars and bays, much better!

 

Couple of the guys have met Jay Kay as he gets his cars serviced by them. That's kinda cool :D

[Yandards 0]

Nice job despite the long hours.

[yorkshireone 0]

Sounds cool mate, good luck with it.

[boost monkey 0]

Yeah i'm kinda hoping the long hours are just whilst racing, but I know that there have been stories of changing Aston flywheels at 3am :eek: :cuckoo: :shrug:

[mattnorgrove 0]

Bloody hell what a great opportunity!

 

You must be buzzing Mr Monkey!?

[dukest 0]

(For those of you who are following the team, this is the lease car from Reiter Engineering which we used for the weekend as our Gallardo which rolled at Oulton Park is not quite back together yet.)

wow, must take some effort to roll one of those but how much has to be changed when it happens? surely not much must be left in 100% condition?? :shock:

 

congrats on the job though, and i'm sure if you are the better mechanic someone will spot that sooner or later ;)

[boost monkey 0]

(For those of you who are following the team, this is the lease car from Reiter Engineering which we used for the weekend as our Gallardo which rolled at Oulton Park is not quite back together yet.)

wow, must take some effort to roll one of those but how much has to be changed when it happens? surely not much must be left in 100% condition?? :shock:

 

congrats on the job though, and i'm sure if you are the better mechanic someone will spot that sooner or later ;)

 

Link to PistonHeads Article

 

Luckily the car went door to door, rolling sideways after digging into the soft grass on one of the first corners. I've seen it up on the jig at the workshop and it pretty much just needs panels, these cars are REALLY strong. I'll try to get a photo of all the structural reinforcement they have at some point.

 

Tbh, witness accounts are normally always not that accurate; it's when you start stripping the car down that you see the real damage.

 

The Gallardo got punched into the wall at Knock Hill, ending our Sunday race early. The reports were that the whole rear suspension was destroyed: turned out to be just a sheared rear wheel hub :shrug: we strapped it up and pushed it onto the truck with a little difficulty, but the dolly trolleys made it a lot easier.

[CazzaVR 0]

Looks so 8) matey! Loving the pics- you need to get some vids next time ;)

[boost monkey 0]

Just spoke to the team boss as to whether they want me to work at Rockingham and beyond, and he confirmed that i'm onboard and wanted for the rest of the GT season :clap:

 

This means no more temping in an office over summer! :dance:

 

This also means that the money that I had stored up for potential unemployment over summer can now go on Ron. :cheers:

[boost monkey 0]

Looks so 8) matey! Loving the pics- you need to get some vids next time ;)

 

There are videos on Youtube, search "Team Modena Gallardo" or something like that. Can't get access to YT as the uni network is being well dodgy.

[dirtytorque 0]

Did your mate start up doing what your doing?

Are you hopeful for progression?

 

Well done by the way.

:salute:

[boost monkey 0]

No my mate is just a student too, he started last summer just after Le Mans. The team has been going for ages with various bosses and team members. Have a look at the website for more info.

[boost monkey 0]

The Aston: Paddock video from 2007

 

[dinkus 10]

Sounds like a fappin ace job!

 

No doubt there's gonna be some long nights and crazy hours ahead, but I'm I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time and a huge amount of fun. You git :lol:

[boost monkey 0]

Cheers matey!

 

I will have to keep you all informed of what is happening when. I may even be able to sneak out some passes, who knows?

 

I'm not looking forward to the long hours of HAVING to get a car fixed, but it sure does beat another 3 months at the office. SO glad i don't have to do that again :cry:

[Adz The Rat 0]

Wow well done!!!

Its like a mechanics dream to work for a proper big race team.

One of my mates used to work for a Touring Car team, cant remember which one though haha

[ProdigalSon 1]

Sounds awesome bro :D managed to get those pics off your memory card too, so they will be with you shortly - you may need to be a bit selective though as they total 20MB, which might be a bit much for upload. :roll:

 

On second thought, you'd probably get lynched if you don't post them all with full descriptions! :lol:

[CrazyDave 0]

Great job!

 

I only get to see bits of cars being tested on dynos most of the time. Although the Veyron transmission was pretty amazing under test (no engine, just electric motors doing the work), 1260Nm at 200kph with only a brick wall and some acoustic cladding between the test cell and the control room :shock: . When they let go they usually punch straight through the cladding and stop at the bricks, just!

 

Sure you'll love the team stuff, real sense of just getting the job done and the cars out. Hard work, great fun.

[Walesy 0]

Picz with bread on Lambo?

[boost monkey 0]

I r in ur dataz, uploadin ur pixz!

 

be a little while as i'm just finishing of some CAD :camp: