Behind the scenes of the Mastère Spécialisé® Motorsport Engineering Performance
The Mastère Spécialisé® (post master’s degree) in Motorsport Engineering Performance proposed by ESTACA in partnership with the FFSA (Fédération Française de Sport Automobile) aims to teach high-level skills and expertise in the Motorsport field. This course, taught in English, combines led given by experts, visits to team workshops, concrete industrial projects and work experience through a six-month internship. A closer look at the professional experience acquired by students.
Experts from all motorsport disciplines
This course trains students in the design, optimization and management of technical solutions applied to motor racing. It is open to students from a variety of masters of sciences and engineering schools in France and abroad, and welcomes around twenty students each year. Theoretical classes are taught by industry professionals.
This year, the Mastère is welcoming, among others, a racing strategy specialist from the Haas F1 Team, an expert in hydrogen technologies in motorsport with Green GT, and a tre and vehicle dynamics specialist from Michelin. These speakers, from a wide range of motorsport backgrounds, provide students with a real-life perspective on the profession, sharing their experience through case studies, simulations and performance analysis.
Practical applications through industrial projects
Every year, motorsport companies entrust the Mastère Motorsport students with industrial projects to meet their specific needs. Over four months, students work on these projects in teams of three or four. They are then assessed on project management, a technical report detailing all the processes in the project, and a presentation in front of the professionals and the Master’s course supervisors.
This year, companies such as Maserati MSG Racing, 3MO Performance, RSP Engineering and Art Grand Prix have offered projects to the students.
One of them, supervised by Art Grand Prix involved modeling the rear suspension of an F3 single-seater in a 50 cm scale model, with fully adjustable components for educational purposes. The project will go on to develop a full-size model of the single-seater, which will be used by the company to demonstrate the suspension set-up of a race car.
Internships to gain relevant experience
The six-month internship enables students to put their skills into practice in a professional environment and gain considerable initial experience. This year, some have chosen to join Oreca or Saint Eloc Racing with the task of optimizing and developing pre- and post-race monitoring tools. Others have joined Stellantis Motorsport to help develop tools designed to optimize the operation of the Peugeot 9X8 in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Some students are continuing their internship at Sarrazin Motorsport, developing tools to improve the performance of the Citroën C3 in rallying.
