Blog Post #2: Why I’m Moving Halfway Across The World To Pursue My Passion
Grab your wellies and put the kettle on, this September, I’m moving to Milton Keynes, England for an MSc in Advanced Motorsports Engineering at Cranfield University!
First and foremost, I’d like to preface this post by mentioning that I don’t believe in dreams. Dreams are notions that people formulate in their heads about an instance in life that they define as ideal. The idea of a dream suggests that it is far out of reach, and cannot be obtained. Instead, I operate on the principle of setting a goal, crafting a pathway to reach it, then working as hard as I can to achieve it. As the iconic Star Wars character Master Yoda once said “Do or do not. There is no try.” When you are goal-oriented and are powered by motivation and drive, you understand that obstacles that get in your way aren’t simply to be hurdled, but instead offer a chance to learn something new along the way. Stepping into the unknown, doing new things, and pushing yourself to a level you didn’t think was possible, are all that makes life interesting. It may be uncomfortable at first, but if you’re always comfortable, you’re never making progress.
In October of 2022, when I first got accepted into the MSc of Advanced Motorsports Engineering at Cranfield University, I knew I had a difficult choice ahead. I could decline the offer and work in motorsports locally, or accept the offer and move to England to further enhance my place in motorsports. After my karting career as a driver never took off, I told myself that if I couldn’t win an F1 championship driving a Formula One car, I’d win it as an engineer. Ever since I was fourteen, I’ve explored every possible avenue to embed myself in the motorsports industry. With all the sacrifices I made while in my university days, I knew that my work was leading up to something much bigger. This is why, the only logical decision was to accept my offer, and truly put myself on the path to working in Formula One.
How it started vs how it’s going.
I knew nearly instantly that I wanted to accept the offer, but I still needed to think things through. To spend a year away from your home, your family (cat included), and your friends, is no easy task. It’s not like I’m within a reasonable driving distance to be visited either. In addition to this, given the intensity of the program, I’m not expecting many breaks in the year-long enough to make the trip home. With that said, life moves quickly, and I knew that I’d regret not going when the conditions were right to do so.
So why did I choose Cranfield? When it comes to selecting a school to study motorsports engineering at, the options are fairly limited. Cranfield is a post-graduate-only school, that focuses heavily on math and sciences, especially related to transport systems (ex: vehicles, planes, and other aerospace applications). To support these programs, the school has world-class facilities including wind tunnels and shaker rigs, and driver/hardware in the loop (DIL/HIL) simulators. These facilities can be used in conjunction with the taught coursework, group design projects, and final thesis, giving a truly well-rounded learning experience. Part of having a stellar reputation in the industry means that Cranfield attracts industry-leading professors and advisors, most of whom previously or currently work in Formula One or some other prestigious motorsport discipline. I’m truly excited to learn the methodologies and processes from some of the brightest minds that have put these concepts into practice at the highest levels of racing.
The one-year-long program commences in October, but I’ll be making the move overseas at the end of September. Until then I’m fully focused on closing out the Ferrari Challenge season on a high while spending time outside the race track making more memories with family and friends. What the future holds is uncertain, but what I do know is that I’m one step closer to reaching my end goal, and making my younger self proud.