Offering real-life experience of the motorsport industry, access to up-to-the minute, purpose-built workshops and laboratories, and passionate, experienced lecturers, our IMechE-accredited Automotive Performance Engineering (Motorsport) degree is for you if a career at the cutting-edge of automotive and motorsport engineering is your aim.

Key information

Award:

BEng (Hons)

Mode of Study:

Full-time

Duration:

3 years

Location:

University of Bolton

UCAS code:

779L

Start date:

To be confirmed

Course Details

The competitive nature of the motorsport industry drives engineers to innovate and develop novel ideas that power progress in the automotive industry. This exciting course aims to give you the theoretical, practical and hands-on knowledge and experience needed to overtake your competition in the field of motorsports engineering.

This multi-disciplinary course brings together engineering principles and theories with design know-how, manufacturing skill and real-life racing experience with our partner teams. Our aim is to equip you with automotive performance engineering and motorsport-specific knowledge. We offer understanding in areas such as data analysis, performance optimisation, aerodynamics, safety considerations, whole vehicle and part design, and manufacturing. We also want to help you develop industry-focused commercial awareness and parallel business and management skills.

Seminars delivered by motorsport and automotive performance engineering professionals, and the chance to work alongside them on live projects, help get your career on the starting grid. Examples of practical activities include using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate the aerodynamics of sports cars, testing parts using our impact and tensile test equipment, and working on actual motorsport projects.

If you don't have the appropriate qualifications to start this course, a four-year version that includes a foundation year is available.

Highlights

This degree is fully accredited by the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) as meeting the academic requirements leading to Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.
We want to help you learn what it takes to run a race and championship-winning team on every level, from engineering cars to dealing with the challenges of a race meeting.
Our workshops and laboratories are designed so that you can develop your ideas from initial thought through to production and testing, mimicking the research and development process used in industry.
We offer exciting opportunities for you to work with motorsport and automotive industry experts so you can gain impressive experience that is highly valued by employers.
Based in the brand new, purpose built National Centre for Motorsport Engineering (NCME).

Key Features

The University of Bolton has a distinguished history in engineering.
The course focuses on helping you develop in-demand motorsport-specific and transferable skills that are designed to meet the needs of the motorsport and other high performance engineering-related industries.
We offer individual tutor support and a favourable staff:student ratio.
Our course aims to help you learn from top industry professionals, such as international racing teams and supercar manufacturers.
Hypothesis and experiment are key elements in your learning, and our laboratory facilities are designed and equipped so that you can gain experience in applying and testing engineering and scientific principles.
By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Manchester, one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, is less than 20 minutes away by train. Not forgetting, the North West of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline and heritage. This makes Bolton an ideal base from which to explore some of the best cultural and outdoor activities the UK offers.

Professional recognition

Our BEng (Hons) Automotive Performance Engineering (Motorsport) degree is fully accredited by the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) as meeting the academic requirements leading to Chartered Engineer (CEng) status. Please see the Engineering Council UK website for further details.

Your Level 3 subjects must include a mathematics-based subject and a physics-based subject; for instance, A-level Mathematics and Physics or BTEC Extended Diploma in Engineering.
You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent), including English, Mathematics and Science.
You’ll be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work.
If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.

Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.

Automotive performance engineers work across the whole product design lifecycle, from concept to delivery. As a graduate motorsport engineer you’ll be qualified to design, build and test racing cars and bikes in all racing divisions. This degree is ideal if you’re looking for roles that apply contemporary technologies to high-performance vehicles.

Throughout your studies, you’ll have opportunities to develop your knowledge of vehicle handling, chassis aerodynamics and suspension mechanics, as well as automotive/motorsport computer systems and electronics, the fundamentals of internal combustion science and wider engineering issues. As a graduate, you’ll possess transferable skills such as project management, team working, the ability to analyse and interpret data, IT and presenting skills, and the intellectual capabilities of research, problem solving, evaluation and synthesis.

What can I do with this qualification?

Careers in motorsport engineering are diverse and employers range from racing teams, to manufacturers and supply chain businesses. Fundamental engineering knowledge and related transferable skills are sought after by the global engineering industry, including automotive, aerospace, marine and rail companies.

With experience, you could progress to senior engineer roles, project team management, general management or consultancy. If you gain experience of creative design, you could move into the graphic design field. Teaching and lecturing at universities or colleges is a possibility if you complete a master’s or PhD in mechanical or automotive engineering.

Alternative career options

Graduates can also use the qualification to enter a range of other careers, and for some of these roles, both relevant experience and/or post graduate study may be required. Some of these roles include:

Electronics engineering
Electrical engineering
Technical sales
Quality management
Teaching, academia and lecturing
Research and development
Logistics

Course fees

Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2022-2023 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.

The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton students.

For details of how to apply for this course, please choose your status from the options below:

Course application details are unavailable at present

We use a variety of teaching, learning and assessment methods to help you to achieve your potential. Formal timetabled sessions, such as lectures, seminars and tutorials, offer you knowledge of the concepts and principles essential in engineering. You are then expected to build on these in your own time through extra reading, revision and reflection on what you have learned.

Open-ended projects and design, make and test activities give you the chance to apply the principles you’ve learned, bringing the concepts and practical applications together in your mind. Opportunities to work with racing team staff on real-life projects and at race meetings also help you hone your new skills and develop your ability to apply your engineering knowledge and creativity.

Regular assessments, including written exams, coursework and practical exams, and feedback from these, will help you to identify areas for improvement.

Modules

The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.

Thermofluids
Vehicle Engineering Applications
Materials
Engineering Science
Graphical Communications and Computer Modelling
Engineering Mathematics
Vehicle Performance
Vehicle Dynamics and Data Engineering
Team Project
Design for Manufacturing
Engineering Science II
Engineering Mathematics II
Advanced Engineering Analysis
Advanced Vehicle Systems
Individual Project
Racecar Design Project
Engineering Management

Assessment methods

Level	Assesment method
Level one	Coursework 75%, Practical exams 8%, Written exams 17%
Level two	Coursework 70%, Practical exams 15%, Written exams 15%
Level three	Coursework 67%, Practical exams 25%, Written exams 8%

Learning activities

Level	Learning activity
Level one	Guided independent study 67%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 33%
Level two	Guided independent study 70%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 30%
Level three	Guided independent study 70%, Scheduled learning and teaching activities 30%

Disclaimer

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.