Conas atá! My name’s Forrest. A little about me is that I’ve had the privilege of being part of Formula Trinity and seeing it grow over the years, initially assisting in technical roles and moving into more management and commercial areas. I’ve graduated now so in this blog, I’ll talk about my experiences, my fond memories, some lessons learned and advice if you’re considering joining the team!
It was back in 2017 when word was going out that there was this cool awesome project just starting out. Immediately, I wanted to be part of the action. I remember just being told to come to a meeting in the Museum Building. I walked in clueless about exactly what I was doing (little did I know that it was the first ever general assembly of the team). I was told that the powertrain department badly needed folks and given my ‘expertise’ in CFD, this was good enough. And so began my journey.
What everyone didn’t know was that I was also very active in competing and representing the College in business case competitions on the sideline. It wasn’t until when we were organizing for our first trip to Silverstone that the folks realized we badly needed folks in the business aspect of the competition. Because I was very well familiar with these, I decided to jump on board. Next thing you know, I found myself managing the business team for the next two years (I also badly needed an excuse to escape from the heavy engineering stuff for a bit). But having exposure working in the technical aspects of the project would come handy especially when drafting budgets and communicating with potential sponsors.
My fondest memories include the little meetings we would organize on a weekly basis. From hair-pulling design sessions in the ECAL to having heated discussions with my business team and engineering leads, Parsons is the place for the dramas. The glass rooms in the Hamilton was often used as an escapade but it came to a point that it got too busy and cramped – having a bunch of sweaty engineers in one confined area isn’t a good idea. But most of the time, they were fun and productive and banter was had.
Silverstone boasts one of the finest toilets, showers and restaurants out there (really). Its world-renowned leg wrestling tournament combined with a friendly rivalry with other colleges makes things more interesting. For me, the highlight was the partying and the booze. Having more than 100 international universities under one campsite is crazy while knowing these folks are going through a similar education experience as you back home. But if you’re like me that also likes to organize and manage things so that everything runs smoothly, the trip will really put your people and organizational management skills to the test…
On our first trip back in 2018, we walked around, passing by and talking to other teams, realizing that we had missed the entire opening ceremony while we were still unpacking our bags and airing out our smelly socks. But that didn’t stop us from catching the judges’ eye in the competition though, especially given we were the only Irish team that year. We got roasted in the Cost & Manufacturing big time. It was a good wakeup call for us and we learned a lot about our mistakes during that trip. We made sure the following year would be better and more organized, and indeed we were, though the thought of moving 17 people (increased by 10 people from the previous year) gave more headaches. Nonetheless, our trip in 2019 was even more enjoyable given that we had more people coming with us and things were better organized.
We also got a chance to attend the Testing Day hosted by Bosch in London which was great. On our first day of landing, I remember us running frantically and wild in the middle of the night searching for the nearby McDonald’s and pizzeria. This came at a price as we were exhausted by the next day on the main event. I also remember the dodgy hostel and the constant threats from the owners to hush ourselves.
My biggest lessons from being part of the team? Learning to be valuable to your teammates and having a growth mindset. It’s a skill that’s probably applicable in your everyday and working life but it’s very easy to fall into the fixed mindset and do things the way you’re comfortable with. In a team like FT, everything’s always changing, particularly non-technical roles. You have to adapt if you want to grow. It’s good to have an awareness of what you’re good and crap at.If you are thinking of joining the team, what I would say is that it’s a society like no other. You make lifelong connections, you meet people with all different levels of characters, not to mention it beneficial for your long-term career. But what I want to emphasise is that your studies and grades will come above anything else and you should consider your commitments before agreeing to join. That said, if you can balance your academics with your extra-curricular, this will put you in good stead in life and no doubt you’ll be successful!
A huge shoutout to my biz homies – Akansh, Anthony, Emma, Emily, Johnny, Kanishka, Liying, Niall, Rakshit, Roisin and Tyna, to the engineering whippers David, Daniel, Will, Peter, to the drivers Gerry and Brendan, to the engineers who envisioned this from the start and whom I’ve had the opportunity to work with, and of course, to the forever supreme commander (and mentor) Arnie.