Junior Engineer – Motor Racing Team

Warwick TAFE motorsport student Kate Millar has discovered that knuckling down to studies can land people in their dream job. Kate has won a job as a junior engineer in a V8 Supercar team with WPS Racing, which is based on the Gold Coast.

At 19 years of age, she is the youngest female engineer in the V8 Supercar Series. WPS Racing is one of the newest Supercar teams to join the category and has a race team at this weekend’s Lexmark Indy 300, with cars entered in various categories as well as involvement with the Team Australia Indy Car Team.

Since having started work with WPS, Kate has attended two of the biggest race meetings of the year — the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000.

Kate said that working with the WPS team at Sandown and Bathurst was “a fantastic experience”. Her job involves data analysis and telemetry work for the team.

Telemetry is a method of monitoring all the sensors of the management systems on the vehicle while racing. The data is transmitted to trackside beacons and interpreted by Kate. The systems monitor the vehicle’s performance and Kate is able to advise the engineers or mechanics if there are any apparent performance problems with the car.

Queensland’s Employment, Training and Industrial Relations Minister Tom Barton said Kate had moved from interstate to become one of the first to enrol in Southern Queensland TAFE’s Diploma in Automotive (Motorsport) Program at the Warwick campus.

He congratulated her on her determination to get an enviable job in a competitive industry — even before completing the diploma.

“The TAFE program is one of only two motorsport diploma courses available in the country and is well on its way to becoming the centre of excellence in Australia for motorsport training,” Mr Barton said.

Kate’s interest in motorsport began at 13 when she began working in Formula 4000 with her father. Kate is to graduate next monthwith a diploma.

For further information on the program, telephone 07 4660 4653.