We were delighted to hear that Ben Teasdale, OH 2010-20 was starting a new position as IC Technical Director at Leeds Gryphon Racing. We contacted him to find out more about his role:

My position as Technical Director is part of my four-year work on the universities formula student team.  We are a student lead society building a single seater race car every year.  I joined in my second year of university as a member of the Powertrain Sub Team.  I was working on designing parts of the cooling and exhaust system.

I had a bit of participation on my placement year at Renishaw in Bristol but I took up my first management position in my third year as Head of the Powertrain Department.  Here, I managed a team of 20 engineers working on designing a new powertrain system for the year, with a slightly modified engine from previous years.  Alongside managing, I also was in charge of tuning the engine and did a couple of test drives for initial setup of the tuning.

At the Formula Student Competition in July, ran by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at Silverstone, two weeks after the British Grand Prix, we placed 17th out of over 100 university teams from all around the world.  This was our best placing in over ten years as a university.

This year, I will be Technical Director for the team and I am in charge of overseeing all parts of car development, through our five sub teams: powertrain, vehicle dynamics, drivetrain, aerodynamics and electrics.  This vast experience, alongside my studies, I believe has lead to finding a graduate role at Mahle Powertrains in Northampton, where I will be starting in September, after finishing up my studies this summer.

Ben Teasdale, OH 2010-20