From student, to intern, to full-time engineer, Tom’s transition into the motorsport industry has been nothing short of a winning streak.  

Taking the initiative to make an impression

As leader of Team Swinburne, a program where students design, build and race a Formula SAE car, Tom secured Mobile Oil Australia as a team sponsor. The company also happened to sponsor Walkinshaw Andretti United, Tom’s favourite Supercars team, and through his relationship with them, his career clicked into gear.

A standout engineering student and motorsports fan, Tom was recommended by Mobile Oil to Walkinshaw. Shortly afterwards, he was one of their first data engineering interns.

In a sport where the difference between winning and losing is a fraction of a second, pitstop performance is critical. As an intern, Tom, was an essential pair of hands in the pit – changing tyres, refuelling, and collecting data on how the team could further streamline these human-performed procedures.

  • ‘I got to sit beside one of the drivers as they did the hot lap of Phillip Island. They must have been close to 270 kilometres an hour down the straight, which is pretty nuts

    Tom , Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Product Design)

Tom even prototyped a wheel gun button to enhance tyre changing efficiency – and the mechanics loved it, taking it to a race only two days later.

‘I literally handed them the box (with printed out instructions on how to assemble it) as they were getting in the van to go to the track,’ he said. 

But the highlight of his time at Walkinshaw was heading down to Phillip Island to test ride one of the new cars. In the passenger seat, Tom was able to truly see the extreme conditions a supercar needs to withstand.

‘I got to sit beside one of the drivers as they did the hot lap of Phillip Island. They must have been close to 270 kilometres an hour down the straight.’

Right after his final exam and before his graduation, Tom was sent to Adelaide to help his new team win the championship race. 

Hired before graduation

Tom’s now a full-time engineer at Erebus Motorsport. Having interned for Walkinshaw and with a glowing recommendation from the team at Swinburne’s ProtoLAB, Erebus knew they could count on Tom. In fact, they were so keen to get Tom on board, Erebus skipped the formal job offer and hired him before he’d even graduated. Just in time to win a supercars championship.

‘It was funny… I didn't get a yes or a no. The next response was ‘Here are your tickets to Adelaide. Here are your flight details. Here's your uniform.’

'I think there's a big element of trust involved with this kind of industry, and there's a big element of being able to work under pressure... so to have worked in motorsport already was really important [to Erebus]' he said. 

Tom’s radio drink connector enables driver access to communications and water throughout the race.

Not just in the pit anymore, Tom’s day-to-day sees him engineering parts that go directly into race cars. When a critical component failed in testing, Tom only had a one-week design window before the Bathurst 1000. He designed the part then called in help from his old pals at Swinburne’s ProtoLAB to manufacture it. The part went straight in the car and endured the full 1000km race.

As a lifelong lover of motorsports and its blend of creativity and precision, Tom turned his passions into a degree, an internship and finally, a career. Now, he’s exactly where he wants to be.

See yourself in a career like Tom's?

Take a look at our Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Product Design) course.

Learn more about the course