czt wrote:wrcsti wrote:czt wrote:I'd disagree with the choice of MechEng - an aeronautical degree would still offer plenty of general mechanical knowledge but would be so much more appropriate for aerodynamics. If you did choose mechanical then i'd suggest taking any optional aero modules and doing your final yeah project on an aero subject.
Why? I pretty much have loved aero as far back as i remember. Heck I use aero every day to get my boxy car to get 35 mpg highway. I am gonna most likely do either a minor in mech and major in aero or major in mech. I have a friend that works for Pratt and Whitney and he has told me the best way is to go through mech as you have a bigger matress to fall back on if aero doesn't work out. And gives you room for change.
The aero content in a Mech degree will most likely be pretty limited compared to that in an aeronautical degree, so if the aim is to be a racecar aerodynamicist I think it would be more appropriate. Having said that doing mech eng would not necessarily prevent a career in aero, but it may make getting that break harder.
Mech eng is a fantastic general degree though. Like you say, it doesn't limit you much in terms of what industry you can enter whether it be motorsport/automotive/aerospace or something else entirely.
Let me be honest. I'm on a 4-year MEng course in aeronautical engineering, and have friends in chemEng and mechEng. In the first two years of my course, ive done two aerodynamics modules and stuff of aircraft performance and the dynamics of flight. So the only directly-relevant aero stuff that ive done are the two aerodynamics modules. this is very similar to what my friends have done in their mecheng and chemeng degrees, but I am not sure as to what depth their aero/fluid mech courses went into. of course, my aero courses have had to cover supersonic and compressible flow while the students in mecheng and chemeng couldnt really care less (at least in their second year of undergrad studies!). however, in the third and fourth years one gets many, many more options to choose what to specialise in, and our course the option to do CFD is a much more prevalent one than in a Mecheng degree, i suspect.
if you want to be an aerodynamicist in motorsports i would definitely recommend doing aeronautical engineering at a uni that has links with the motorsports industry. that way you can get your hands dirty by helping out in research projects in the summers and then hopefully do a research project of your own in the area of racecar aerodynamics. its also possible to be sponsored by F1 teams for your final year research, as has been the case many times in my department. these students have then gone on to join different F1 teams.
