What Are The Different Roles On A Motorsports Race Team?

Photo by Quentin Tricoire from Pexels (What Are The Different Roles On A Motorsports Race Team?)

It’s always a victorious moment when a race car crosses the finishing line in first place. However, most spectators don’t realise that the motorsports team’s victory doesn’t just happen at that finishing moment. Instead, it’s the result of a lot of hard work behind the scenes by the various team members, each making their own unique contribution to the process.

Yes, the race car driver may indeed get most of the glory if their team wins. Sure, they get a lot of credit; the driver plays an incredibly critical role in the entire process. But just as necessary are the other team members like the race engineer, mechanics, and others.

In this article, we will explore the many different roles that you may find on a typical motorsports race team. As you read this article to the end, it’s important to remember that different types of motorsports and individual teams may have slightly different roles. After all, there are no fixed rules on how a team should be structured.

Let’s get to it!

Race Car Driver

Let’s start with the team role that most people are aware of: the race car driver. At this point, you can probably already guess a few of the responsibilities that this person has. Their job is to operate their vehicle and manoeuvre the track, drive as fast as possible, overtake their competitors and win the race.

Besides that, they are also responsible for double-checking their vehicle and ensuring that everything is ready for the competition. That includes communicating and providing feedback to the race team’s engineers and mechanics so that they can improve the vehicle even further.

The team’s success depends heavily on the driver’s ability to work closely with the rest of the team. Remember: wins and losses are not the results of one person’s performance, but that of the whole team together as a unit.

Still, there are some responsibilities that people often overlook. For example, a race car driver must also interact with fans, generate publicity for the team, and more. To put it simply, the race car driver is the ‘face’ of the team, which means that they have responsibilities while driving and also while off the track.

Among all the members of the motorsports race team, the driver is probably the most public one. So, the driver’s personality will also reflect on the team, whether it be in a positive or negative light.

Race Engineer

Behind the scenes, there’s another role that’s critical for the team’s success. That is the role of the race engineer. Now, the role of a race engineer sometimes overlaps with that of a race mechanic. As a result, you may discover that some motorsports teams might use the two terms interchangeably.

Generally speaking, a race engineer works in the garage, making calculations and tweaking the vehicle’s major systems. In doing so, the engineer’s goal is to maximise the performance of those systems and the race vehicle as a whole.

A motorsports race team will probably have more than one race engineer on their roster. However, the exact number will differ for each team or even the specific type of motorsport. Not all motorsports teams will require the same number of engineers on their teams.

Of course, it wouldn’t be surprising if a motorsport team’s race engineer also performed mechanic tasks. Still, their focus is usually more on squeezing the most performance possible out of the race car or other vehicle’s technologies.

Race Mechanic

As mentioned before, the terms race ‘engineer’ and ‘mechanic’ may sometimes be used interchangeably, depending on who’s using them. Another term that might get thrown into the mix is ‘race technician’, as well.

Whatever the term might be, a motorsports team’s mechanic’s role is much broader in scope. Generally speaking, a race mechanic’s job is to prepare the vehicle to race, including many different tasks.

For instance, it might mean inspecting and ensuring that all mechanical components are in good working order. Race mechanics will also repair, upgrade, install or remove parts from the race vehicle as needed.

Lastly, race mechanics also ensure that all tools and necessary supplies (like lubricants, oils, and any other fluids) are available and ready for use.

Various Specialists

For some motorsports teams, the engineers and mechanics might be generalists who have a wide range of skills. However, some teams may prefer having specialists instead. For instance, that might mean having mechanics or engineers who focus strictly on the engine of the race vehicle, the tyres, or any other particular system critical for the vehicle’s competition success.

Truck Driver (And Other Support Members)

When discussing the many roles on a motorsports race team, it’s essential to also recognise the many support staff’s contributions. By that, we’re referring to the team members who might not work directly with the race vehicle itself yet still play a crucial role.

One such example is the truck driver. By this, we mean the driver responsible for transporting the team’s equipment to and from the race venue. Besides equipment, these drivers will be responsible for safely transporting the team’s staff and possibly even the race vehicle itself!

Team Manager

Last but not least, every team needs a leader. That includes motorsports race teams as well. While a team might have leaders at various levels of the hierarchy (e.g. supervisors, Head Mechanics/Engineers/Technicians, etc.), what we’re talking about here is the leader of the entire motorsports race team.

The Team Manager is responsible for the ‘big picture’. That means ensuring that all parts of the team are working with each other efficiently while also ensuring that the team has everything it needs to succeed in a race.

Typically, someone at the Manager level will have their time split between being in the garage and being in the office, handling the team’s administrative matters. Still, it’s probably safe to say that the Team Manager is the glue that holds the entire motorsports race team together so that they can achieve success on the track. 

No matter what motorsports race team role you aspire towards, nothing beats having a strong motorsports education as your foundation. Check out the motorsports courses available at TOC Automotive College, the best automotive college in Malaysia.