Meet our Aerodynamic Expert, Wayne Gater
Tell us a bit about your background!
I have been a fan of all things motion since as far back as I can remember, my family have a history in Engineering and design as far back as we have traced and from an early age I can remember being mesmerised by anything with wheels and then things that didn’t too. It’s interesting that recently I was comparing my childhood to that of my kids and where technology and variety is now hugely prevalent I recall back to years of waiting 20 minutes for a computer game to load up and whilst writing reverting back to my good old toy cars and trains to fill the time waiting, not that I was bothered too much, I enjoyed firing my Matchbox cars down that old drainpipe as much as I did playing chase HQ on the computer!
As I navigated through primary school my interest in speed manifested in Ice Skating and sailing where I was privileged enough to have raced Topper and Optimists boats for my school and also trained with the National Schools Sailing Association, something which unfortunately fell by the wayside for the most part as I moved to High School.
Ice skating remained and was accompanied by Rollerblading where I mastered ramp and rail tricks as well as stair riding some of the most treacherous stair layouts in the local town, so you could say I’ve always had a good balance of thrill seeking and the physics of motion in my early years. In my early teens I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to be involved in a self-build project of a Blitz Buggy (essentially a Fiat 124 bolted to a space frame for off-roading), and between that also raced RC cars locally too which was a great insight in to race structure and how to compete.
I keep referring back to Ice skating and rollerblading because I feel these are certainly relevant when it comes to understanding the physics of balance and at times, travelling through the air without landing on your face, transferrable skills to my ultimate end specialism of Aerodynamics and design.
With the end of High school I ended up going in to the Aeronautical industry where I got my first taste of Aerodynamics, be it in the axis of upwards force but again with such an interest in cars it was always likely that I’d be looking to invert this knowledge at some point in the future.
What followed was essentially a transfer from Electrical Engineering and Aerodynamics, to a career in the Automotive Industry and my beginnings in Motorsport which like a lot was by volunteering around my day job as a Volvo technician (hence my love for Volvos, boxier the better).
Like most petrol heads I ultimately spent a lot of my late teens and early 20s working on my own cars covering anything from suspension work to full engine strip down, upgrade and tuning, often showing others how to work on their cars to save me having to do it for them.
Back in the early 00s my parents founded a company providing Afro-latino dance tuition to the local community and I got involved as part of the business teaching newcomers and then branching out to run my own classes in more than 6 different specialisms, this led me to a cross roads in life where I had acquired a multitude of skills including formalised qualifications In Aerodynamics, Automotive & Electrical Engineering but also developed the ability to pass this information on in a variety of forms; enter my teaching career.
Starting as a part of the teaching team at the local college I quickly worked my way through the ranks of the FE teaching department through to teaching HE degree programmes validated by a renowned partner University ultimately ending up running the Motorsport and Automotive programmes before joining the NMA as a Curriculum Manager and working through to my current role as Deputy Director of Motorsport Programmes.
What is your area of expertise? How do you bring your experience and expertise to the NMA?
I would start off by saying that my expertise is probably the unsung hero of the industry and that is the art of teaching itself, an individual can be a high level specialist but without the skills required to get this information across then a career in teaching is likely to be fairly limited. In terms of the NMA my subject specialisms are Aerodynamics, CAD and Design Engineering.
The ability to pass these high level subjects on to a vast and varied audience however is what I would consider my specialism that I bring to the NMA specifically.
What inspired you to pursue a career in motorsport?
Oddly, I feel a little more like a career in Motorsport pursued or ‘found’ me! With my personal interests, and what I have done in my career I ended up with a certain set of specialist skills that lend themselves to the dynamic and fast paced industry that is Motorsport.
Soft skills such as being able to keep a cool head under pressure and think outside of the box whilst also keeping safety in mind are all skills that enable me to excel in trackside work, but also lend themselves to being empathetic to student’s needs, being able to work around problems and subject content in a variety of ways in order to help the recipient understand the concepts at play.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Seeing a car that was developed in house take a win has to be up there in terms of Motorsport achievements, but the main highlight I would say would be hearing about students success and how they are progressing in the industry, it gives me real purpose to feel like the efforts I put in are paying off and helping pave the way for the future Engineers of the Motorsport Industry.
When did you join the National Motorsport Academy, and what drew you to the role?
I joined the NMA at its inception (2015) and created a variety of the modules that sit within both the BSc and MSc programmes mainly those focussing on CAD, Aerodynamics, Fluid and Thermodynamics and Design Engineering.
I was drawn to what at the time was a very new concept; highly practical industry paired with online learning to create high level Engineers, back in 2014/15 this was a completely new concept and I could see that there was a market for it so I took the chance and left my previous role to become a part of the NMA and have been here through it all.
What module/s do you currently teach on?
Due to being Deputy Director of the programmes I sit on both the Senior management side and on the tutor side of the business so I currently teach BSc Module 3 (R&D Simulation & Analysis), BSc Module 9b (Aerodynamics), MSc Modul 2 (Design & Modelling of Motorsport Systems) and MSc Module 5 (Multi-Physics Analysis for Motorsport). I also oversee a large portion of Dissertations in both BSc and MSc guises as Aerodynamics is a very popular subject for student final projects.
As part of my management duties, I am in charge of Internal Verification and also host the tri-annual student voice meetings where I meet with a sample of students to get their insight and feedback on their studies which allows us to gain valuable insight for helping develop the programmes.
Can you tell us a description about the module/s you teach on? What will a student learn? What skills and knowledge will they gain?
There is certainly a common theme across my modules which is Design validation and Aerodynamics, knowledge and skills with the subjects and relevant software packages are the headline skills you’d take away with you, but I still believe the transferrable skills such as the ability to research, question, critically analyse and report on subjects are as important a set of skills that are all developed within my modules.
What is the best thing about your module? Are there any unique features or aspects?
Aerodynamics as a subject in simulation manifests itself as very visual and is therefore rewarding to work thorough, CAD is the same so I think the main benefit is how engaging and rewarding the processes are to work through.
What do you enjoy most about working with NMA students?
The variety and the caliber of student. We really do get amazing people through the programmes and I always say that it’s more like working with colleagues than a student teacher environment, we have some very high level experts that come on to the programmes here at the NMA and their work really stands out, the final year projects are always very impressive.
Working alongside the students at the track is also a great experience, again diverse backgrounds makes every race weekend different from the last.
What is one thing that you can guarantee to each student that undertakes your module?
Their knowledge and confidence with specialist subjects but also generally learning at HE level will all develop thoroughly.
Do you have any hobbies that you do outside of work?
Whatever activity my kids/ Mrs are interested in primarily, then whatever time remains gets split across Ice Hockey, Afro-Latino Dance, Photography and Videography and Sim Racing (badly and not very often).
What’s your earliest motorsport memory?
Getting a signature from John Rickard Rydell when he raced the 850 in BTCC, one of my favourite cars of all time and the reason I fell in love with Volvos, can’t beat a screamy 5 cylinder. Alternatively watching Herbie and Car wars on repeat, on VHS (that’ll be a period marker for those that know) if that counts.
What’s your best motorsport memory?
I have had a couple of personal ‘wins’ at the track where I’ve made decisions that have paid off, I also get a real kick out of problem solving, coming up with solutions in the moment is a great thrill but I am not a chaser of fame or lime light and class any Motorsport highs as earned by the team so perhaps the variety of student teams we have had over the years would be one of my best memories, but I think my overall best memory is quite a personal one, receiving a video from the Mrs whilst away working and getting to see my kids reacting to me being interviewed by GT Cup on our TV back home, that’s more my kind of memory to cherish.
What’s something about yourself that people may not know?
I’m the undefeated barrel jumping champion of the Blackpool Ice arena and always will be as the year I won was the last year they ran the competition ha ha, 12 barrels for those interested.
Who is your motorsport hero or biggest influence?
I’m not one for idols, my kids are my future hero’s and I hope to guide them on that path as they grow up the same way my parents did for me, I am my biggest influence, I very much believe you’re a product of the path you’ve taken, the good and the bad bits, you learn from experience and getting out there and doing things, all roads lead to right now and it’s only a one lap race so it’s best to keep looking forward, take the lessons as they present themselves and try not to sweat the small stuff as best as you can.
