Warning! Some of the photos that are going to be in this blog post are pretty old and terrible. Most of these photos I lost the original files so I had to dig through Facebook and download them.
Every automotive job I applied to asked the following question: “What got you into cars?” I got pretty good at condensing the story down into a few sentences, but in this blog I’m going to expand that answer back out.
Let’s rewind back to the high school years. Before I had my license, I was never really into cars. I was more of a music and video game type of kid. However some friends of mine who were a few years older than me got their licenses, and as a result, their first cars. Those friends were really into cars, and riding around with them and watching them tinker with their cars is what ultimately got me into cars. My friends were also into drag racing so whenever I got the chance I would head to the drag strip and watch them lay down some passes.
240sx (S14 SR20DET) vs STI - Import Face Off Montgomery (2009, Taken with some crappy point and shoot)
The majority of my friends were into imports, and their love of imports had an obvious impact on the types of cars I now prefer. I would go to import shows / meets and bask in the glory that was early 2010’s car culture, shown below:
Honda Civic (EG Hatchback) - Spec Clutch Meet (2010, Taken with the same crappy point and shoot)
People who know me know that I really like Toyotas, so I’ll explain where that brand preference came from.
When I got my license I received my first car: a 2003 Lexus IS300.
2003 Lexus IS300 - Parking Deck (2014)
This car wasn’t anything special, well aside from a few things. I had a RWD sedan (autotragic unfortunately). Most importantly, my friends made sure to inform me that my car had the venerable 2JZ (no shit). Wanting to understand what about this engine excited my friends, I did some research and joined an IS owners forum. I soon became aware as to what made this engine so special and I began my descent down a rabbit hole. The for sale ads were trolled frequently looking at parts that I could only hope to buy.
While I no longer have this car (my dad drives it now), this vehicle was instrumental into sending me down the career path I’m in today. My father’s side of the family is a bunch of DIYers and my father passed this trait down to me. From the young age of 12 I was taught how to build my own computers, and from this my dad decided that I needed to learn how to do all my own maintenance / work on my car. Luckily since I had joined an owners forum I had access to the shop manuals and a bunch of DIY guides put together by various forum members. I enjoyed working on my car, and decided that a career in cars was where I wanted to go after high school.
My idea of an automotive career was to be a mechanic, but my father requested that I be a bit more aspirational and began pushing me towards going to college to become an engineer. The first college tour I did I was introduced to a program that would end up changing my life: Formula SAE. I owe a lot to this program; everything from my terrible grades and poor sleeping habits to the friends I have and my strong desire to always push myself. Most importantly, without Formula SAE I would not be in the job that I have today.
What is FSAE? To put it simply, it’s a go-kart on steroids that is designed and built by college students every year to compete in international competitions around the world. See the below photos for some examples of an FSAE car:
2014 Purdue University FSAE Car - FSAE Michigan (2014)
2015 Auburn University FSAE Car - Formula Student Germany (2015)
The rules of FSAE are pretty open as you can tell from the two wildly different designs of the above cars. The main limiting factors are an engine displacement maximum of 610cc (since increased to 710cc) and a mandatory 20mm (19mm if using E85) air restrictor. Being in Formula SAE taught me nearly everything I knew about automotive engineering before entering the professional world. I learned how and why certain aspects of cars are designed a certain way and, more importantly, how to properly and more efficiently extract the most performance out of a vehicle. One of the things FSAE introduced me to was racing that had corners (with both right and left hand turns none-the-less). While my focus going through the program was powertrain-based, I tried to pick up as much as I could on the vehicle dynamics side of things.
A few of the friends I met through FSAE introduced me to autocross, and after my first event I was hooked.
2003 Lexus IS300 - Wiregrass SCCA (2013, Taken by C. Reynolds)
I bought my own helmet and began going autocross events once a month. Autocrossing was a cheap and easy way for me to get into racing and also provided me a controlled outlet to experiment with my car and see the results. Along the way I picked up my first Miata and got even deeper into modifying. I tried applying what I was picking up through Formula SAE and began to choose my parts and suspension setups carefully.
1991 Mazda Miata (NA6) - Wiregrass SCCA (2014, Photographer Unknown)
1999 Mazda Miata (NB1) - Wiregrass SCCA (2015, Taken by H. Lloyd)
Unfortunately after moving out to SoCal for my job I stopped autocrossing due to a multitude of reasons. I still have a desire to go back on track again, though a large number of things need to happen first. Going through FSAE, engineering school, and autocrossing for a steady 3 years taught me heaps about cars and those are lessons / experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything. One downside of going through those three things and becoming a professional automotive engineer is that I have become extremely jaded with current car culture / enthusiasts, but that will be a post for another week.
Hopefully this post explains why I like the cars I like and gives a bit of insight into how I got into the career I have today. Like always, feel free to leave a comment below.
Thanks,
J. Stitt