Look beyond the department you work in and find your place in the wider business. It can be easy to pigeonhole yourself, both in your role and your department, however collaboration is the key to success. Integrating yourself within the business and other departments allows you to have a greater understanding from a business point of view and ensures the viability of the projects you work on.
Having joined AP Racing more than forty years ago, Ian Nash is one of our longest-serving team members. We sat down together to discuss what first attracted him to AP Racing and, more importantly, what continues to excite him about the role all these years later.
Q: Can you tell us about your current role at AP Racing?
A: I’m a technical sales manager, predominantly for our race customers, but with some crossover into the road for our ultra-high-performance accounts. Alongside overseeing technical sales, I also provide tech support to our customers.
Q: So, what do your day-to-day activities look like?
A: A lot of communication! If I’m not liaising with customers, I’ll be interacting with colleagues from across the business to coordinate the next steps for a specific project. With such knowledge and experience of the business, I use it to my advantage – accelerating projects and helping to navigate challenges.
Q: What’s the most exciting or interesting thing about your role?
A: For me, it’s the technical side. I’m an engineer at heart, so the products – the design, quality and innovation – are definitely up there, along with being able to provide race support around the world. Our products are supplied to leading motorsport teams, so we work hard to identify the next stage of developments or where change is needed, be that for regulatory compliance or for added performance.
Q: If you had to choose, what would you say you are most proud of in your AP career so far?
A: During my time as an engineer, I helped to develop a clutch system for a championship-winning Formula 1 team. The principal engineer looked towards AP Racing to develop a solution that would improve the start-launch for their #1 Champion Driver. We used our experience and technical capability to adapt an existing system – specifically tailoring its specifications and outcomes to suit Formula 1. I flew out with the team during testing and for once, the test went perfectly and the driver wanted the new clutch for his next race! Today that system has been used in every F1 clutch since and gives us a technical edge in the market.
44
Years at AP Racing
Q: What do you like the most about working at AP Racing?
A: Simply put, the people! Be those colleagues, customers or suppliers, we’re really fortunate to have a great network working within or alongside the business. Collaboration is crucial to the work we do, so it’s important for us to build strong relationships.
Q: What motivates you at work?
A: My motivation comes from customers. We’re responsible for designing, creating and supplying innovative parts to enhance performance for the world’s leading OEMs and motorsport series. Achieving that for our customers is incredibly rewarding.
Q: So, can you tell us a little bit about how you came to work at AP Racing?
A: My passion has always been in technical drawing and engineering, having loved any design-based subjects growing up and including my hobbies, such as model making. At the time, degrees were not the typical route for those leaving school, with many, including myself, opting for a technical apprenticeship instead.
AP “Automotive Products” was the biggest engineering firm outside of the large automotive OEMs based in the Midlands, and I was fortunate to be offered a full training scheme, which included the completion of an HND at a local college. While undertaking the qualification, we were required to learn about all areas of the business, so I spent a year working in manufacturing before spending time across the other departments.
At the time, AP Racing was a smaller department within the business, with a very small team of people. Here, I gained experience in the fitting shop before spending time in design and development and eventually earning an offer to return after I’d finished my apprenticeship.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
A: I love doing practical jobs, so I’m always happy to get stuck in with a bit of DIY or cooking – particularly when it’s for other people! Travelling is also another big one, and I’m fortunate to have done plenty, both with AP Racing and in my personal life. I also play table tennis regularly, it’s a sport I used to play in my younger years, so it’s great to have picked it back up more recently, especially as I now get to enjoy it with my son, who also got me watching and following cricket!
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