Jason Reilly Email and Phone Number

In my current role it is my responsibility to look after the mechanical and hydraulic assemblies associated with the 60% model car and wind tunnel. This involves building and testing assemblies from a prototype through to maintaining and lifeing parts, fault finding, presenting reports on current and future projects and documenting build sheets. I work closely with a number of external contractors ensuring they meet the needs of the company.

Senior model maker looking after the wind tunnel model quality and consistancy.Making sure the model quality is maintained to a high standard and keeping the standard consistent across all shifts.Looking at ways to reduce model change times and liaising with the design/aero team back at the factory.Running jobs back at the factory managing the work load and model makers to maintain a high intensity of work but never compromising on quality, making sure parts are tracked and signed off on the companies database and making sure we hit our tight deadlines.

Working at the Bedford wind tunnel my current role involves dry fitting parts out of occupancy, finding and fixing faults to make the in occupancy changes quicker and inputting fitment notes onto the test spec for the following shift, giving feedback and suggestions to the designers how to make changes quicker and generally anything that could help the tunnel run more efficiently. Changing parts on the model in occupancy and making sure they stay within their measured tolerances.

Moving to Caterham F1 was a fresh challenge for me moving to a very new team, with little or nothing set in place for the model shop at the beginning. As a Group leader my responsibilities were to organise the front test sessions (previously rear group) for the car attending pre/post tunnel session meetings, managing the work load and model makers in the model shop to maintain a high intensity of work but never compromising on quality.Day to day running in the Model Shop requires work load to be explained and allocated in the most efficient way which was my responsibility for the front group sessions/surveys, making sure we hit our tight deadlines. A normal test session includes Carbon work, Rapid Prototype parts and metallic parts. After allocating the work out it was also my responsibility to keep a close eye on the progression of the survey and give extra support where needed. Once all the parts were completed they were signed off by myself as they were put into their relevant project boxes and loaded. I also had to ensure parts were inspected and pre fitted either on the prefit model or together on isolated parts. As we were using Toyota’s wind tunnel in Germany it was paramount that the session group leader ensured all parts and tools required were checked recorded and packed into the freight containers as any missing components would restrict or compromise the session. As the session moved to the tunnel in Germany it was my responsibility to ensure all sessions were laid out in priority order with the first test laid out in run order to minimise tunnel down time. All tunnel work was carried out to the highest possible standard ensuring the model is kept within its tolerances in the most efficient manner.

My job involved working in the wind tunnel on the model car , changing parts efficiently, making sure they stay within their measured tolerances and giving feedback on the changes i.e. how to make changes quicker , parts fit better and generally anything that could help the tunnel run more efficiently. Ceramic parts: Taking them off the machines, cleaning them up, adding fixtures and fittings where needed and pre-fitting them on jigs or a pre-fit model prior to sorting them into organised projects. Preparing patterns for carbon fibre components. Carbon fibre trimming to tight tolerances shot blasting various parts and painting parts using professional painting equipment.During the 2008 season I spent some time at the Lola wind tunnel developing the 2009 car as part of a team of three people. Because of the extreme rule changes we tried some bespoke parts made and sculpted by hand, directed by the feedback we were getting from these runs.In 2010 I spent some time at the Mira facility with a small group consisting of two race team mechanics two aero’s and myself. Our task was to get good correlation between track and tunnel and develop the “F Duct” on chassis 3 as it was proving inconsistent and unreliable between both race cars. In 2011 I was given the responsibility to take control of Force India’s front wing alignment project which we took to Toyota’s wind tunnel in Germany to test. This involved making sure: All current parts were sourced from storage, any damaged parts fixed. New parts had been issued and were on build. Post processing of new parts. Building up the model internals to suit Toyota’s strut, electrics and scanners and finally building the bodywork up and pre-fitting the surveys.