Plan Changes and Online Learning

It must have been the September or October issue which published an article about the BTCC (British Touring Car Championship) going hybrid and after reading through a few lines my topic was set. Having worked in the WRC2 team I conducted some research on the future of hybrid powertrains in both, the WRC and WRC2.

Whilst WRC is scheduled to adapt hybrid powertrains from the 2022 season, WRC 2 category is not too much talked about in public but I thought doing some modelling and simulation studies on how the electric motor could be implemented into the current ICE (Internal combustion engine) racecar could be an interesting FYP topic.   

After a few talks with my line manager from SKODA I got my topic Hybrid Powertrain Development for WRC2 Racecar approved, found a suitable supervisor and was able to get a head start before first assignments were issued and the workload increased.

All worked very well and I was ahead of all set deadlines when suddenly all my plans were interrupted by world-wide virus spread.

With the UK lacking behind with taking any preventive measures a lot of my friends back in the Czech Republic were already studying from home and taking classes online. Beginning in March the restrictions started to take place and eventually even our University closed down.

However, it wasn’t just face to face classes that we missed out on but there was a field trip scheduled (day long track testing at the Donnington National Circuit where I was supposed to be in the role of the Lead Engineer supervising the work of first and second year students), all Final Year Project meetings with the supervisor went online and majority of comms turned to Outlook and Teams.

As daunting as it seemed when it all started (or more likely stopped) apart from the cancelled field trip there wasn’t anything too much affected from the overall perspective. Switching to this online world opened up an exciting opportunity for multitasking for me.

Eating breakfast or cooking lunch whilst watching/listening to the lecturer definitely saved a lot of time and at that time I was in process of running hundreds of simulations for my FYP so I was able to kill not two but three birds with one stone.

Whilst someone might not be able to deal with such big changes in schedule and style of working well and get under a lot of pressure or even completely stress out, I was able to handle all these changes pretty well.

No need to say that the end of my final year was not as expected but thanks to being able to quickly adapt to changes and take actions as soon as it all started helped me to stay on track and finish my studies with First Class Honours and ready to take on the next challenge: Integrated PhD in Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems at the University of Bath.  

I would like to thank the Kellner Family Foundation for all their support over the last 4 years and for providing me with the opportunity to obtain an engineering degree in the UK. Big thank you also goes to my family, girlfriend and friends who supported me during those 4 years and never let me down when I needed them.