Author: Filip Vava-Atanackovic, MSc Automotive Technology
Beep beep!
At the tender age of 5, I drove a go-kart for the first time. By the age of 11, I was competing in Spanish and Portuguese national karting championships. When I turned 16, I was racing in top-level European and International karting, fighting against other ambitious talents. In my first year of university, I began racing in the GT4 European Series, driving the mighty Mercedes-AMG GT4. The machine is capable of producing 544 horsepower and 630 Newton-Metres of torque, allowing me to reach speeds of 280 kilometres per hour. All of this has cascaded from two simple words: ‘Beep beep’.
According to my parents, those were the first words I said when I was a baby. The sound effect of a car horn! It was quite clear to my parents that the rest of my life would revolve around cars.
A dual occupation
My childhood and adolescence were different compared to others. When I started racing in 2012, I lived in Madrid and attended the American School of Madrid, where I spent most of my schooling. While there, I was juggling attending classes, completing homework, playing on the school’s basketball team, playing the saxophone for the school’s Jazz Band, and competing professionally in go-karting. It was quite a lot on my plate, especially when it came time to complete the infamous International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. To this day I argue that it's more difficult than the first year of university! Despite competing in just over 30 race weekends during my last two years of school, through a lot of perseverance and determination, I successfully completed the IB Diploma and got accepted into university. During my dual occupation as a student at school and racing driver from 2012 to 2020, I have consistently finished in the top 5 in all levels of go-karting.
In 2020, I began attending Oxford-Brookes University to complete my Bachelor of Engineering degree in Motorsport Technology. Interestingly, I was never amazing at mathematics or physics in school. But I still pushed through it and fulfilled what was probably the best three years of my life, learning how to design the future of race cars while also making life-long relationships with friends. However, I was still missing a couple pieces in my complex puzzle, such as a master's degree, which is how I ended up currently doing my MSc in Automotive Technology at the University of Bath.
A racing success
Alongside my current studies, I am in my fourth year of GT4 racing, where after three years of competing in the GT4 European Series and several podium finishes, I decided to step down to the Iberian GT4 Series, allowing me more time to focus on my MSc. So far in the Iberian Series this year, I have achieved two pole positions, two podiums, and one race win. There are still four races left this year, so I have plenty of time to keep collecting trophies!
Many ask what’s next for me. Firstly, I have decided to challenge myself a little more by doing a second MSc in Engineering Business Management, again in Bath, to make me a more complete individual. By doing so, I will be looking for jobs for September 2025. I plan on applying for graduate schemes at automotive manufacturers in the UK, with the hope of being able to increase my engineering knowledge and form part of the automotive industry. However, things in life change quickly, and there might be unique opportunities between now and when I graduate! And of course, I will most definitely keep racing. I can’t help it, it’s part of my DNA.
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