Graduates Reminisce About Their Time With Red Raider Racing
Corentin Menand – Former President of Red Raider Racing and Mechanical Engineering Graduate answers a few questions about his time at Texas Tech and Red Raider Racing.
How long did it take you guys to make this car?
The process takes a year, every year we make a new car. Takes a year from designing, reaching out to sponsors, and manufacturing the whole car. It's a lot of work but we make it work every single year.
Is everything custom-built in the car?
Everything is pretty much made custom, there are a few components like the engine that we buy. But the car is 95% student built. We make the chassis ourselves, we're lucky to have the mechanical engineering shop downstairs with an amazing staff to guide us in the right direction but also give us access to mills, lathes, cnc's that we can use.
What kind of job opportunities does this give you?
Really anything in the engineering field, a lot of us want to go somewhere towards the automobile industry however that's extremely hard to get into that as soon as college ends. It gives us a lot of different opportunities from our alumni, we have the alumni Space X, Lockheed Martin, Bella Helicopter, and all of these different big-name companies and it definitely helps us to have alumni help us get a job whenever it comes a time to get a job. Personally, I applied to Texas Instruments and I'm going to be working there in a few weeks and it's very very exciting.
What would you tell future students or incoming students that are coming to Texas Tech?
I would tell them to join our team, Red Raider Racing and if they're not interested in joining then there are a bunch of other engineering clubs that they can join. That is really the best way to get involved with engineering ahead of everyone else. But this team will be engraved into me for my entire life, it's bittersweet to leave this team.
Texas Tech's Slogan is "From Here It's Possible", when you started school til now how do you feel like you have grown?
So as I came into Tech and this team, I didn't know anything about making a car and I didn't really know what field I wanted to go into after college but as soon as I joined this team, I really saw with the whole team, it's actually possible to do a racecar. At the beginning, I really didn't think I would be a leader, I really didn't think I would be power trainer and I really didn't think I would be president. With all the hardwork that we have all put in, it pays off in the end. It really does come down to From here it's possible. Thanks to Texas Tech and this team, I was able to get a really nice job that I'm proud of.
Agustin Gonzalez – Mechanical Engineering Graduate talks about his time with Texas Tech and Red Raider Racing.
What attracted you to come to Tech and pursue engineering?
For me personally, it was right after I saw the final four. I've heard of Tech before and I just knew it was a good engineering school, but seeing that final four just solidified it for me because I knew the student community would be amazing here.
Can you describe your work on the car?
I was on the administrative side which means I was basically the face for students. I would give a lot of tours, tell them about the car, what we were doing, updating them on it, and also organizing general meetings for everyone in the club. After that, I did mostly manufacturing and there was a lot of manufacturing I did personally on the car, I would say I made probably a quarter of it solely.
Do you have any job opportunities since graduating and how has this program helped you?
Well I got a job at Samsung Semiconductors in Austin. This program helped me with just the different situations I've been in with being on this team and just being able to communicate effectively with other members. I think what made me stand out was really working as a team and having that team experience compared to just going to class and then leaving and doing homework.
Texas Tech's Slogan is "From Here It's Possible", when you started school til now how do you feel like you have grown?
When I got to Tech, I honestly didn't know anything about engineering. I was talking to other students, to professors, and this organization, it just really helped me grow as a person and as an engineer. I didn't know anybody here so it was just a huge jumping stone to be able to adapt quickly and learn material rapidly has really helped me out the most.