University Engineering Internship Tyler Nguyen

November 26, 2025

MASTER OF ENGINEERING STUDENT TYLER NGUYEN SHARES HIS RACE ENGINNERING INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

 

My name is Tyler Nguyen and I want to become a race engineer in the Super GT

racing series in Japan. To achieve this purpose, I am currently pursuing my master's degree in mechanical engineering at Cal Poly Pomona in Southern California.

This summer and fall, I also had the opportunity to intern for JENSEN during three events to gain experience about how the real world of car racing works. Initially, I reached out to the JENSEN race team because I knew I needed more practical experience to become a race engineer. I was involved in Formula SAE during my undergraduate career, but I lacked key skills like preparing for and executing a race weekend.

The driver development program at JENSEN was especially appealing

to me because I felt the best place to learn race engineering is where aspiring young drivers are learning. Additionally, the positive experiences from other previous engineering interns made me eager to acquire what they learned. The internship taught me so much more about racing and myself, and I would like to share my experience with others in a similar position, working towards their racing goals.

I first attended a test session with JENSEN at Buttonwillow Raceway, located 90 miles north of Los Angeles, California. The outing’s objective was to prepare 12 year old Dubai based karter Henry King for his debut race in an F4 car at the South East Formula Series. My main job was to retrieve the data from the car after a run session and prepare it for review during a debriefing.

The bulk of the days consisted of these run session debriefings focused on driver

performance and ways to improve. After Henry drove the car, we sat together discuss the session, and review the data. Based on the data, Eric would guide changes Henry should make to go faster by applying physics to connect how a change yielded faster lap times. This approach was used to improve three driver controls (throttle, brake, and steering) throughout the various corners.

The underlying theme behind these improvements stems from the mindset of driving the car to the physics of what mathematically makes the faster lap time; a principle I came to appreciate through the many explanations of applying physics to racing given by Eric.

Another key strategy that I learned from Eric through these debriefings was implementing a clear, scientific approach to the testing session. The objective for any young engineer or driver is to learn, and the scientific method of hypothesizing, testing, and analyzing is a perfect tool to organize learning. In practice, a session’s objective focused on implementing a hypothesis that would result in faster lap times. Henry would then test this hypothesis by implementing the change in his driving. Afterwards, we would analyze the data and conclude the net gains, if any.

The more sessions, the more analysis, the more learning. To add to this process, Eric encouraged us to clearly record each session's hypothesis, testing, and analysis in our notebooks to keep a record. It's a simple, straightforward strategy I never thought to apply to racing.

Overall, this was my first time working with an F4 car, so I was excited learning about the platform and how physics was applied to how they are driven. We were able to have many of these discussions facilitated by Eric by being efficient in executing the process of hypothesizing, testing, and analyzing. My favorite thing during the test outing was timing the lap from the pit wall and watching them decrease as Henry implemented the various strategies Eric discussed to go faster.

My second outing with JENSEN was during Round 5 of the Formula Pro USA Western Championship at Thunderhill Raceway near Sacramento, California. That weekend, Aiden Zelaya and Ana Palestro were driving F4 cars and John O'Donnell was making his debut in an F3 car.

In addition to downloading the data after each session from the three cars, Eric began introducing me to some more responsibilities of the engineer in a race team.

These additional responsibilities included car setup adjustments and preparing tires used for the race. Regarding setup, I had the opportunity to set the toe of the F3. Eric taught me the theory and method for the adjustment, and let me have a go by myself.

This was the first time I have actually worked on a race car, so I initially had my struggles and struggled to get it done after many tries. This is when Eric taught me another important lesson: don't "bang my head against the wall" if things aren't working out. Taking this advice, I took a step back and was able to set the toe the next day after recalibrating myself. Later, I was also asked to set the ride height of an F4 car. With the lessons learned from the struggles with toe, I was able to accomplish this quickly and without issue.

For tires, two responsibilities introduced to me were tracking them and ensuring they are set to the proper pressures. While more straightforward than setup adjustments, Eric taught me the many steps required. While each step is small, these individual steps together form a complete and thorough process that ensures the job gets done properly every time. It made me appreciate the focus, detail, and attention required for the critical job.

Overall, a strict schedule and more fielded cars meant a lot more work to do than a Buttonwillow. But, as a result, I experienced firsthand the criticality of constantly making effective use of time. Securing a paddock close to the grid, getting to the track early, preparing rain tires, lining up to the grid early for qualifying, and much more opened my eyes to the various processes that helped culminate in the race wins we experienced.

Overall, the two outings taught me so much. The amount of information I was exposed to and learned was enough to fill many pages of my notebook, and continuing to write about them would take many more paragraphs. However, there are two key things I would like to highlight as the main takeaways from my internship with JENSEN.

The first is defining what a race engineer is. One of the first questions Eric asked me was: "wat is race engineering?" and at the time, I only had a vague answer. I had ideas of what they did, what skills they had, and what they knew, but I couldn't form a cohesive theme that tied it all together. But through early morning drives to the track, preparing the cars before sessions, and

Eric's discussion with the drivers, the concept of a race engineer became clearer to me as the days progressed. The internship introduced me to the many technical details that must be tracked, how missing any one of them is detrimental, and how they all culminate in the goal of winning.

The second key thing I learned is what it means to be a professional. I had images of what professionals were from a year working in industry, but working with Eric for only a week made me clearly understand what it meant to be one. One key trait of a professional is getting the job done. It sounds straightforward, but I soon saw the constant practice, discipline, and self-improvement required to truly become one. One way Eric emphasized to ensure consistent, professional-level performance was by working with a good process. From starting the cars to preparing the tires, every task had a process, and that process ensured performance.

These two points are very meaningful to me because they clearly outline the traits, skills, and qualities I need to develop to work towards my objective of becoming a professional race engineer. I am grateful for all that I’ve learned so far, and I am looking forward to continuing to work with Eric to grow even more.

So if you're also looking to become a professional race engineer or driver, I highly encourage you to reach out to Eric to learn new things. The technical and soft skills I gained are things I don't think I could have learned anywhere else but at JENSEN.

To read about JENSEN race car engineering internships, visit our website post JENSEN Race Car Engineering Internships - or contact Eric Jensen via email at jensen@jensenga.com