Future Talent Funding

It can be challenging to get ahead as a student or apprentice, but bursaries from the IMI and the Fellowship of the Motor Industry offer a welcome career boost.

Passion and drive can get you to many places in automotive, but sometimes an unexpected win and a sliding doors moment can help steer you in an entirely new direction.  

When Aaron Linsey won the IMI Full-Time Student of the Year award back in 2024, he was ready to celebrate. But while he was being congratulated on a much-deserved win, he hadn’t realised his evening was about to get even better.

“I had my award on the table, a mouthful of food and all I heard  over the loudspeakers was ‘Aaron  Linsey’,” he remembers. “My teacher, the person who nominated me, said I needed to go up to the stage. I didn’t know why I was up there and didn’t realise until I got back to my table and opened the envelope that it was because I was given the Fellowship of the Motor Industry Bursary.”

Linsey studied a foundational Level 1 Certificate in Automotive Maintenance at the Colchester Institute, before moving to the Level 2 Vehicle Maintenance and Repair programme. It was on that course that his passion for motorsport began. Linsey worked with a small team and his tutor to construct a Lotus Seven-type kit car from scratch, something he loved. And it’s through the opportunities the bursary provided that he’s continuing down this high-performance path.

“I reached out to the IMI and asked them what courses they recommend I study,” he explains. “I ended up doing Aircon Diagnostics, ADAS and the Level 2 and 3 in EV and Hybrid Maintenance.”

Opportunity Knocks

It was during his IMI studies that Linsey found out about the Motorsport Engineering degree at the National Motorsport Academy – something he found out about following a chance conversation with one of his coursemates.

“It was at the back of my mind for a while, but then I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to do it’,” he says.

At the same time, Linsey reached out to MK Sportscars, the firm that supplied the kit car he worked on at college, to see if they needed anyone. They did, and he’s now working on vehicles he loves, studying a course he hopes will catapult him into the race paddocks at circuits around the world.

All this was made possible by a bursary win that helped Linsey acquire the professional skills he needs to succeed and a sliding doors moment that could have resulted in his career going in a completely different direction. 

Read the full article in MotorPro magazine, received free as part of IMI membership.