About Mark Sparrow

I've been playing with toy cars since before I could talk, then knowing what they were by shape before I could read, then progressed through building Lego and Technic Lego before moving into Tamiya models and remote control cars.

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Engineering was clearly for me, so I left school as soon as legally possible and went off to college to study electromechanical engineering before settling into mechanical engineering. I picked up an apprenticeship in toolmaking after college and wasn't even halfway through before I had my own department to run and my own customers. The firm I worked for had a unique approach and took work from around the world that nobody else could do.

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Once I had mastered cutting metal, I wanted to move into the drawing office which meant putting myself through university, so naturally, I chose automotive engineering with motorsport. I popped out of uni just as the Afghanistan War had started, and became an expert in armouring military vehicles working on programmes like the Jackel and stress testing engineering and purchasing systems - I was constantly working on UORs.

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A former colleague of mine who happens to be a rocket scientist connected me with an incredible opportunity to work as a rocket scientist on an inter-planetary mission to Mercury - and one does not turn those types of opportunities down. That resulted in a few great years laying out spacecraft, wiring, and solving problems on Ion engines. All of this while learning the very peak of mechanical engineering. Bepi Colombo is now getting into orbit around Mercury, having travelled some 7 billion kilometres at 25,000 odd MPH. Around this time, the idea of manufacturing my own vehicle started to become something I believed I could do as I'd basically reached the peak of my career working on Bepi Columbo. I finally had the brain space to start the project I'd wanted to.

 

I'm now a senior engineer running my own company getting gainful employment locally in the aerospace industry working on programs such as the Zephyr UAV where I became an SME (Subject Matter Expert awarded by the Civil Aviation Authority). I have also worked as Head of Aerostructures at Phasa35 (Zephyrs competitor) for BAE Systems.

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In case you're wondering, this was over 13 years. It took 13 years to go from apprentice toolmaker to rocket engineer and I'm now one of the few people who has a full apprenticeship and a degree. I walk the walk and talk the talk and I build cars like I have built spacecraft and aircraft.

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And yes, it's not brain surgery.