Business Speakers
Mark Preston – F1 & Grand Prix Expert. Former Super Aguri Technical Director.
Mark Preston is an experienced public/after dinner speaker and is available for events surrounding F1, Grand Prix, conferences and other such events.
After graduating from Monash University, Mark Preston began a parallel Engineering Career in Australia designing Road Tankers and Formula Ford racing cars. He quickly abandoned the 18 wheelers to work purely with 4 wheels and follow his passion by taking a role at GM Holden where he was part of the team responsible for the computer analysis and crashworthiness design of the VT Commodore. From Holden he moved to Holden Special Vehicles helping to analyse and design custom and low volume modify vehicles for local and export markets.
After getting the Spectrum Formula Ford to second place in the Australian Formula Ford Championship with Jason Bargwanna, Mark packed his bags in 1996 and flew to England to pursue his dream of a career in F1.
His first role was as a Stress Analysis Engineer for the Arrows F1 team where working up to 14 hours a day 6 days a week he was responsible for conducting analysis on vehicle components to ensure that would survive the rigours of race day. Mark also survived the rigours of F1 and was soon promoted to Senior Vehicle Performance Analyst and for the next 3 years was responsible for a team of Engineers who undertook computer analysis on the body, aerodynamics and suspension and simulation of the handling of the F1 car.
In 2001, Mark Preston became Head of Research and Development at Arrows where he took on the additional responsibility of managing both the test laboratory and track test team, regularly travelling throughout Europe squeezing every last bit of performance out of the cars with drivers such as Heinz Harold Frentzen and Jos Verstappen.
In 2002, Mark was lured to the higher profile McLaren F1 team where he again worked in the area of computer simulation and testing. In 2003 Mark was promoted to Head of Vehicle Testing Laboratories where he oversaw the development and testing of the 2004 McLaren. Working with legendary technical director Adrian Newey on one of the most controversial F1 cars in McLaren’s history, the MP4-18A. Mark describes this as “one of the biggest learning experiences of his career!”
Between 2006 – 2008, Mark Preston was technical director for the Super Aguri F1 Team