Daniele De Anna (pictured far right, back row) and the Mobil 1 Formula Student team

Daniele De Anna says he had to fight the fear while driving a hand-built racing car around Silverstone race-track this July in the culmination of his Masters in Mechanical Engineering.           

Daniele, who claims dual loyalty to both his home towns of Munich in Germany and Portofino in Italy, followed his father's lead into an engineering degree: "To be honest I was always good with numbers and not as good with literature - so engineering was the suitable choice. My father is an engineer and it always fascinated me the job he was doing and therefore I wanted to follow his footsteps." 

The Mechanical Engineering students at Sussex choose from a selection of projects for their final year and Daniele chose to get involved in one of the most popular, Formula Student, an international competition for students to build and race their own racing car. 

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers runs the competition each year with the assistance of the Society of Automotive Engineers and tests the cars for construction, breaking, handling and speed of up to 100 mph. 

Racing your own car is a challenging prospect, explains Daniele: "To be honest I was actually really scared! There were very good teams participating. But it's all about having fun, meeting new people and racing the car that you have designed and built for the past year." 

But it's not just the thrill of the big race that Daniele has loved about his course: "I think Mechanical Engineering is a very good degree. We had modules in business, management, ethics and design and not only in mathematics and physics - as people would think we have." 

Next for Daniele will be a move back to Germany and an engineering job-hunting holiday in Italy, but his affection for Brighton won't leave him easily: "Brighton reminds me of Italy because it is on the sea. It is a very lively city and there is always something going on."