Interview with Daniel Harris for Escape

21 September 2017

 

Age: 32

Job: Workshop Manager at Atherton Creative Engineering

Tell us about yourself?

My name's Daniel Harris, I live in Wigan, I work for my family run business which is a general sheet metal fabrication workshop. We do everything from repairing alloy wheels to making custom motorbikes.

How did you get into engineering?

I was very lucky. I served my apprenticeship at Rolls Royce and Bentley. I was very lucky to get in because in my year they took on eight apprentices, five were from university and three of us were from school. I left at 16 and went straight in. Not only was I lucky to get an apprenticeship but I was lucky to start out in engineering. When I was there they had one of the Veyron in the test cell being developed. Then I got put into Bentley Mulliner which was the special editions department of the business and got to work on the Queen's car. 

What was the Queen's car like?

I'm not allowed to say much about it. They actually built two, one for the Queen and the other one was to test on. You would have expected the car to be a lot more than it was but the thing with the Queen is that she doesn't buy into all that. She likes stuff to be quite plain. It was a beautiful car, don't get me wrong but it wasn't as flashy as you'd think. 

Have you always been interested in cars?

Oh god, cars, planes, motorbikes - strap an engine to a push bike and I'm interested in it. My love of engines came from my dad. He always had cars and got me into bikes when I was 12. I remember going to scrap yards with him when you were allowed in and we'd just rummage through looking for that seat belt buckle or something like that. I’m hoping that it will come in handy for this, although I hope I don’t put a screwdriver through my hand like he used to!

Do you know what you’re letting yourself in for?

I haven’t got a clue! I have a general idea, I know I’m going somewhere cold. For some people that might be a big deal but for me, I’m not that fussed about it. If you get too cold then you can put stuff on, run around and do some work. But if you’re hot there’s not much more you can do once you’ve stripped down to your undercrackers! I know it’s a crash site but that’s where my knowledge of what’s to come stops!

How are you feeling about the survival side of the show?

That’s why I’ve signed up to it. The engineering side of things, that’s day to day for me. The survival thing, I look at life and see opportunities. For some people they just want to do a nine to five and go on holiday to Tenerife twice a year and are content with that. That’s fine, but me, I need something to keep me on my toes and this is going to do just that for me. It’s completely out of my comfort zone, it’s an unusual experience for anyone. We’ve got to achieve something that’s not normal, so every aspect of it’s a challenge, mentally and physically. The cold will make me tired, I’m probably going to be tired - I get terribly hangry! If I get to about 2pm then my head goes, I lose all concentration, so that’s going to be a battle. But it’s an exciting thing to do. As much as it maybe hard, there’s more to gain from it.

What type of person are you?

I’m a real talker! I’m a very flexible person. I have been on projects where I’ve led teams, fellow engineers. I’ve been led by people too. I’ve got a short tolerance for stupidity, I’ll be honest. If I see someone struggling then I will always go over and offer to help. I won’t tell them what to do but I’ll certainly give them some advice.

How will you react if the rest of the group do something you don’t agree with?

I’ll delegate as best as I can. There is going to be times that emotions will get a bit fraught, I imagine. Things could become difficult. Standing there shouting and screaming at people doesn’t achieve anything. Even if it’s a case of going away for five minutes to reassess the situation. I’d like to think we’re all adults. That’s going to be a challenge in itself, learning to read people, knowing their skills and strengths.

If Ant tells you to shut up and get on with it, how will you react?

It depends out he tells me to shut up! There’s a way of saying something and receiving something as well. I don’t watch a great deal of television so I don’t know much about him, to be honest. I know he did Mutiny and he’s ex SAS. That’s all I know really. I could have gone online and looked into him but I thought that would be unfair as I don’t know anything about the other engineers that I’ll be with. I approach everyone with the same attitude, no one is better than me regardless of age, race or creed, amount of money - I approach everyone the same.

Is there anything you’re worried about?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. I’m not a massive fan of electrics, that’s probably the only thing I’m worried about, someone asking me to wire something because I’ll probably end up blowing myself up! That’s my only concern!

This show is includes female engineers, do you think that’s a good thing?

Yeah, without a doubt. I’ve come across a few in my career but there’s not been many. It’s a vastly male orientated environment. It’s very rare you get a woman in a workshop, to be honest it’s rare you get young people in workshops. To see fairly young women doing it is fantastic. I think it should be pushed, we need more women. The route through school for many years is that you had to go to university but now more people are looking at apprenticeships, more vocational areas. Getting diversity within engineering is what it’s all about, getting different people from different walks of life. That brings more to the table and a different view.

Do you hope this series will show engineers in a different light?

I think it’s going to show that it can be fun. I think that’s what a lot of people forget, they think it’s just an old man in a workshop knocking something with a big hammer. It’s had that stigma for many years and it was only recently that it’s started to change. If there’s anything that’s going to light a fire in people’s heads that this is something isn’t always stuck in the dark ages and is for everyone, then great.