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In the latest instalment of the Kincrome Mechanic Series, we cover the journey of 27 year old mechanic D’Arcy Wade, who has worked for the top-two teams in the Supercars Championship.
From the moment he was born, it was almost destined that D’Arcy Wade was going to have a career in the motorsport industry.
“It all started when I was about a month old watching dad at the race track,” Wade said.
“Dad has always been involved in cars, bikes, motorsport, anything with an engine really.
“My interest in motorsport has just progressed ever since.”
While in school, Wade worked at his father mechanical stores, Midas Tingalpa and Midas Capalaba during the school holidays, before commencing his school-based apprenticeship as a mechanic at the Capalaba store.
“It was twice a week in the later years of high school after I graduated, I just went full time and pursued my qualification as a mechanic.”
Wade worked out of the Capalaba store for eight years, where he commenced his involvement in motorsport.
“I started off in the Hyundai Excel series and then I got a production car, a Honda Integra,” he recollected.
“Improved Production is a great category to race in, my dad also races in the category.”
His achieving one race victory, as well as 16 podiums from 2015 to 2018.
His involvement in the category, ultimately set him on the path to a career in the Supercars Championship.
“My dad and I were racing in the Improved Production support category at the Adelaide 500 in 2018, dad was entered in his BMW M3 and ended up having a sore back, so I jumped in.
“After the race, I approached Triple Eight Race Engineering and asked if they had any opportunities available and they did.
“I was very fortunate and lucky to be given the opportunity.”
At Triple Eight, Wade was responsible for looking after the tyres on seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup’s car, an opportunity he relished.
“The time I spent working with Jamie Whincup was a pleasure, he’s a great guy, exceptional driver and is a true champion,” Wade said.
“To go back to the day where I was in Year 9 and dad picked me up from school, took me out to Queensland Raceway’s for a ride day, which happened to be the first time I met Jamie. I was so excited.
“To then fast forward and be working with him on his car and win races back in 2018 was a great sense of achievement or a dream in my life. I’m absolutely sure as well it would have been a motivator for me to join Triple Eight back in Adelaide in 2018.”
In addition to managing the tyres on Whincup’s car, Wade was responsible for overseeing all the spare parts that were taken to the track, consumables in the truck, packing the truck, as well as equipment that needed to be repaired or replaced.
“It was a good time, definitely a big step up going from a regular vehicle mechanic into professional motorsport, it taught me a lot of things.”
After his time at Triple Eight, Wade went to KRE Race Engines and worked under the tutelage of Kenny McNamara.
“I was there for six months dismantling, servicing and a little bit of dyno work on the Supercar and sprint car engines, so that was definitely a cool gig as well.
“I learnt a lot about attention-to-detail and cleanliness there, especially with how pristine we had to keep the engine shop.”
Through a couple of connections, Wade managed to land a role with Black Falcon, working on their Mercedes-AMG GT3.
“I had an opportunity to go over to the Dubai 24 Hour and work with the team as a tyre technician and I took it as roles like that don’t come by very often, but unfortunately that race rained out, as weird as that sounds in Dubai.
“After I came back, they wanted me to work for them, as well as at the upcoming Bathurst 12 Hour in 2020.
“At the Bathurst 12 Hour, I did the tyres for Black Falcon and they were partnered with Craft Bamboo Racing, so I was also working on the Craft Bamboo car with Maro Engel, Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz, so that was awesome.
“Straight after that Black Falcon wanted me to move over to Germany to work for them, which I was happy to do so and then COVID-19 hit.”
As the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Wade found himself returning to his roots, working for a year in the Midas Capalaba store.
His next opportunity with a Supercars Championship team, came about through a well-connected close friend.
“I started working for a very good mate of mine Ryan Madison [Former Erebus Motorsport CEO] restoring a RS Cosworth and through his help and connection with Ben Croke, I was able to land a role with the Shell V-Power Racing Team, where I am today.”
Initially, Wade was assigned to work on the Gen3 Ford Mustang prototype throughout 2022.
“I was given tasks on the Gen3 prototype, with whatever needed to be serviced, replaced or prepared.
“So I was involved in running the prototype all year with a couple other lads, which was a cool experience.”
At the end of last year, Wade was assigned his current role as the Number 2 Mechanic on the Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang of Anton De Pasquale.
“It is great working with Anton, he is a great guy, we are a similar age, he is good to get along with and we are both determined to get strong results,” he said.
“Everyone here at Shell V-Power Racing Team is exceptional, it shows, all those years especially when I was at Triple Eight in 2018 and we were chasing, chasing Shell V-Power Racing Team in the FGX and then the Mustang in 2019, to be here now really shows how good these guys are and why they were so hard to beat back then.
“Every single person here is just so good to work with, everyone is understanding and there’s so many years of combined knowledge here.
“I guess what drew me to the team is that I always try and look to do better, look for the next thing land you know everyone wants to be the best, they want to be the best version of themselves and I’m a really really big fan of surrounding myself with people who have a good impact and influence on my work.
“One of my dream goals was to be a mechanic for a top-tier professional race team and “I couldn’t be happier.”
For any aspiring mechanics with a dream of working in motorsport out there, Wade encouraged them to chase their dreams.
“For passionate young kids out there wanting a career in motorsport, do make sure you surround yourself with good people, be as open-minded as you can be about everything because everyone will always have an opinion on different tasks/ideas and you can use them to react differently next time, back yourself, and most importantly enjoy the amazing places it can or will take you.
“It’s a cool job but it doesn’t come by easily.”
If you know a mechanic that deserves a story, send an e-mail to mechanics@speedcafe.com
