Team 18 will move workshops during the off-season in a deal that owner Charlie Schwerkolt describes as a ‘game changer’ for his Supercars operation.
After operating out of the ex-Tasman Motorsport workshop in Dandenong, Melbourne this year, Team 18’s operations will shift to Mount Waverley.
The new workshop backs onto the headquarters of Schwerkolt’s highly successful Waverley Forklifts business, which employs approximately 60 people.
Gold Coast based Schwerkolt says that the race team, which has less than a dozen members, will benefit from the company’s resources, as well as streamlining his own commitments while in Melbourne.
“It’s a larger facility than what we have now, but being all under one roof is what is most exciting for me,” Schwerkolt told Speedcafe.com.
“We’ve got a large company that is hugely successful and a big part of my world that the race team will back onto.
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“It’s a game changer for me personally having it all under one roof.
“Having a sponsor meeting at the workshop and then whizzing back to Mount Waverley, it sometimes takes half a day.
“We would have liked to have done it initially for this year, but it wasn’t until this building has come up that we are able to do it.
“We’ve got fantastic resources that we can tap into in terms of people, equipment… and plenty of forklifts.”
Schwerkolt says that the new shop will be set up with two car bays and that the team is looking at adding a Dunlop Series or Carrera Cup program to its line-up next year.
Although confirming that he was approached about running a second Supercars Championship entry by multiple parties, such an expansion has been ruled out.
“We won’t be doing a second (main series) car, but I would like to put something else in the factory,” he said.
“Doing something with a Dunlop Series or a Carrera Cup car is certainly something I’m looking at, but it just can’t detract from the main task with Lee (Holdsworth) and the team.
“We’ve done one year and it’s been really, really tough and I’m looking to make one car good, not two cars average.
“There was a bit of chat around and a couple of people had come to see me (about a second main series car), but our clear goal is to get Lee up the front.”
Team 18 is already running the new Triple Eight built chassis that it was intended to debut next year following Holdsworth’s heavy crash at Hidden Valley in June.
Whether the car receives an update over Christmas to bring its front-end into line with the latest specification Triple Eight equipment remains to be seen.
It currently runs the Mk 4 Triple Eight front suspension, which is two generations behind that seen in the Red Bull and Caltex cars.
“We’re going through all that at the moment to see where we want to go,” said Schwerkolt.
“We have to take into account what is the best value for money and what Lee wants from the car.
“Either way we’ll still be closely aligned with Triple Eight.”
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