Tickford Racing has made the most of the coronavirus-induced downtime with the completion of a workshop renovation.
In mid-March, the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship was put on hold as a result of COVID-19.
Since then, a handful of Tickford Racing’s staff have taken the time to make changes to the facility to accommodate its five-car operation.
“There was always a plan to have the workshop upgraded and just make it a bit more user friendly,” said Tickford Racing truck driver and certified builder Colin Schwartz.
“So this was the perfect time, with a bit of downtime, to make this happen.”
Among the changes to the Melbourne workshop is the addition of new divider walls and new parts racks.
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McQuinn-supplied lights have been fitted to hoists and the new workshop divider walls for added visibility.
The hoists have been repositioned as well so that workshop staff can access the Ford Mustang fleet easily.
“We used to have all the cars on nearly a 45-degree angle to the workshop,” said Schwartz.
“It was just becoming impractical as a five-car operation to make that effective and work properly.
“So we’ve changed the workshop to more like a dealership and everything is all in line, parallel.”
Behind the walls are new benches and facilities for tools that can quickly be accessed.
The electrical department has also been moved to previously unused office spaces while the team’s composites division has been moved from a separate building into the workshop.
“We’ve created new bench space for all the tools, tool kits, and boxes,” said Schwartz.
“Behind that as well you’ve got sub-assembly, so all the car parts and componentry gets manufactured in there, repaired, fixed, and then brought out for the guys to use.
“Another big part is that we used to have a second building down the bottom, and that used to do all of our composites and repair work for the panels on the car. That’s now been shifted up here into this backroom.
“Those guys are now part of our workshop, so it makes it so much easier in getting things repaired and then back to us a little bit quicker, a little bit streamlined.”
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship returns to racing at Sydney Motorsport Park on June 27-28.
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