When the V8 Supercars hit the track for this w🌳eekend's Betta Electrical Sandown 500 spare a ꦺthought of what it takes to prepare these cars to ensure they are in prime condition round after round.

Sinceꦅ beginning on a part🌼 time basis with Larkham Motor Sport Mike Flynn began to live out his boyhood dream working full time in one of Australia's leading motorsport entities.

Two years later upon completion of his apprenticeship Flynn was crow🍷ned the Queensland Apprentice of the Year in 2002 and National Runner-up. This year th♛e 22-year-old is the number one mechanic for the driver of the Number 10 Orrcon Racing Falcon, Jason Bargwanna.

"I have always had an interest in cars and more in parti🦂cular motorsport, to b🎃e involved with a team at the highest level of motorsport in Australia is a real buzz," he said.

While most motor mechanics will tell you their job isn't a 9 to 5 job this is cert🍃ainly the case in the highly competitive worlꦓd of motorsport.

The V8 Supercar Championship is more about team effort and hard work than ever before with the mechanics putting in hours long after the drivers have gone to bed on a race weekend. It is much the same in between races with the team of mechanics stripping and then preparing the Orrc🌼on Racing Ford Falcons for the next round of the Championship.

It's n🧜ot a case of kicking back to relax betw𒁏een rounds, it is all hands on deck as you can see by Flynn's week by week diary below.

Week One:

"We arrived back from Oran Park on Sunday night and h🉐ad Monday off before the cars arrived back to the workshop at 7:30am Tuesday morning.

"Once they were unloaded the cars went straight onto the set up tables checking the dimensions for data comparison before a mechanical a𒆙nd damage report was compiled and the disassemble to a bare shell begins.

"Three times a week the five pit stop guys head to the gym for a wor🍎k out so this is how I started the day on Wednesday morning.

"After the car i🍷s stripped down all of the parts are inspected and replaced according to mileage which takes us until Friday morning where we begin to re-assemble🍃 the car.

"We will generally worꩲk the Saturday prior each event or test day, with us testing on Thursday w𒈔e are in the workshop all day Saturday."

Week Two:

"The week begins with the completion of the full re-assemble and changing the car to endurance specifications that includes the changing of some parts and also 💖the alteration of seating and pedal positions to find a happy medium between the two drivers.

"On Tuesday we mixed a seat for Bargs (a foam constructed seat to fit inside the normal seat) and Wednesday Mark 🐼(Winterbo🦋ttom) came into the workshop to be fitted into the #10 car prior to the test the following day.

"For the test day I was up at 5am to be out at Ipswich by 7am to then foc🦂us on ensuring the drivers were comfortable with the seating positio🔯ns and finding a balanced car between the two driving styles.

"While the drivers completed about 100 laps in the #10 Falcon th♍e team practiced their endurance pit stops that൩ included brake pad changes and we all left the track about eight.

"After testing it is basically like a🍷nother race weekend where we strip the cars down, this time we also rebuild the driveline components. A lot of time is spent in sub assemble during the later stages of the🔯 week."

Week Three:

"We had the weekend off to refresh and🅰 then went straight into re-assemble mode and having the cars ready by the middle 𒉰of the week so we can focus on looking at set up data and check the corner weights etc.

"Late in the week our main focus turned towards ensuring the car is almost race ready before preparing𒆙 the spare parts to be loaded in the transporter which will leave on Monday night. Basically we carry a spare of most major components ready to bolt straight into the car at each race meeting.

"The final prep is completed on Monday before the car was loaded into the transporter and Wayne (our truck driver) heads down the 🉐road to Melbourne."

After the cars were loaded into the transporter and on the road from the Gold C🉐oast base to Melbourne it was time for Flynn relax for two days off before the Sandown meeting started.

He believes that seeing his driver achieve a good result gives him a huge sense of achievement and rates the improvement of the team over the past twelve months as one of the h꧑ighlights of his career so far.

"This year has really been a shinning light so far in the way we have all improved as a team and the highlight for me has been the pitstop at꧅ the last round at Oran Par🐠k where we gave Bargs' nearly 10 stops on the track," he said. "It was a great reward for the effort by the guys.

"My other highlight was in 1999 before I began fulltime with the team. Larko destroyed the car at Calder and we rebuilt the car within two weeks, it gave everyone involved a real sense of achievement, even more so when Larko went out a𒉰nd won the next round."