Ticking the boxes on vertical integration with Tickford Racing

It’s all about speed in the Supercars Championship circuit, from the cars to the lightning-fast turnaround on wrapping and livery. Digital Image Magazine spoke to Chris Ansell, head signwriter at Tickford Racing and Danni Wozniak, contract installer, to find out more.

Tickford Racing is known as one of the most competitive teams in the Supercars Championship and one of the largest. The team races four Ford Mustangs full-time in the 2022 championship, add in a Ford Falcon FG X in the Super2 Series – the feeder category for up and coming Supercars drivers – and a fifth Mustang, which it will enter in two race events as a ‘wildcard’ later in the year, and you’re looking at a large fleet of high-performance vehicles, plus all the equipment that goes with them, which need to look as good as they race.

Such a large team requires a massive amount of hardware and labour to maintain, which is why Tickford Racing employs over 50 staff in a business model that services nearly every aspect of the team, both competitively and commercially. Tickford’s diverse business includes a range of staff specialising in engineering, machining, fabrication, engine building, composites, sub-assembly, mechanics, and commercial personnel. With such a variety of items being designed, assembled, raced, and regularly serviced comes the need for Tickford’s own in-house sign shop, which is responsible for the printing and application of vinyl wrap and decals to its many assets both at the track and at home base in Melbourne.

Tickford Racing’s sign shop consists of Head Signwriter Chris Ansell and Apprentice Hayden Cupitt. The pair look after signage on race cars, transporters, and anything else that needs a design or logo applied to it.

“It’s a pretty full service,” Ansell says. “We do everything from file set up to printing, cut and weed, and applying various graphics to all kinds of different things – cars, transporters, toolboxes, show cars, walls, etc. The process starts by liaising with the commercial department with what’s coming up and what needs changing or updating for the next race event, then, we work out how to get everything from the computer screen to the car before it gets loaded up to go to the next race. The workload is constantly developing and usually requires short turnaround times, so it’s pretty full-on almost all the time.”

While the Supercars season consists of 13 events over nine months, there’s rarely a slow time of year for Ansell and Cupitt. Between events, the two constantly add or remove vinyl from parts and panels of the cars to get them ready for the next round. Ansell himself travels to all events to manage any signage needs on the fly; he also changes tyres during pit stops and, due to his experience as a sprint car racer, occasionally serves as a spare mechanic.

“We have an HP Latex 365, a printer and cutter combination that we use with support from Celmec; we also have a separate Roland CAMM-1 Pro cutter to print and cut anything and everything we need,” Ansell adds. “Across a season, we’ll go through more than 10 kilometres of vinyl, so the hardware gets quite a workout. The vinyl comes from Arlon Graphics, whom we work closely with to ensure we have all the material we need to be as efficient as possible between rounds. We operate in-house, which is good in some aspects but challenging in others. In reality, we’re a small cog in a big machine, so we need to be pretty flexible at times to work in with other departments’ needs and make sure we’re ready to go when we hit the track. But at the same time, when there’s a simple job on, it’s pretty good to be on-site; we can just head downstairs or go grab a panel, sticker it, and get on with our day, so while the deadlines and tight turnarounds are a challenge, it can be incredibly convenient and efficient to have an in-house Signwriter.”

During the sign shop’s busiest times of the year, another set of hands is always helpful. To fill that need, Tickford calls on Danni Wozniak of Vinyl Angel Graphics, who completes contract work for the team, most recently decaling its two transporters and a ‘show car’, a road-going Mustang, which is decaled in an identical design to the race car.

“The pre-season is always a busy time,” Ansell says. “Every race car has a new livery, transporters often need their branding updated, toolboxes need to be freshened up, and sometimes we do up show cars for sponsors to use at promotional events. The lead up to Bathurst is always big as well, as much as anything, just making sure that every graphic and decal is perfect on the cars and their spare panels. Sometimes we take a spare car up as well for use in TV or media events, so the workload gets pretty heavy around those times and having Danni around as another set of hands is great. She previously spent a couple of years here, so she knows the team and how everyone operates, so she can be left to her own devices to reliably complete tasks. Especially in those busy times of the year, it’s good to have someone else on deck ticking those boxes and to help us make sure everything’s looking at its best for race day,” concludes Ansell.

Tickford Racing is one of the most successful teams in the history of Australian motorsport, with over 70 Supercars wins, and nearly 300 podium finishes in its 20-year history thus far. Established in late 2002 through collaboration between Ford Australia and UK-based engineering firm Prodrive, the team was founded as Ford Performance Racing and made its competitive debut in 2003. Among its accolades are wins in the 2013 and 2014 Bathurst 1000, Mark Winterbottom’s 2015 Supercars title, and triumphs at other iconic Australian races, including the Sandown 500, Adelaide 500, Gold Coast 600, and more. And while the team are no longer affiliated with Ford Australia, they are still a driving force both on the racetrack and in the sign shop.