Symmons Plains Supercars: Meet Australia’s fastest mechanic, young gun James Golding

SUPERCARS young gun James Golding is likely to be Australia’s fastest mechanic. He’s looking forward to this week’s racing at Symmons Plains.

MEET the supercar rookie who is his own mechanic.

James Golding, a 22-year-old country boy from Warragul, south east of Melbourne, has been racing since he was big enough to sit in a go-kart.

After years of proving himself, this season he steps into a thundering 635-horsepower supercar.

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But the boss still makes the young mechanic work on his own car during the week.

Golding works at Garry Rogers Motorsport in the subassembly department building gearboxes, brakes, axels and hubs.

At the weekend, he races one of GRM’s $500,000 Holden ZB Commodore supercars those components go into.

Golding’s Commodore will be one of 26 that hit Tasmania this week for round three of the

Young mechanic James Golding, of Garry Rogers Motorsport, downs tools at the weekend to race a supercar. Picture: MARK HORSBURGH

Australian supercars championship at Symmons Plains on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Golding also works on the parts that go into teammate Garth Tander’s car.

Is James tempted to do a better job on his car than on Garth’s ride?

“Sometimes there might be a little bit less grease go into Garth’s car — no, not really,” Golding said.

“I can’t do that … but if he stirs me up, it might happen.”

Golding said becoming a driver in a team headed by Bathurst champion Tander was an advantage.

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“Having someone with so much experience, it’s like a whole library you can pick through and get information out that’s going to help you,” he said.

“It’s great to have him there and he’s been really helpful to me so far.”

When he was preparing his own go-kart as a youngster, Golding dreamt of bigger things.

“I’ve always wanted to race professionally,” he said.

“As I got older I wanted to go to the top, like Formula One or IndyCars. They were my goals for a while.

“I ended up aiming for supercars because it’s at home in Australia and this is where my family and friends are and if I can race professionally and still be at home where everything is, that’s definitely two ticks rolled into one.”

Golding’s long-term goal is a big one.

“I want to win the supercars championship and Bathurst,” he said.

“Once I accomplish them, I’ll make new goals.”