Career’s now supercharged

– Shaun Inguanzo
MATTHEW Szczensy is like most 21-year-olds in that he has a passion for automobiles.
But not many can confess to having driven a supercharged Holden SS Commodore around a racetrack at blistering speed as part of their job.
Matthew, the winner of this year’s Youth Enterprise Award, is a committed fourth-year apprentice mechanic working at PWR Performance in Kitchen Road, Dandenong South.
Matthew said he began his apprenticeship at a dealership before hassling the manager at PWR Performance for a job.
He said that working with superchargers was a much different and more exciting field than standard automobiles.
“It’s really top end work we do, like show cars in magazines,” he said.
“We are working with big, big horsepower.”
While other young men spend up at large to customise their beloved cars, Matthew enjoys the fact he is paid to do the task for a living.
“I’ve converted an SS Commodore into a track car and made it from 250 kilowatts (of power) to 550 kilowatts.
“It was given better suspension, a roll cage, racing harnesses, and racing seats.”
And has he driven it?
“Yep, I’ve been down to Winton and Calder and driven it myself.
“Seeing something evolve like that and seeing how much power it has is unbelievable – it’s unusable on the road.”
Matthew’s goal is to move into an engineering role while continuing his development.
Having completed a Certificate III in Automotive, the Oakleigh resident is well on his way to achieving his dream.
One might say that he is supercharging his career.