Dave Tunnell with his sons Jake (left) and Donavan, with Jake already having two years of drag racing under his belt. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Dave Tunnell with his sons Jake (left) and Donavan, with Jake already having two years of drag racing under his belt. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Nestled away in one of Whanganui's industrial areas is TPE Racing; a garage run by Dave Tunnell who specialises in custom fabrication.
He speaks to Logan Tutty as part of our Petrolheads series.
Dave Tunnell's passion for motor vehicles started as a child, pottering around his father's garage as hewas growing up.
"I've been into cars since I was a young fella, always been into it. My old man was a mechanic so I grew up around the scene and just escalated from there."
He has been at his London St garage for the last 14 years and is continuing to evolve and add more to the business.
"We do a bit of everything. We work on race cars to street cars to your everyday drivers getting their services and repairs."
He was working hard over the Christmas and New Year holidays finishing up work on his dyno, a testing rig for vehicles before they head to the race track.
"It's probably one of the biggest in New Zealand. It's pretty exciting."
Tunnell has invested over $100,000 into the project, spending the last 18 months toiling away to get it finished.
"I've gone all out with everything. Big massive fans to change the air out of the room, massive water pumps, big absorber. It's huge.
"With the dyno, you can do your vehicle tuning and work out the horsepower and torque of your engine.
"Basically you are finding out what the engine produces.
"As far as I know, this one will handle 2000 foot-pound or 3000 horsepower, whatever comes first. It's a **** load."
With the finish line in site, Tunnell is excited as he has a backlog of engines that need testing.
"I've been here for a while. It was a gamble to take but I'm glad I did it with just the amount of money that has been put into it. You've got to spend money to make money at the end of the day.
"All my focus is right here. I wanted it done months ago. It's a big thing mate. Heaps has gone into it."
Over the last few years, he has started gravitating towards racing; drag racing to be specific. Tunnell's two sons, Jake and Donavan are learning the trade from their father, who have a passion for going fast. Jake, at the age of 9, has done two years of racing all ready in a junior dragster and Donavan will be stepping up into one at the end of this year when he turns 7.
"We will end up with the whole family doing it, that's the plan."
He is always trying to take his own vehicles and his customer's vehicles to the next level, pushing them to places they haven't been before.
"It's the story of you always want to go faster and faster."
Dave Tunnell's TPE Performance Supercharged 496 cubic inch dragster, which has reached a speed of 300 km/h. Photo / Bevan Conley
He spent the majority of 2019 working on his dragster after buying it around three years ago off a friend.
"It's quite an old car; it's got a lot of history. I've fully rebuilt it. We stripped it down to bare steel and went through the whole thing and built the whole thing back up."
Tunnell passed his licence in February 2020 and now it was time to put his dragster to the final test in Taupō.
"The first time I sat in it, it was at the race track. I couldn't at all sleep the night before."
In his TPE Performance Supercharged 496 cubic inch dragster, he completed a personal best quarter mile in 7.6 seconds, peaking at a speed of 300km/h.
"It's awesome. It's amazing. It's hard to explain. Once you have done it, you want to do it again and again."
Among the vehicles he is working on at the moment are a 1974 Holden LJ Torana and a 1932 Ford, both receiving significant engine upgrades.
A number of projects Tunnell has worked on have appeared in the NZV8 magazine, taking pride any time he sees a vehicle he has worked on feature in the monthly mag.
"I'm really quite good at what I'm doing. I enjoy it and I'm really passionate about it.
"I like to be able to finish everything and work with the customers along the way as much as I can."
Tunnell is aiming to having an open day for his garage sometime in 2021, showcasing what he can offer and some of the vehicles he has worked on over the years.
He is looking to have it around April or May, after the last race meeting for the season.
"I'll bring all the dragsters into the garage and have a big show day. It will be quite cool. I haven't done any advertising because we aren't just there yet.
"It's just to try get a few more people here and show them what we can do."
