STAYINRG POWER
With literally dozens of NZ Performance Car feature cars under his belt — including a few cover cars — Jacky Tse is a long-time figurehead of the Kiwi car scene through both his own personal vehicles and the customer cars coming out of his Auckland-based performance shop, Jtune Automotive. Jacky and his team have been pumping out consistently high-quality machines for more than 15 years, which, when it comes to the Kiwi car scene, makes him certifiably ancient.
We recently sat down with Jacky to talk about pushing back against cultural expectations, late-night Queen Street sifting in the glory days, and where things are heading next.
Hi, Jacky. Plenty of people in the scene probably know your name and the name of your workshop, but it’s probably only us older folk who have any idea just how long you’ve been around. Take us back to the start — how did all this begin for you?
I’ve loved cars ever since I was a kid. It all started from following my dad’s hobbies — he was into modelling and racing RC cars and boats back in Hong Kong. Motor racing isn’t as popular there as it is here or in other countries. We had a BMW 320i with a few mods back in ’89, but the car was so slow with its bodykit, and, going into any car park, our whole family needed to get out so it wouldn’t scrape.
Most people in Hong Kong live in apartments, so there are no garages or sheds where you can have the freedom to do DIY work or hack something up in your backyard. The only racing we got to see in town was at an annual go-kart event, which was hosted in Victoria Park, right in the middle of the city, just before the Macau GP [Grand Prix] began. That really got me into racing — even if I didn’t get to drive, it made me want to be an engineer and be involved!
At that time, I was
