Jim’s passion for the automotive industry and all things motorsport started with his apprenticeship in 1985 in Sydney, Australia. Having already been involved in racing prior to this with both the Alfa Romeo and Fiat marquees in Europe, his enthusiasm and natural appetite as a diagnostician was well under way. By the time he was a second year apprentice Jim had already gained 6 solid months of dyno tuning and diagnostic experience and was excelling in his trade being recognized as NSW mechanical apprentice of the year as a second year student.
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Jim Ghelis – The Story so Far
Working for a nationally franchised automotive repairer, Jim was managing stores by his fourth year as an apprentice and recruited into the head office as a diagnostic specialist and trainer shortly after. Jim soon found himself back enjoying dyno-tuning full time while a progressing career saw him responsible for bringing franchised stores online and up to speed. His appetite for motorsport in the meantime was being fed by ongoing association with V8 Supercar racing, GTP and Production Car racing at a setup, support and tuning level.
Jim sought out new challenges and saw opportunities with high end performance cars spending many years developing Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Lotus’s for Production and other tarmac racing styles. Fine tuning his skills with a sizeable Sydney Performance workshop responsible for many iconic cars at the time, Jim realized there was an opportunity to bring together all the things he loved about the automotive service industry. Japanese, European exotics and the Australian performance scene could all be tied together; proudly recalling the exact date, Jim says “I opened the doors to Tunehouse on the 21st August, 2001.”
Achievements
1st place in class, Renault Clio – 2010 12 hour Bathurst
1st place in class, Renault Clio – Drivers Championship 2010
2nd Place World Time Attack Clubsprint class 99’ WRX STI 2014
2nd Place World Time Attack Clubsprint class 99’ WRX STI 2015
Quickest Toyota 86 at WTAC 2012/2013/2014
Quickest Toyota 86 at Wakefield Park
Fastest XR6 Turbo in Australia on Street Tyres – 10.7 sec Quarter Mile – 2010
Fastest XR6 Turbo in Australia Quarter Mile (Manual) – 2008
Fastest XR6 Turbo BF Automatic Quarter Mile (ZF 6 Speed) – 2006
Class A2 Champions 2017 Showtell Racing 2017
MoComm Endurance Cup Champions 2017
Australia’s Most Professional Workshop – as awarded by the IAME (Institute of Automotive Mechanical Engineers)
Meet Jim Ghelis
First car? Datsun 1200 (the drifter!)
Current ride? HSV Clubsport, Supercharged 6.2L (Tunehouse development car)
Standout professional achievement? Tunehouse clients BA XR6 Turbo Falcon, Developing 700KW ATW on pump fuel!
Reason for opening Tunehouse? To create something like no one else has done and live my dream – luckily for me, it’s my hobby!