March 11 2026
We first caught up with Tony Hamelmann in 2018 when he was announced as MTA Light Vehicle Apprentice of the Year. Since then, his career has progressed steadily forward, taking him from Audi technical expertise to the creative challenges of high performance vehicles to workshop leadership.
When Tony looks back on the decade since he first stepped into a workshop as an apprentice, he jokes about how eager he was at 18. “I was in a big hurry to get qualified because my boss said I’d get paid more as soon as I was qualified,” he says.
He powered through his apprenticeship at Audi, soaking up the structure and precision that defines the brand. He became a certified Audi technician, completing their inhouse qualification as well as MITO’s Automotive Electrical and Mechanical Engineering programme.
But after five years, Tony sought a change. “I found myself in a lull,” he explains. His drive for more led him elsewhere.
In 2019, Tony joined Torque Performance in Auckland, shifting into the performance car world, a move that reshaped everything he knew about being an automotive technician. Gone were the manuals. Here, parts didn’t always fit, instructions didn’t always exist, and creativity mattered just as much as technical skill.
“You’ve got to rely on what you know and what tools you have to make it fit,” he says.
That challenge lit something in him, pushing him to learn welding. Then when the business changed ownership and pivoted from European to Japanese cars, Tony adapted again. Each change in the team opened a gap—and he stepped into it. “The auto sparky left, so I learned wiring. Then the tuner left, so I learned a bit of tuning. Then the foreman left.”
Becoming foreman, he says, was the hardest shift yet. “It’s the hardest role to learn because your output depends on other people, not yourself. You learn quickly that what works inside your head might not work in somebody else’s head.”
“We’re all humans at the end of the day. We’re not robots. If someone’s having a bad day, it affects the whole team—and in this industry, every mistake can cost a fortune. I've got to make sure everybody has exactly what they need to do the job the best they can.”
Despite the pressures of a leadership role, the camaraderie is one of his favourite parts of the job. The closeness of a team of 10 is a contrast he values deeply.
There have been standout achievements along the way. For three years, Tony helped to build a drift car for the D1NZ Series, winning the Amateur Championship on the third year. The team was also one of the first New Zealand sponsored competitors in the World Time Attack Challenge, a motorsport festival held in Sydney.
Even though travelling with the team wasn’t always possible, Tony took pride in keeping the workshop running. “That’s also part of the role—acting as my boss when he’s not here. It’s a big responsibility—one I take very seriously.”
If he could speak to his younger self, he knows exactly what he’d say: “If you want growth, it’s often change that gets you there. You learn how to do new things by throwing yourself in the deep end. I’ve grown as a person and in my work. I feel like I’m onto my fifth apprenticeship!”
