Some things start with a plan. TGR Motorsport started with an idea sprung on a holiday in Bali, and a head full of ideas after finishing university with no idea what came next.
Growing up in Abergavenny, I knew I liked cars before I could even drive, I knew most cars by shape at the age of 10. There was a bus stop that everyone gravitated towards, no organised meet, no social media invite, just people turning up with cars and motorbikes because that was the place to be. I was there watching before I was old enough to be there driving. That world of cars, engines, noise and community got under my skin early and never really left.
At the age of 15 I moved to Swansea, passed my test and found a car community there. When I started driving properly, the scene was at the back of Pizza Hut in a small carpark. By then I had my own cars and my own ideas about what I wanted them to be. The passion for modifying, improving and pushing cars harder was already fully formed, it just needed somewhere to go.
Japan and the education that changed everything
After studying Motorsport Engineering at university I managed to secure a work placement with JUN, one of Japan's most respected performance engineering companies. I sought it out, I wanted to be there, I wanted to learn from the best, and I wanted to understand what genuinely good engineering looked like up close. JUN manufacture camshafts, valve springs, valve retainers, valve guides, exhausts, intakes and aeroparts to a standard that most companies can only aspire to. Working there, even for a few weeks alongside my friend Dale, completely changed how I saw everything. The precision, the attention to detail, the absolute refusal to compromise on quality, it set a standard in my head that I have never been able to unsee. I met some brilliant people there and came home genuinely inspired to work.
The idea that started it all
A year or so later I was in Bali on holiday when I came across some replica alloy wheels. I was into drifting at the time and immediately started thinking, if I could source wheels that were durable, affordable and looked the part, that would be perfect for the drift scene. I did not buy anything there and then. I came home, finished university, and found myself at that crossroads where you have a degree, a passion and no clear path. So I took the idea and ran with it. TGR Motorsport was born.
Alloy wheels were the first product. They were not the last.
Building the range the hard way
Over the years I have owned and built many cars, some small changes, some massive projects. A Ford Fiesta, a Renault Megane 2.0, a Suzuki Vitara, Honda Civic EG6 x 2 and EK4 x 2, an S12, an S14, a R33 Skyline, a Subaru Impreza GC8, two MK5's MK1 and MK2, a Shogun Sport off roader, currently an MR2 MK3 and a 350Z alongside a Mercedes Sprinter van that keeps everything moving. Each one taught me something. Each one showed me what good parts look like, what bad parts look like, and where the gaps in the market were.
The products TGR sells come from years of building, breaking, fixing and improving real cars. Wanting a better standard of affordable parts. If a product does not meet the standard I would run on my own car, it does not go on the website. That rule has never changed.
What TGR actually means
TGR stands for Touge Runners. Touge is the Japanese word for mountain pass, the winding roads where Japanese car culture found its soul, where drifting, racing and style all came together into something that is more than just driving. For me, touge represents the purest essence of Japanese car culture. It is not about money or status. It is about passion, commitment, skill and the joy of driving something properly on a road that demands your full attention. That spirit is what TGR is built on.
The honest part
Running a small business when you care as deeply as I do is not always easy. I put enormous pressure on myself because the products, the brand and the reputation matter to me personally in a way that goes beyond business. That passion is TGR's greatest strength and occasionally its biggest challenge, caring so much can pull your focus in too many directions at once when you are trying to do everything yourself.
What keeps me going is the vision of where TGR can go and hopefully to actually drive/drift my cars again!, and my wife, who sets up every show stand alongside me, helps sell on the day, and keeps me going on the days when I am ready to give up. Without her support none of this would exist in the form it does today.
Where we are now
TGR Motorsport today supplies genuinely well-engineered parts for track, drift, stance and street builds across the UK and worldwide. Titanium hardware, carbon fibre components, FIA approved safety gear, steering wheels, gear knobs and accessories, all built to a standard we are proud of and priced in a way that makes quality accessible to real drivers, not just those with unlimited budgets.
Great affordable parts. That is what TGR is. That is what it has always been.
We make things that work better and last longer.
Our products solve real problems with clean design and honest materials.