If you have been to a drag strip, a burnout pad or a speedway track in Far North Queensland, you will have seen the LG Auto logo. Owner Lee Hernandez recently took a moment to catch up with Motor Trader magazine and tell us a little about his journey in business so far.
Words: Lara Wilde | Images: Jesse Donoghoe, Sweet Spot Photography
Your logo is plastered all over cars and t-shirts in the motorsport community. Do you focus on sponsoring venues, events or individual competitors?
LH: Our first passion is performance and dyno tuning. We love building world-class cars that go fast and perform reliably. We find the best way to do that is to sponsor individual competitors. We help them to build their cars and then on competition day we are in the pits tweaking and tuning the vehicle in real time to make sure it performs at its best.
Which competitors do you currently sponsor?
LH: In the burnout scene we sponsor my fiancé Teish in her burnout car Party Time. She has competed successfully at Northern Nats, Red Centre Nats, Rocky Nats and driven head-to-head against the best in Australia at SummerNats on more than one occasion.
We also sponsor our staff member Josh in his burnout car One Time. Josh had his first big competition skid at Northern Nats this year and as a team we could
not be prouder.
Our stable of sponsored burnout cars also includes Marty in ROPABLE, Andre in OBAD1, Marty in BARRTRON, Matt and Bec in STOCKAS, and Reuben in multiple commodores.
In the drag racing, we are hands-on sponsors for the Smithy’s Cranes Commodore Door slammer, and Johnny G in his Silver Arrow twin turbo HB Torana.
At the speedway we support Team Manly with Dave and Steven behind the wheel of their modified sedans and Hayden in Team 28 for the modified sedans.
Is sponsorship a core part of your marketing strategy?
LH: Not at all, we support competitors because we love to see them compete and we love to see them win. We don’t measure our investment into their vehicle by tracking leads or sales. We just appreciate the opportunity to celebrate with them when they win. Working on high-end performance cars is also a fantastic opportunity for us to perfect our craft and test our work. We know when we tune a car it is tuned properly because our clients have the trophies to prove it.
Are all of your team involved in motorsport?
LH: Yes we all are. By being part of the motorsport community we learn and support each other. We come together to build the cars, assist at events and compete. It is important for the culture of our business that we all participate in motorsport. We are either drivers, passengers or pit crew. Sometimes we are all three.
With so much of your energy focussed on motorsport, is LG Auto a service provider in the daily driver market or do you aim for the more performance-focussed cars?
LH: We are not only a performance workshop, we also service and carry out general repairs for all vehicles including daily drivers. Our team looks after scheduled servicing, maintenance, suspension and brake upgrades, and basic modifications for the average Ma and Pa who want a safe, reliable family car.
Being so close to the Cape we also get a lot of off roaders coming in. We provide 4×4 remapping, and upgrades to suspension, diffs and custom accessories. If you are towing a trailer off road with the family, a remap for performance and a suspension upgrade can be the difference between a fun adventure or spending time beside the road.
Our customers do tend to bring us the fun cars though. We have a dyno and do a lot of dyno tuning. We also build engines and provide custom modifications to cars.
How did LG Auto come to be?
LH: I have been working on cars since I was 13 years old. My initial training was an apprenticeship with Ford. I have been hands on as a mechanic and driver in rallies, drag races and burnouts. In 2009 I opened my own shop in Townsville. I then opened a second workshop in Cairns before selling the Townsville shop. Today I have our current workshop in Bramp Close, Portsmith, in the industrial area of Cairns.
Are you hands on in the workshop today or do you have a team?
LH: I am still very much hands on doing the majority of performance and dyno tuning myself. We also have a team with Josh, Reuben and Teish on the tools.
What advice would you give to a young you starting out in the industry?
LH: Being a mechanic is a passionate job and you must have a love for cars. You will always be learning and you will never know everything, so absorb as much information as you can. Never be afraid to try different things and think outside the box.
What do you see as the greatest advancement in technology for your business?
LH: The technology to communicate instantly with contacts anywhere in the world has been game changing. Technology also allows me to remotely tune cars and provide my tuning services to other businesses in the network no matter where they are in Australia. Dyno updates, scanning tools and diagnostic tools are indispensable. From a business point of view, I really appreciate new electronic payment options so that customers can pre-pay for work.
Do you consider that the advancements in electric cars will have an impact on your business?
LH: Yes, for sure. With consistent training in electric vehicles, particularly through MTA Queensland, we are confident that we will keep up with the current technology. As much as people are heading towards the electric vehicle era, the team at LG Auto is going to try and keep the fossil fuel cars alive for as long as possible. In my opinion you simply can’t beat old-school cars.
How long have you been an MTA Queensland member?
LH: I did my apprenticeship through MTA Queensland originally and I have maintained my membership since the first day I opened my workshop.
The membership has been great for the training of our apprentices and to support me as a business with up-to-date information and resources.
Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (July 2023)
19 July 2023
