Lead Fabricator & Owner
Callum Thorne
About our Lead Fabricator
Callum started working on Italian engines in 2016 after spending 4 years at a general performance shop in Eastleigh. He moved to our Oxford Road unit in Southampton to focus on high-temperature metals and specific exhaust flow problems that most standard garages won't touch. He spends most of his day at the bench with a TIG welder or over the lathe making sure every flange is perfectly flat. Heat cycles matter more than most people think, and Callum has seen 3 different cheap stainless systems crack because they weren't built for the expansion of a V10 engine.
By the way, Callum is usually the one who answers the phone when you call about a manifold leak or a chip-tuning enquiry. He doesn't believe in having a separate sales team because the person who sells the job should be the one who knows how to weld Titanium Grade 2. He's finished 156 custom exhaust projects since we opened, ranging from simple silencer deletes to full headers-back systems for Lamborghini Gallardos and 458s. He keeps the shop running with a team of 4 people, making sure we don't take on more than 2 full builds at any one time.
His approach is very practical and grounded in real-world data. We use the dyno to verify every change we make to an exhaust. On a project for a client in October 2024, Callum managed to reduce back pressure by 14% just by changing the internal baffle design on a custom muffler. He doesn't promise huge horsepower gains that look good on paper but fail on the road. Instead, he focuses on reliable welds and making sure the engine can breathe without throwing a check engine light every time you hit a motorway speed.
When he isn't under a car, Callum is usually calibrating the lathe or checking the gas levels for our welding setup. We are not the cheapest shop in the south of England, and he will be the first to tell you that. Titanium is expensive and takes 3 times longer to weld correctly than mild steel. If a job isn't a good fit for our workshop or our equipment, Callum will say no upfront rather than taking your money and doing a sub-par job. Honesty keeps our 83 ongoing accounts coming back every time they change their car.
Callum manages all the technical schedules for the workshop. If you book a 20-minute intro call, you'll be talking to him directly about the specific metal grades and the clearance issues on your specific chassis. He treats every Italian car that comes through the door as a machine that needs exact tolerances, not just a fancy badge. He's been on the tools for 8 years now and still prefers the smell of the workshop to the quiet of the office.