The beginnings of Kavs Motorsport story reach back to the 80s when I, Ambrož, was born to a middle-class family residing in north-western Slovenia (then still Yugoslavia). Since a very young age I’ve been lured by engines, the smell of petrol, speed and horsepower. My petrolhead memories start at the age of 8, when I secretly borrowed my brothers’ car and learnt to drive. At 10, I was already repairing my two gear TOMOS moped although I didn’t have a driving licence due to my parent’s embargo. All this fiddling around eventually became a serious hobby and so I tried various petrol flavored disciplines like RC cars and karting, while also tuning my Piaggio scooter to go well over 130km/h! And yes, eventually, like most speed freaks, a close encounter with asphalt came along. I had a serious motorcycle accident, but as a passenger.
Let’s jump straight to my first car. At the age of 18, I got a FIAT 128 and immediately started to tune it while dreaming of a real supercar. Years passed by, I went to mechanical school in Ljubljana and finished it inThe next logical step would have been the university but since there was no engine building program I decided to quit and teach myself. In 2001, I started working in my family’s company which has been producing pulleys since 1968. I started learning to operate a CNC machine and continued tuning my FIAT 128. The small 1.1l engine was just starting to give some results when a crazy hatchback came around; it was the Mini Cooper S. My beloved Karmen… yeah, that’s my little FIAT’s name… went into hibernation and became my retirement project. For three years I didn’t have the right focus to work on the MINI, but rather enjoying it as it was, factory built. Then a turning point arrived. In June 2005, I split up with my girlfriend and found myself a distraction which eventually became a cure, my fellow MINI. And so, on a very hot summer’s day, in a tiny garage, the story of KAVS Motorsport began. My first upgrade was a supercharger pulley which had a belt slipping problem. As an already skilled CNC operator making pulleys for other cars, I decided to make my own KAVS MINI Tuning Pulley. I took no shortcuts, I went straight to the 19% reduction and it was an instant success.
The word spread fast, the orders started coming in and a real business was born. All the rest is history!