diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 507ae265..693ed793 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ COPY . .
 RUN make build && bin/k3d version
 
 FROM docker:19.03-dind as dind
-RUN apk add bash curl sudo jq
+RUN apk add bash curl sudo jq git make
 RUN curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/`curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt`/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl && \
     chmod +x ./kubectl && \
     mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c9b5f677..cda5aad7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -111,6 +111,13 @@ build-docker-%:
 	@echo "Building Docker image k3d:$(K3D_IMAGE_TAG)-$*"
 	docker build . -t k3d:$(K3D_IMAGE_TAG)-$* --target $*
 
+# build helper images
+build-helper-images:
+	@echo "Building docker image rancher/k3d-proxy:$(GIT_TAG)"
+	docker build proxy/ -f proxy/Dockerfile -t rancher/k3d-proxy:$(GIT_TAG)
+	@echo "Building docker image rancher/k3d-tools:$(GIT_TAG)"
+	docker build --no-cache tools/ -f tools/Dockerfile -t rancher/k3d-tools:$(GIT_TAG) --build-arg GIT_TAG=$(GIT_TAG)
+
 ##############################
 ########## Cleaning ##########
 ##############################
diff --git a/tests/dind.sh b/tests/dind.sh
index 58aa6185..52a4d898 100755
--- a/tests/dind.sh
+++ b/tests/dind.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ RUNNER_START_TIMEOUT=${E2E_RUNNER_START_TIMEOUT:-10}
 # Start the runner container
 TIMESTAMP=$(date "+%y%m%d%H%M%S")
 k3de2e=$(docker run -d \
-          -v "$(pwd)/tests:/tests" \
+          -v "$(pwd):/src" \
           --privileged \
           -e EXE="$K3D_EXE" \
           -e CI="true" \
@@ -43,5 +43,8 @@ until docker inspect "$k3de2e" | jq ".[0].State.Running" && docker logs "$k3de2e
   (( TIMEOUT++ ))
 done
 
+# build helper container images
+docker exec --workdir /src "$k3de2e" make build-helper-images
+
 # execute tests
-docker exec "$k3de2e" /tests/runner.sh
+docker exec "$k3de2e" /src/tests/runner.sh
diff --git a/tools/Dockerfile b/tools/Dockerfile
index 2eeef7b9..990e7afd 100644
--- a/tools/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 FROM golang:1.14 as builder
+ARG GIT_TAG
 WORKDIR /app
 COPY . .
+ENV GIT_TAG=${GIT_TAG}
 ENV GO111MODULE=on
 ENV CGO_ENABLED=0
 RUN make build
diff --git a/tools/Makefile b/tools/Makefile
index 013f09d8..01a28c24 100644
--- a/tools/Makefile
+++ b/tools/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 SHELL := /bin/bash
 
 # get git tag
-GIT_TAG   := $(shell git describe --tags)
+GIT_TAG   ?= $(shell git describe --tags)
 ifeq ($(GIT_TAG),)
 GIT_TAG   := $(shell git describe --always)
 endif