Autosport International 2017 – it’s all about racing

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

The Autosport International show at the NEC occupies a special place in the hearts of European petrolheads, and the event represents perhaps the best opportunity to get up close and personal with the great and the good of the motorsport and tuner world. It’s also a chance for those firms that operate within the cut and thrust word of aftermarket tuning and motor racing to let their hair down, interact with their customers and to promote their latest releases, and KW is no different. We went along to the NEC to speak to those customers on the front line, those that entrust their continued success to our suspension products, and to hear about what they think of the KW range.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

Long revered as one of the best exponents of the fine art of performance exhaust manufacture, Milltek Sport is also very active in motorsport and high-end tuning, both of which necessitate the last word in suspension technology. It therefore follows that many of Milltek’s most competitive and groundbreaking projects sport KW hardware, and as if to underline the point, the firm had brought along a stunningly presented Mk7 Golf GTI on its stand at Autosport.

The seventh generation Golf, and indeed the entire MQB VAG platform, has already proved to be wholly at home on the track, but there’s always room for improvement. Milltek’s Golf has been developed with one purpose in mind: to better VW’s own fastest front-wheel drive lap record of the Nurburgring, a lap time of 7min 49.21 set by its recently unveiled (and highly regarded) GTI Clubsport S.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

Going up against one of the largest car makers in the world in its own back yard is no small task, so it follows that Milltek’s Golf has been suitably equipped, hence the addition of one of our most advanced suspension offerings yet devised, the 3-Way Adjustable Clubsport Kit. Already proving popular at all levels of club motorsport and amongst fast road aficionados, the 3-Way kit is ideally suited for a task of this nature as it’s almost endlessly adjustable, allowing Milltek to dial out any number of variables in order to make their GTI that bit better suited to the Nordschleife’s notoriously rutted, undulating tarmac. Everyone at KW would like to take the time to wish the Milltek team all the best in their ring record attempt.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

Marc Kemp’s KTM X-Bow couldn’t help but stand out amongst the massed ranks of supercars and priceless historic competition machinery, and for all the right reasons! Marc is a long-term KW ambassador and very passionate about our products, so it was fantastic to be able to check out one of his cars in person. His participation within the X-Bow Challenge, alongside the fact that he runs a set of Competition coilovers, has allowed us to gather valuable data as to how these incredibly focused little cars perform when fitted with our products.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

The X-Bow sitting on the Toyo stand was actually Marc’s road car, but don’t go thinking that it was any less hardcore of more focused than his weekend toy! Now, this particular X-Bow boats a newly installed set of KW 3-Way Adjustable Competition coilovers, mounted inboard for better weight distribution and because inboard suspension is quite possibly one of the coolest things yet devised. It was a truly sensational car and one which was rarely without an interested gaggle of onlookers.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

Autosport International played host to an impressive number of Audi Quattros of various shapes and sizes, yet it was David Rowe’s EPS example that really set tongues wagging. The S1E2 will forever be associated with the final two years of Group B rallying of course, but it was also a phenomenally successful car at Pikes Peak, even allowing Walter Röhrl to triumph outright in 1987.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

A full 30 years on from Röhrl’s infamous assault, David Rowe is returning to Pikes Peak in his own S1E2 with the intention of setting a suitably rapid time. Pikes Peak might have been given a full coat of tarmac in recent seasons, yet it’s still an incredibly challenging bit of road and one which tests drivers, cars and suspension to the limit, hence David’s decision to fit the 3-Way Adjustable Competition Kit to his full-fat Quattro. There are any number of benefits to this kit of course, the most pertinent being the unique valve technology at its very heart. This allows for consistent damper performance in all conditions, while the design of the upright allows for minute bump and rebound adjustments to be made, all of which will no doubt come in handy while hammering up the globe’s foremost hillclimb challenge.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

One of the biggest names in Porsche-based motorsport and very much a staple of the Nurburgring’s VLN, Manthey-Racing had brought one of their latest creations along, a Porsche Cayman GT4 complete with, you guessed it, a KW 3-Way Adjustable Competition Kit.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

Being the first new developed TCR car, tailormade to the new 2017 TCR regulations,the K:FORCE Kia cee´d TCR, is also equipped with our KW Competition racing suspension.

The Racecar is developed and build by STARD (Stohl Advanced Research and Development) in Austria. Recent developed STARD vehicles was the FIA WRX Ford Fiesta Supercars (World RX Team Austria) and many more.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

Proving that the KW range continues to make a massive impact on the fettled VAG Group sector, RaceChip’s MQB-platform Audi RS3 spent the show lurking menacingly, its undoubted performance underpinned by a set of Clubsport coilovers fore and aft.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

Litchfield Motors has enjoyed an incredibly successful couple of years and can now claim to be among the UK’s most respected tuners, so much so that it now offers complete, clean sheet upgrade packages for some of the best performance cars around.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

One of the latest models to get the Litchfield treatment is the BMW M2. Already a hugely capable car in factory form, Litchfield’s take on the baby M-car gets a revised cold air intake, upgraded front-mounted intercooler, an achingly cool Akrapovic exhaust system, ECU remap and, of course, a set of KW Clubsport coilovers.

KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017 KW suspensions customer cars at Autosport International 2017

Darren McNamara’s ‘Audi Drift Sport D-Mac S1′ broke cover too, although not quite in finished it will be one of the first Audi S1 for drifting.

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