Spezialfedern!

If the old adage about racing improving the breed is indeed true, H&R Special Springs should be as fit as a Triple Crown winner. The German spring manufacturer is arguably one of the leading suspension providers in the global sports car arena. It is no secret that H&R hardware is used on the factory efforts of two of the world’s finest sports car–based racers: the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR and Porsche’s 911-GTR.

Have you ever heard of Shawn Palmer? He not only competes but also wins in such extreme sports as snowboarding, skiing, snowmobile, and mountain bike racing. He is the alternative-sports world’s ultimate crossover combatant. H&R is to sports car racing what Shawn Palmer is to the Gravity Games. From the no-holds-barred CLK-GTR to street-legal M3 weekend warriors and everything in between, we’ve witnessed firsthand real H&R products competing and winning in all of these venues.

But is this race on Sunday, sell on Monday strategy really a valid concept? Or does racing hardware have about as much in common with your car’s suspension as Jeff Gordon’s Monte Carlo does with the showroom specials at your local Chevy dealer? This intrigued the MAX staff (Much in the same way we ponder the cosmic implications of whether the refrigerator light does indeed stay on.—MAX). We know of too many aftermarket companies who purchase real estate on the body panels of various race cars, but the products used in the pits have little or nothing in common with the ones on your street car. However, over the past few years, we’ve noticed H&R has distanced itself from the rest of this pack of race car–sponsoring companies.

Space Needles and Suspension Products
Our intrigue led us to the great Northwest to H&R’s U.S. headquarters, located in Bellingham, Washington. H&R has officially been in the U.S. since 1997, and its president Roland Graef has been actively involved in the automotive aftermarket since 1977. When we arrived at the office to meet our friends from H&R, we were greeted with a strange sight. We’ve known Roland for quite a while now, and in that entire time, we’ve always known him to be one of the most vibrant, humorous characters in the aftermarket industry. Yet, here he was, fielding customer calls on every application ranging from Sport springs for a Civic to racing coilovers for a 911. The man is impressive. Not only does he know the details of each and every product in H&R’s immense catalogue, he also knows the particulars of suspension design and setup. Roland, we’ve never seen this side of you. In one fell swoop, he went from smart-ass to just-plain smart (We would love to have one of those multifaceted personalities, however, our lack of expertise with anything precludes this.—MAX).

But in order to really get a true feeling for the high-quality design and production methods behind H&R’s products, Roland wanted us to visit the headquarters in Germany (See, we told you he was smart.—MAX). So the next thing we knew, we were on a jet headed for Germany, with the sole intent of learning more about what makes H&R tick.

The H & The R
To learn more about H&R, we have to learn more about its development. Werner Heine (the H) and Heinz Remmen (the R) are two suspension geniuses that came together over 20 years ago to take on the challenge of designing and manufacturing precise aftermarket springs for Germany’s rigorous TUV certification. TUV is actually a German government agency, which tests products for quality, safety, and reliability. At the time, no one thought it possible to receive TUV certification for a dynamic part like an aftermarket spring.

Herr Remmen’s racing experience coupled with Herr Heine’s manufacturing and engineering background proved to be the proper elements toward achieving the elusive TUV approval. H&R was the first aftermarket spring company to reach this lofty goal, and it didn’t stop there. Today all H&R springs can satisfy the even-more stringent ABE and ISO 9001 quality assurance standards.

Design and Function
Let’s be honest, there are quite a few companies that make high-quality aftermarket springs, but there are even fewer companies that make a well-designed coilover, and this is where H&R shines. We’ve piloted and been passengers in more than a few H&R coilover–equipped rides—including our Project BMW—and we are still amazed at their well-rounded performance after each experience. When we say well-rounded performance, this means that these cars not only stick like slot cars with minimal body roll and dive, but they also exhibit a smooth ride on everything but the harshest roads.

H&R coilovers manage to extract this performance from each different application by combining just the right amount of a multitude of factors, including, but not limited to, such things as spring rate, rebound, compression, valving, and deflection. H&R’s engineers manage to get this formula right no matter what the application—be it a coilover for an Integra or a CLK-GTR. We asked Roland if he could break down this formula in terms that even we could understand.

Suspension 101
“When H&R begins to design a product, each vehicle and its suspension type are considered. The intended use of the vehicle is probably the most important part of understanding the automotive enthusiast’s needs. Other criteria, such as a customer’s desires, market demand, and enthusiasts’ reactions to products already available or not available, are just some of the ingredients in predesign protocol.

“Chassis dynamics encompass many parameters, such as body roll, brake dive, rear squatting under acceleration, and ride comfort. Ride comfort is a big issue. We could start talking about frequency, which is directly related to interpreted ride comfort. Frequency in an automotive chassis is like the beat in music. If the sound follows a beat with a rhythm, you have harmony, which we call music. Otherwise, we just have noise.

“Just as there are countless different tastes in music and what some people would call noise, there is also a multitude of ways to approach suspension tuning. To further complicate the matter, we add shock absorbers (which are really suspension dampers) to the equation. The correct shock tuning can help make a stiff suspension feel more comfortable.

“All of this techno jargon may sound good, but the bottom line is this: does it work as good as it sounds? This where the human element, the ride engineer, comes into play. H&R’s suspension engineers are veterans in evaluating the dynamic performance of the vehicle. Are the spring rates too low or too high? Do the shocks dampen enough? How does the car drive in terms of both the feeling and the handling? This real world testing and fine-tuning is the true measure of chassis frequency. Not only does this perfect the design, it also allows us to categorize performance levels of products. H&R doesn’t build one type of coilover, it offers different levels of performance suspensions.

“We work directly with manufacturers and the race teams in the full range of suspension tuning; this includes providing H&R’s vast knowledge of patented spring technology. H&R engineers are consultants to the manufacturers and the teams. We give our recommendations on shock construction, which includes actual physical construction of the metals used and, of course, shock valving. Spring use and application comes naturally. No other company has the combined experience of spring and shock function like H&R. This is why companies like Bilstein come to us. This is why other companies are just now realizing the importance of shock tuning.”

H&R truly epitomizes the trickle-down theory, from racing technology to street performance. With all due respect to Herr Heine and Herr Remmen, we think the H and the R should stand for Hardcore Racers.