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| Here a KW BMW Variant III system undergoes developmental testing on the shaker rig. |
We drove KW’s test road in various KW test cars and Klaus Frank, now KW’s chief engineer also gave us rides in several KW development cars. Believe us, Klaus can drive! We also got to drive several stock cars comparing them to KW’s tuned versions. We could experience how the KW cars worked much better than stock and could even handle rough and choppy pavement better as well despite being lower and stiffer than stock.
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| There are some special twisty and rough sections of German backroad near the KW plant that are used to confirm findings of the 7 post rig. Suspension calibrations are also tested on the Autobahn. |
A trip to Germany and a drive on these same roads will let you understand the exacting performance needed for German driving conditions and how the KW culture and mentality has come to be. The conditions are more demanding than the bumper to bumper traffic and smooth well maintained roads of Japan! Even the twisty Touge is not as rough and bumpy as German backroads and believe it or not your average German commuter is a far more capable driver than many countries’ weekend racers!
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| KW’s engineering department has ISO/QS levels of revision and design change documentation control. CAD, stress and fluid dynamic analysis are done here. |
KW’s have had a great deal of success in racing from DTM super cars, to Production Endurance racing to Formula D drifting. In Europe KW is one of the leading suspensions of choice for the racer. We witnessed this first hand when strolling through the paddock at races. It is also unusual for a producer of elite racing dampers to have such and extensive line of stuff for street production cars. We think perhaps that KW may be the only company like this.
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| Many of KW’s calibrations are also tested on the Nurburgring under test and actual race conditions. KW is going to open a technical center at the Nurburgring soon to expedite testing there. Look at the Manthey Porsche, it is definitely not a tuner car. Note the large sticker of a major shock company on the nose. Now look for the small KW sticker. Wonder what shocks are actually on the car? Maybe we were not supposed to say anything about this but many race cars we saw had similar situations including some famous factory works cars from team “P” that we are not supposed to discuss. |
KW is born of extreme German driving conditions on both the road and track. Now that you have had a personal behind the scenes look at how KW’s are designed, tested and built, we hope it lends a little more credibility to our rants about how much we like their stuff!
To Read Part One Click Here!
To Watch the Video Tour Click Here!
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