Hamann: The art of modifying cars

Evidenced by such roadways as the famous Autobahns and the legendary 20.8 kilometre long Nürburgring track, Germany has a very special link with motoring.

The names can be easily reeled off: VW, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes.

Like Australian's who love to buy locally-built Fords and Holdens, Germans love to buy Mercs and Porsches.

And, like FPV and HSV are to Ford and Holden, most German marques have their own tuning houses, such AMG and M division, to keep up with the increasing demand for go-fast models.

But right now in Germany, even a BMW M3 CSL or Porsche 911 Turbo are commonplace, the result of which is a huge demand for more powerful and highly personalised vehicles.

This trend isn't likely to flourish in Australia due to the high price of admission to race tracks and other closed non-limited roads.

Though in theory, such a trend perhaps should boom here, seeing as there are hundreds of thousands of identical Falcons and Commodores taking to the roads each day.

While transforming a fairly generic-looking car into something eye-catching can be done by making a number of cosmetic changes, at Hamann - one of Germany's most respected and oldest tuners - the changes cover many aspects, including appearance, handling, power delivery and brakes.

Hamann Motorsport is located in Hüttisheim, Germany, and used to solely upgrade BMWs back when the company was started by Richard Hamann in the mid-1980s.

These days the company fettles vehicles from Porsche, Mercedes, Range Rover, Ferrari and even Mini. Decide to upgrade your Mini Cooper S, and Hamann can extract a rather healthy 155kW from the 1.6-litre four-banger, which is quite a boost.

Take a couple of Hamann's latest products and they not only add sparkle to the vehicle's responsiveness and power, but the look is, well, quite exotic.

The intriguingly named Las Vegas Wings and San Diego Express are based on the 2002 BMW M3 and 2003 Porsche 911 GT3. There's also a fair chance they're being angled towards an American customer base. Maybe...

Even in standard trim, both these vehicles would have the likes of Mark Webber and Craig Lowndes grinning, but there is a growing demographic, not only in Europe, who want more. Much more.

Both cars are instantly distinguishable from their factory counterparts by the lovingly crafted vertically hingeing doors. Sure, they may not be super practical, but they sure do look the business!

Firstly lets touch on the the San Diego Express: gas-damped vertically opening doors aside, the Express gets all sorts of light-weight and aerodynamically efficient bodywork.

You can also opt for a custom paint-job that supposedly changes shade according to solar radiation. Rumours suggest a speed camera cheating 'chameleon' paint job is also in development...

Anyway, new headlight mouldings, front apron and spoiler reduce lift over the front axle, improving high speed stability, and the bigger air dams help keep the brakes and radiator cooler.

There's also new side-skirts, and flared rear quarter panels add some 70mm to the width of the rear end. This is more than needed, because massive 19-inch wheels with uber-low profile 315/25 (ZR) tyres cover the rear rims. 235/35 ZR 19s sit under the bonnet.

Rounding out the aero package, the Express gets an adjustable rear wing, clear-coat carbon roof panels plus roof spoiler and a scoop. If that doesn't make you stand out in a crowd, not much will...

Together with adjustable height and damping coil-over suspension, power is boosted from 280kW @ 7400rpm to 307kW @ 7260rpm. Max. torque has risen from 385Nm to 405Nm, though it peaks almost 2000rpm higher in the rev range than the stocker (5000rpm stock, 6830rpm Hamann).

This boost in power is achieved via tuning the naturally aspirated mill: Forged high performance pistons, a modified cylinder-block, four high performance camshafts, a particular induction pipe design and an Hamann stainless steel sport exhaust system with special manifolds, metal-bed catalysts and four exhaust tips all help boost torque and power.

The end result is a 0-100km/h dash (from rest) of just 4.5 seconds, and it reach a top speed of 304km/h. The tweaked 3.6-litre, horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine helps the Express complete the quarter mile in just 12.8 seconds. That's pretty quick.

Even quicker, however, is the Las Vegas Wings, which streaks across the quarter mile in 12.1 seconds, then on to a top speed of 314km/h. While these kinds of speeds may sound like too much, anyone whose driven on an Autobahn will know too much is never enough. Except in pea-soup fog, which is when those nasty 30-vehicle pile-ups happen...

Hamann took the '02 BMW M3, replaced the roof with a carbon jobbie, added the whole aero body-kit, including rear diffuser, and all of sudden its sprinting from 0-100km/h in 4.0 seconds flat. While this would truly amazing for a 3.2-litre inline six, Hamann Motorsports transplanted the E39 M5's engine in the Las Vegas Wings.

This 5.0-litre V8 makes 362kW @ 6950rpm, a lot more than the stock M5 offered - just 294kW. The big V8 needed to be shoe horned into the smaller 3-series engine bay. Still, it fits - sort of - and for just 280,000 Euros, it's a veritable bargain.

The Las Vegas even makes use of ram air, predominantly used on super-sports motorcylces, and together with a 4-pipe stainless steel high performance exhaust system, wth special manifolds, it makes for quite a menacing roar.

Hamann even makes its own Sport Shift transmission for the Las Vegas, and it even updates the gullwing car with a high performance brake system. Grooved brake discs and aluminium fixed calipers front and rear, with height-adjustable sport suspension (set up for the higher weight of the V8 engine on the front axle) make for one serious bahn-stormer.

While these 'tuned' cars are a product of customers demanding something for roads with no speed limits, which are becoming more and more popular across Europe and in America, it's doubtful that Holden will one day decide to drop its Gen III V8 into an Astra, or perhaps Ford wedging its 'Boss 290' V8 into a Focus.

Stranger things have happened....

Hamann Motorsports Website