Hypercars Sledgehammer AMGs Mercedes Race Cars Who Are HWA

You've never heard of HWA, but you've heard of the stuff it does. HWA is one of those companies that does super cool engineering for other people. Stuff like the SL65 Black Series. It engineered the EF7 for Fittipaldi. The engine for the Pagani Huayra R. The CLK DTM. This is being done together with Dottamasso. It develops and builds these with AMG. In fact, it has done a crazy amount of super cool stuff. Much of it with Mercedes and much of it on the racetrack. DTM, GT, Le Mans, even Formula E. But where's HWA come from? Well, a man who also founded a company you absolutely have heard of. Because Hans-Werner Alfrecht is the A of AMG. He'd worked in the race department at Mercedes, then left and set up AMG in 1967. And that all went rather well. So well that in 1999, he sold it to Mercedes and managed to come away not only with an extremely healthy bank balance, but a contract for his new company to run all Merc's racing programs outside of F1. And he gave that company his initials. And it's not like he took the company far away. We are still in Affalterbach, the home of AMG. In fact, we are surrounded by AMG. That's an AMG building. The road behind me, Benzstrasse. The one over there, Maybachstrasse. The one down there, Daimlerstrasse. But it's what's inside here that's so cool. And look, access all areas pass. Shall we? This room is sort of the heart of HWA. It's the room they used to build all the DTM cars in. And then they'd do assembly of the drivetrains, the suspension, the hydraulics, the engines in rooms off the side, and then final assembly in here. And we're going to go and have a look at all the results of that hard work over here. But on the way, you can't help noticing all the trophies, more trophies, trophies, trophies again, trophies. Oh, actually, I'm going to stop and talk to you about these two, because these are the 92 and 94 DTM cars. And that's when it all went a bit bonkers in DTM. This one starts mechanically. This one needs computers and all sorts to get it going. And they have to keep all those computers here and running to do that. Anyway, trophies, trophies, trophies. Here are some examples of the kind of work that HWA do. OK, this is a lot more interesting than it looks. This is part of a government-funded project to look at emissions from electric cars. So this was a braking system to reduce the amount of emissions from friction brakes. They were going to conceal it all in a unit. Right, next one, this 4.8 litre V8. Do you know what this is? This was going to be the engine for the stillborn Lotus Esprit. HWA was going to do that. That's a road car engine. This is a race car engine. That is the 4.0 litre V8 from a DTM car. And come and have a look at the detail on here. Come and have a look. Look at the action of those throttle bodies. It's just gorgeous. In fact, they used this technology for another car. This is the 6.0 litre naturally aspirated V12 from a Pagani Huayra R. It's a work of art, this thing. The gearbox is off this end with a suspension rigid mounted out here. It's a masterpiece. I've driven this engine. It is the noisiest, most dramatic engine I think I've probably ever driven. In fact, when Horacio Pagani came here to discuss the project with HWA, his main stipulation was that it should be the most emotional engine possible. Apparently when they ran the Pagani's V12 on the dyno, it made so much noise out of the venting chimneys that people in the surrounding buildings used to gather on the pavement outside to listen to it. No Pagani engine on the dyno today, but still some very cool stuff. Once I've got past the... They're even on top of the filing cabinets. Welcome to dyno alley. That's dyno as in engine test cells, right? Four of them down here. This one can cope with like 1500 horsepower. That one is super trick and can put suspension loadings and things in down to the accuracy of every kerbstone in a corner. Massively complicated. This one has an old V8 on it that I can't talk about and this one has an Isotta Fraschini Le Mans hybrid engine in it. Are you getting the picture here? HWA is a one-stop exotic engineering shop for hypercar firms and race teams from around the world. But despite my access all areas pass, it can't talk about much of the top secret stuff it does. But it does keep a record. Deep in the bowels of the building, there's an archive room with orderly drawers full of historic build sheets for all the cars and projects that have been through the doors. This one is for an SL65 Black Series. Trophies! Check this out. A hall full of AMG GT racers. HWA develops and builds many of the cars in conjunction with AMG and has its own production line for the GT2, GT3 and GT4 customer racing cars. Oh look, cars! And trophies. HWA also works with Mercedes and AMG on safety and medical cars for various race series, including F1, and did much of the work on the stillborn Fittipaldi EF7. And speaking of rare groove hypercars... Remember these two? They're real. Come and have a look. This is the Apollo Intensia Muzzione. Well, it's not actually. It's an Evolution version of that. But HWA built and engineered 11 of these for Apollo. And then this is a special 12 car, which is a complete one-off. It's called the Evoluzione version. It's still got the Ferrari 6.3 litre V12 in it, but it's got entirely different aero. It is probably the most bonkers car you've ever seen. It's not road legal. Was never ever going to make it through legislation with all these slats and wings. And look at this artistic grill work here. It's crazy. And I... God knows if this aerodynamics actually worked, but it had underfloor vents for fans, and it's got just about the craziest rear end I've ever seen on any car. Then we come over to this. The DiTomaso P72. I know it's only a tub. We were hoping to have the proper car here today, but unfortunately it didn't quite arrive. Doesn't matter. This is going into production this year. They're going to build 72 of these here at HWA in partnership with DiTomaso, and it's going to have the Roush 5 litre V8 supercharged engine with like 650 or more horsepower. Built by HWA though. That's cool. Trophies, trophies, trophies. This is getting ridiculous. There are trophies everywhere you turn. They're even holding the doors open. One final thing. Come with me for a preview of something very, very cool. And yeah, the silhouette's probably a bit of a giveaway. Tune back in on the 20th of June for a full reveal and walk around of the first car to wear an HWA badge.