SHOP VISIT – The Autosport Company

2012 is kicking off and for me it is kicking off in a great way. This year I will finally get to build my own race car. After years of shooting the coolest cars behind the armco, I now have the opportunity to go racing myself. They say building the car already is half the fun and, as I was looking for parts to prepare my Miata, it showed. The fun has only just began!!!
While shooting for another upcoming report for 7TUNE and in need for some race parts, I went to visit The Autosport Company in a place called Waalwijk in the Netherlands.

The Autosport Company has been around since 1998 and is owned by former rally driver and navigator Henk Biesheuvel. With over more then 20 years of rally experience Henk founded the company as an all round place for his customers. Full competition service, race & drift training, race and rally parts, special welded cages, an extensive web shop, the list of services just keeps going. Besides all these services The Autosport Company also supplies a line of their own affordable raceware called QSP.

Rather than naming all the possibilities of this fun factory Ferdi Biesheuvel, Henk’s son and also a known rally driver, took me on a tour through the facilities. Upon entry, the shop already looks like a giant candy store for grown ups. Race suits, helmets, lots of interior parts and even a coffee bar with a flatscreen showing some impressive rally action. The atmosphere is very relaxed and you instantly feel very welcome. Even at the main counter it’s hard to look the sales team in the eye as there are so many distractions around.

Moving on to the first floor of the shop I noticed a large variety of Impreza parts. Ferdi told me that, in the last 12 years, the shop has put a special interest in the Subaru Impreza. This first floor is a dedicated separate showroom for new and used Impreza parts. It does not matter if you own a true rally car or a streetcar in need of modifications. Everything is available here.

Exhausts anyone?

Passing the warehouse which is filled through the roof I soon found myself in the heart and soul of The Autosport Company; the workshop. Big photo banners on the walls, a floor clean enough to eat from and plenty of race cars in various states of construction. My camera started to make sounds like a machine gun.

First up was this P2000 Subaru Impreza which has been a former car of Juha Kankkunen and the late Richard Burns. It is an official Prodrive car which was reserved for their rally team and was used for testing and the WRC.

A sneak peak inside unveiled the drivers office in this WRC monster.

Besides the P2000 an original championship winning Prodrive GC8 is getting completely rebuild. The body has been resprayed and both the engine and dogbox received a complete overhaul.

The roll cage welded in to this car is just flawless.

This base GR Spec C Impreza is currently being transformed from a righthand drive car into a left hand drive touring car. These homologated 2.0L base Spec C models are specially build for the Autosport Company by STI.

The alignment of a car’s suspension and wheels is, together with it’s weight distribution, a crucial element for proper handling on the track or even on the street. At The Autosport Company, the team make use of a special alignment bridge. This high tech piece of machinery can calculate exactly how to achieve the maximum performance out of these settings.

This car is something that you might not run into on every racetrack. It is called a Saker and they are available in both an open and a closed model referring back to the days of the Group C race cars. Besides that it is a true race car, the Saker has another link with The Autosport Company. The Saker GT models make use of a Subaru Boxer engine from the WRX Impreza. More info on the saker can be found here.

To measure the performance and to properly tune the engines of the cars The Autosport Company make us of their own state of the art rolling road. During my visit to the complex the BMW Coupe Club was also present. To demonstrate the use of the dyno a BMW 3.0 SI from 1980 was used which had a 3.5L engine in it.

This little car here was the main reason why I visited The Autosport Company in the first place. A 1.8 NB MX5. Nothing special might be your first idea, especially not with all the Subaru power surrounding it. Well, like most MX5′s, don’t let it fool you. This particular car is currently being prepared to participate in an upcoming 24 hour race in Norway. There it will fight against the established force of the Golf, Seat and BMW endurance teams which run in the Dutch endurance championship. For more info on this build check the website of the MaX5 Endurance Team

Looking out over the workshop is the engine room. Here the mechanics build and overhaul all the engines for their customers. Currently work was being done on this classic Ford Escort MKII engine. As most of these parts need to be hand crafted, the prices for such an engine might run up to €40.000 euro’s which is around $51.000!

After shooting the workshop Ferdi invited me for a drink and took me to another level of the building. As I was expecting a Coke machine, I was in for a surprise! When the door opened my jaw dropped wide open as there was a complete disco including a bar and fully operating kitchen present. This space is used for presentations, instruction sessions and several other master classes. It is even for rent to car clubs or car affiliated organizations.

With the drinks finished I was taken to another showroom next to the bar. Here all the cars that are for sale are on display. Rally cars, drifters and several high performance street machines stood before me awaiting their new owners. You might have noticed that several cars carry the Hankook livery on them. The Autosport Company is the official Hankook dealer for competition tires in the Netherlands.

Even if you crash your Impreza or Ford Escort during a rally there is a solution present. Body shells are available to start or rebuild a project.

Also present was this rare Impreza. The RA S-201 STI model which had nearly the entire STI catalog in parts mounted when you bought it from the factory. Only 300 were made so it is not often that you get to spot one. When you are a true Subaru fan and you would like to own one of these, the car on the image is currently on sale!

I leave you with this shot of one of the Autosport Company Subaru’s during a Rally stage. Have an awesome 2012!!!
(Photo by Robert Vierhout supplied by The Autosport Company)

For more information on cars, products and services please visit the website of The Autosport Company.

A massive “Thank you” goes out to Ferdi Biesheuvel for all the time he put into showing me the compound and telling me some great stories along with it.

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Words & Photo’s – Mathieu Van Den Oever