For our third and final day of meetings Holger took us to see Kremer Racing in Cologne (KOLN) we had already had a taster of what was to come seeing a K3R Turbo being built at Holger’s HQ, but we hadn't seen a fully built car.
On our arrival the owner Eberhard was in a meeting, so we had a chance to have a look around the workshop and get to see the K3R up close and personal in both road and race form, and they are super wide, and so radical, and what was extra special you get to compare to the original 935 k3 chassis as they have two original and immaculate cars sitting in the workshop, we have said it before and we will say it again, Holger absolute nailed the design, on some angles you would think the bigger 997 clad K3 is the older traditional model, especially from the rear and the rear three quarter view, incredible that these cars are some 35 + years apart yet the DNA is visible, its only the front of the car that has taken on a newer fresher look, it’s a perfect mixture of new and old, and extremely clever, I guess it helps that Holger has the original K3 imprinted, he has been around the brand all his life, and his was his dream to create a modern homage to the original creation and I tip my hat to Eberhard gave it his blessing, the cars and plenty of cash to get the programme going, Holger must be the ultimate salesman, considering Eberhard only ever saw a very rough drawing of the concept idea Holger had in his head, so credit to them both for bringing us an absolute beauty of a modern day K3.
We had the privilege to see a racing K3 and also the road going K3R that had just passed TUV certification, which means yes it can be driven on German roads, which is no easy feat.
Both of the 997 k3’s are based on cup cars, the racer has the Turbo style exhaust exiting either side of the bumper, with no front fender lights, this is a racer so they aren't needed, and it’s true to form with the original 935 K3, the road car has to have the lights, as the bumper lights don’t cover enough light in front of the car when its dark, but to be honest we prefer the double lights as well as the bumper lights, it gives the car a real super-car appearance, with our preferred centre exit exhaust and it just looks so much better, we also prefer the 997 rear lights exposed on the racer over the blacked out ones on the road car, I guess it’s all down to personal choice.
The plan is to launch the car globally, and we are hoping to build one for the UK market, as well as offer them as a build to our current customers around the world, but its early days and there is still a lot to do, like a reworking on some of the parts, like the rear quarter moulds being redone so the panel sits a little better over the wheel and tyre combination, you can rest assured that we will shout it from the roof tops once we know the plan of building the cars, what we do know is we will be involved.
I couldn't help but think to myself sitting in the Kremer show room what Erwin and Manfred Kremer would of thought about the modern take on the old classic, and although Erwin has passed, were told Manfred frequently visits for a coffee and a catch up, what a legend.