TRW recently invited around 30 customers to the Nurburgring in Germany on a health and safety trip to demonstrate the importance of safety relevant car parts in crucial everyday situations.
The trip coincided with a VLN endurance meeting at the famous circuit and the attendees were lucky enough to be able to watch the four-hour race from TRW’s suite on the start-finish straight.
On arrival in Dusseldorf, the group were bussed for a tour of the company’s factory in Gelsenkirchen where they saw the precise process that goes into manufacturing many of the parts fitted to vehicles in the UK aftermarket.
After lunch they headed south where the guests experienced a lap of the exhilarating Nordschleife circuit in the passenger seat of a racing car.
The principal purpose of the trip though, was for TRW to demonstrate to its customers the benefits of fitting good quality parts.
There was a presentation on TRW’s Cotec brake pads, before a range of co-driving and self-driving demonstrations that highlighted bad braking systems, the dangers of worn shock absorbers and how to react if the vehicle’s rear axle should fail.
“We believe those in a position of responsibility have a moral obligation to provide the industry with knowledge and training which can help improve both driver and pedestrian safety.” explained TRW’s Global Marketing Services Manager, Ben Smart.
“Customers witnessed the power of TRW’s world class technologies and original equipment (OE) quality Corner Module parts in action during safety critical steering and braking situations. Conversely, they saw the effects on driver safety of defective components and malfunctioning technologies; in order to better understand the dangers of inferior parts and lack of regular maintenance.”
Following the demonstrations the guests, who hailed from all over Europe got to test their skills as drivers on a specially designed skid pan.
The winners from each country having the opportunity to be taken around the track again, this time under race conditions during free practices in a TRW sponsored BMW.
The two British winners were Philip Saber (above right), Proprietor of Sabel Auto Spares Ltd, and Ian Grunewald (above left), Senior Supplier Manager Group Auto Union (GAU).
