Posts by Bill from Hahn RaceCraft

  • Slingshots in the Rockies: Installing Hahn RaceCraft/QA1 Spherical Coilovers!

    We're doing it again!


    Just like the Slingshot Roadsters Slingshots in the Smokies event, we will be installing our very popular and very affordable QA1 Coilover sets at Slingshots in the Rockies. We've had a great time introducing these to the Slingshot market, with many very satisfied users. We've also developed a wonderful amount of customer feedback regarding installation and adjustability.




    If you're going to be attending Slingshots in the Rockies, and would like to have me install your new Hahn RaceCraft/QA1 Spherical Coiloversthere, here's my offer...I will do it for FREE! Just purchase the coilovers on our website, and I will put them on at no additional charge at the event. Here's the link:


    Hahn RaceCraft QA1 Spherical Coilovers


    If you choose the discount code "SLINGSHOT ROCKIES" at checkout time, no shipping will be charged and we'll get you on the list for the free installations.


    We are not able to offer colored springs on this promotion, due to the short time frame. All three springs will be a sweet neutral silver as shown on the two coilovers in the photo above (not black as shown in the middle).


    A note: We've recently updated our website to show a different terminology approach: We now offer Double Adjustable (adjustable for ride height and damping) and Triple Adjustable (adjustable for ride height, as well as individually adjustable for compression damping and rebound damping). We did this so as to make the product more readily comparable to other product being sold in the Slingshot market.


    Learn more about Hahn RaceCraft QA1 Spherical Coilovers on this SlingshotInfo thread.


    If you have any questions, please PM here, ask on this thread, or contact us at Hahn RaceCraft: sales@hahnracecraft.com, or 352-486-2195 M-F 8-12, 1-5 EST.


    Thanks and see you there!

  • New Hahn/QA1 Bolt-In Spherical Coilovers!

    Thank you very much for sharing your experience! Our database of customer impressions and advice keeps growing.

  • Macaw Racing Build

    Great to see another monster taking shape!


    Incidentally, for those wondering, the primary turbosystem components in our SST TurboSystem (such as our Fab40 exhaust manifold) have already been proven to well over 600 WHP in other applications, so the airflow needed is already well established.


    Go Go Macaws!

  • Bill Hahn Jr: Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated!

    Hello all,


    Paraphrasing one of my favorite authors, Mark Twain, I am not dead...well, not yet anyway. At the current rate, I should have a few decades left in the tank!


    A few weeks back, I was not nearly as optimistic. An absolutely demonic viral infection possessed my intestinal tract, and the experience was, by far, the most challenging physical episode of my life. I've been shot, beaten and jumped off a motorcycle at 175 MPH, but none of it can even come close to the agony and despair of this experience. For five days straight, save for a day at urgent care as I was infused with a gallon of IV fluids, I had two places to be...in bed, or on the toilet. Dysentery-like symptoms meant five days of violent abdominal cramping, cold sweats and fever, and continuous painful diarrhea. My poor wife was on 24-hour vigil for the seemingly inevitable ambulance call that thankfully never came. I had the option of being hospitalized and in greater comfort, but at the typical exhorbitant cost, as well as exposure to a hospital full of other dangerous diseases. No thanks.


    When the fever finally broke five days later, I was 13 pounds lighter and a changed human being on many more levels. Biologically, chemically, even mentally and emotionally, it was as if a panicked machine operator had smacked the "emergency stop" big red button. The diarrhea would continue for another week, but a careful and bland diet finally brought that back under control.


    One aspect whose severity I was yet to fully understand was how this horrific episode had basically killed my natural immune protection. A healthy gut is key to good immune system function, and mine had been ripped into anything but. As my body began to recover, the next waves were about to crash into shore.


    With my defenses down, a series of new viral infections started. Colds, coughs, aches and pains. I was being tag-teamed by the full spectrum of what's going around in my region. Finally, I after a couple weeks of this, I went back down with a severe respiratory viral infection. After being on my back again last weekend with fever and sweats, and about forty pounds of the most objectionable mucus I have ever seen lodged into every orifice of my noggin, I was taken to the hospital again Monday. Verdict? Pretty much the same as before: "Your vitals are good, x-rays are good, we don't dare try antibiotics lest we destroy the progress of your developing gut, so go home and tough it out." As the gastrointestinal part of me was again chugging along nicely, I wasn't headed back into the tunnel of destruction that had started this whole mess, and that was good enough for me.


    Today, I am a total of 20 pounds lighter, and it's almost over. The latest battle has been won. The virus' last effects linger ever so slightly, but less every day. I am typing this from my son Adam's wedding site which will occur this afternoon. If the good Lord has decided I have now been through enough, I won't pick up virus number five.


    For those of you who are family with my wife Aubrey's ailments, this has of course been a time of great concern for us. The initial virus episode I suffered would have likely killed her. She and I have been in virtual quarantine from one another for weeks now, her living in our Motorhome with me in the house. We've managed to keep her relatively healthy, although to our horror she did manage to get her very own GI virus alongside my respiratory one this last go. Fortunately, it was a junior player compared to the expert demon that took me out, and I am happy to report that we've both managed to get better enough in time for our son's wedding today. Sometimes, the light shines.


    Next up: I have fallen well behind on critical business aspects during my absences. While my staff have done a fine job of keeping the ship afloat during my illnesses, as I am the main force managerially as well as in customer service, sales and marketing, we have fallen well behind. Embarrassingly behind. As I tend to these wounds, I ask not for sympathy so much as understanding. I will clean up my mess. It will take time, but I am
    coming out of this with strong resolve and renewed purpose.


    So that's it. This has been the most challeging year of my life for health maladies, especially in light of my dear Aubrey's near-fatal experience with lingering pneumonia earlier this year. They say that these experiences lead to better things. We are ready. I've had a lot of time to consider what that means. Where it goes from here. What's next. I am one ready sonofabitch.


    To my suffering customers and aspiring customers, I am sorry. I will bring the boat back on course. I have been self-employed for 28 years, and I am no stranger to challenges. To be honest, I am more than a bit angry. Not at my customers, but at my crap luck. I am more than a bit miffed at having been compromised this way. That emotion is about to be re-tooled into action. The reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated indeed!

  • New Hahn/QA1 Bolt-In Spherical Coilovers!

    OK. Spoke with my folks, and had a look at the entire picture. This one turned into a snowball effect of just how much more can still go wrong when a situation is already overdue.


    In a nutshell: The huge wave of initial orders for this coilover system depleted our stock of the parts we manufacture ourselves for this conversion. As we were still building those parts in-house, losing me for an extended period chewed away at available production time while my folks covered for my being gone. As a result, we found ourselves backordered. But my troops steadily sawed away at the backlog, and had a date for completion of the parts. Much later than hoped for before I took sick, but a date nonetheless.


    The "plan" was to have the incoming shipment of QA1 arrive at the same time. As happens sometimes with plans, things did not go as planned. The date for this wave of orders to ship was last Friday, when product was to have arrived. That was the information I shared with Travis. Absolutely nothing went right from there, including our efforts to keep customers like Travis updated.


    When we have an urgent need for product, we will typically call our UPS man's cell to meet up with him in the morning somewhere and get the product off his truck, as he usually shows up here at about 4 to 5 PM, which is too late for us to still ship something back out that day. Getting it off the truck earlier in the day allows us to do what we have to do, and still ship out that day. So my fulfillment man Brandon called the driver: nothing on the truck. Contacting QA1, we learn that the order shipped two days later than we'd expected. Fair enough, they were apparently backed up too. Tracking the order indicated it would deliver Monday. We'd already made labels for that day's shipping (thus generating the tracking info Travis provided above), and so we let them ride in anticipation of Monday delivery. Our error: not notifying Travis, but the assumption was that one more day on ground shipment isn't unusual. A fair assumption...had it actually worked out that way. It did not.


    So, he calls our UPS man Monday morning to set up the rendezvous: no packages. Damn. Track shipment again: delayed, no further info available. No one at UPS can add more detail, except that it should show up Tuesday. Ultimately, shipment falls off UPS radar altogether, and appears to be headed to "lost" status. Gloriously, it reappeared in the system Tuesday afternoon, but was now late arriving at the Jacksonville hub Tuesday night, so it does not go out on our truck Wednesday. During the day Wednesday, it gets to our Ocala local station, and is scheduled for Thursday delivery.


    Thursday morning: call our UPS man. He's off for the day. Jesus...it just can't get any worse, but it does. Further, despite our pleas, the local UPS center refuses to give the replacement driver's cell until after 12:30PM, stating he's not to be bothered until he gets that much work done on this, an unfamiliar route. OK, whatever. That afternoon, replacement driver's Walmart cellphone works like crap in our remote rural area, and though we now have his number, we can't raise him. He arrives at 5 PM yesterday with shipment. Hallelujah! We finally have it. As such, my crew is working feverishly on completing many coilovers for shipment today.


    We've had a look at this botched situation, at least as much as I can do from a motorhome on the interstate, and the largest problem is one of inadequate communication with Travis. While every passing day seemed like the solution was imminent, and we've be able to satisfy that day, we just can't operate on optimism and hope. We need to operate on cold, hard facts. I will review our customer notification standards in great detail when I return to home base next week. My new folks are still forming, and if there is any consolation to this mishandled transaction, it's that they've now had the chance to see firsthand just how bad things can still go when we're already falling behind. Not that it's their fault. They only can be expected to hold the standards that I define, and that I supervise and overview. Due largely to my illness, I've not been able to keep an eye on the progress of my new people, and I've also personally slowed down other processes that involve me. Picking up the pieces now that I am back is a bitter pill to swallow, especially right after being so ill and the docs telling me "no stress, you've got to heal." Yeah, right! A nice plan, but ultimately not very likely after I've missed so much work.


    So, I am trying to just temper things as much as possible. Keep the pots at a low boil, chip away at it every day until I am caught up, don't work myself back into the hospital over it. Beyond this, it's been a very challenging year overall for my company in terms of medical challenges. My recent illness, my disabled wife's still recovering from a near-fatal brush with pneumonia where she was bedridden for months while I tended to her, and our employees have also been ravaged by personal and family health issues, to the extent of even losing one altogether, he was so ill all the time. Another one quit to be at home full time with his mother who started having dangerous seizures. Yet another got in a severe auto accident with his wife, her being knocked out cold and suffering a brain injury, and unable to take care of their four young children for a while. Any one of these alone would have had far less impact on staffing. However, all of it combined has been a nightmare.


    Travis, I am about as disappointed as a business owner can be in how this has turned out. Causing you consternation is the last thing I want to see happen. When all is said and done, these standards of communication begin and end with me. It's my responsibility to ensure that my people are attending to a high standard of customer service, and for me to back them up. I failed to do so in this instance. It's been about the biggest overall train wreck of bad circumstances and avoidable mistakes I've seen us do in a while. We can do better, and as I get healthier every day, we will. We are capable, we've just been rocked by a perfect storm of crappy luck as of late, and it's put us off our game. We're just about back in that game as we catch up from the difficulties my illness has caused.


    In light of how we've disappointed you, I would like to offer the following options:
    A. A full refund.
    B. We ship the product to you today, and also offer you a discount on a future order for your trouble.
    C. I'm open for other suggestions. PM me here, or email me.


    To everyone:
    I know you've been concerned for my health, and I've been away from the forum while I heal and deal. I will post shortly about what took me down and the prognosis. Please know that while it was serious, and not yet over by any means, I am quite a bit better now. I'm a strong old cuss, and my doctors say that my overall excellent health was a huge factor in me not only beating this, but also in my rapid recovery. Now to recover my company from the unanticipated loss of its leader.


    -Bill

  • New Hahn/QA1 Bolt-In Spherical Coilovers!

    Hi all. I am currently traveling in my side gig as a racing announcer, and en route to Memphis, TN. I'll spend a few minutes on the phone with my fulfillment man this morning, and report back. As has been mentioned here, we've been in a tight spot with me having been hospitalized with a severe intestinal infection, and this has slowed operations and communications at my company to an uncomfortable degree. We've also had to re-hire our fulfillment department at a most awkward time, which was smack in the middle of busy season, and the new folks there are still getting up to speed.


    As one might imagine, while they learn they are very dependent upon me, and when I am on my back for weeks I'm just not there for them in as detailed a fashion as is needed. I am recovering, and now back at it as hard as my body (and my doctors!) will allow, working half-days for now and resting a lot. I'm ramping up and improving in strength and stamina daily. While we are catching back up, we're still not where I need us to be in terms of timeliness and details, as this transaction sorely demonstrates.


    Travis, I also was of the impression you'd have had this order by now. No matter what has happened, we'll make good on it. I'll find out details and return.

  • New Hahn/QA1 Bolt-In Spherical Coilovers!

    No apologies needed sir! Such excellent feedback is always worth waiting for. I am seriously enjoying how all of you are adding to the compendium of information here, for multiple points of view on a subject this, well...Subjective are precisely what we need at this juncture to fully explore the versatility of this coilover setup, as well as to give users a leg up on how to achieve THEIR preferred behaviors.


    It would appear that we do indeed have something for everyone in this package, from the softest boulevard ride to the toughest cornering prowess. And to have both in the same machine, just a few clicks away...well, it just doesn't get much better than that!

  • New Hahn/QA1 Bolt-In Spherical Coilovers!

    Quote from Red

    Just make sure you grab the roll hoop and shake it violently between adjustment. I did measure and record the height to check later after a few miles.

    That's a very valid point. One can also step on the floorboard with one foot and bounce the machine up and down a few times post-adjustment. RABTECH showed off this technique to me @ SSITS. The goal in either case is to ensure that the suspension has had an opportunity to be exercised up and down and to then find its correct "rest" position after a height adjustment is performed. Recheck height after some such bouncing, and adjust again if needed.

  • New Hahn/QA1 Bolt-In Spherical Coilovers!

    Quote from Jonathan Thompson

    @Bill from Hahn RaceCraft. Did a 250 mile ride Peak to Peak in CO and rode the Trail Ridge Road. Your coil overs are freaking AWESOME. Had an awesome ride to 12,100 feet today.

    That's the kind of feedback that puts smiles on our faces! So far, the introduction of this new product has been a virtual hit out of the park. We're confident that this coilover option is the best performing, quietest and most versatile option available for Slingshot, as well as the best value by far.


    The more superlative reviews we receive from drivers nationwide, the more the evidence mounts! :thumbsup:8o:thumbup:

  • New Hahn/QA1 Bolt-In Spherical Coilovers!

    Quote from BryanL

    I just pulled some measurements off mine. You're pretty close to stock height using the upper part of the tube. You could probably go up .5" to bring the top of the wheels out a bit, but it won't make a lot of difference. The negative camber can give better traction in corners, and if your tires don't wear funny it's not a bad thing.

    True. Lowering the machine has two primary effects on alignment: more negative camber, and also a slight increase in toe-in. Both changes (in moderation, such as from such slight lowering of 1/4" to 3/4") are moves in the right direction for an enhanced handling alignment "tune-up". As such, no further aligning would be needed unless one wishes to return to the conservative, stock suspension alignment settings...which for some, may be exactly what they wish to do for the reasons of aesthetics and/or tire wear, for these more aggressive enhanced handling settings can result in additional wear on sedately driven machines.


    On the other hand, those who corner very hard and do so very regularly will find the stock camber and toe setting to be too conservative, causing excessive wear the outside edge of the tire. A bit more negative camber and toe-in not only helps such aggressive users' machines handle better, it also counteracts this tire wear aspect to a degree, and as such can actually enhance tire life on such aggressively driven machines.


    So...re-align if you lower it (within the above-stated range) but still drive sedately. Don't bother if you lower it and drive it hard!

  • New Hahn/QA1 Bolt-In Spherical Coilovers!

    Quote from deaf1

    Bill,
    Since in didn't have the instructions in didn't measure. I have a base with SL rims. Do you have any bench mark?

    Your machine should have the same ride height as an SL, for as far as I know, the only difference between the two in terms of suspension or ride height is the tire outside diameter, which of course is larger on SL. As such, chassis height should be about 5.5" in front using the method shown, and 6.0" in the rear.