HRE hosted their annual open house and as an owner of a set of forged HRE wheels, I was not only in attendance but got a VIP parking spot and some free swag to boot.
But the free stuff isn’t the draw for the show, instead it’s the insane variety of cars.
There were so many cars that showed up that they had to shut down the road.
In fact they had multiple staff and police guide the traffic, and people started showing over an hour before the show officially started just to park.
Crazy!
Given the high turnout, HRE took an active role in curating the cars in the registered parking section, giving preference to those rocking HREs or other cars that are unique or compelling to look at.
There were also a handful of vendors and partners on display, both local to SoCal as well as across the US.
I started my show experience at a Starbucks nearby where the local Audi Clubs (both San Diego & Orange County) converged for a pre-meet and impromptu cars and coffee.
From there we drove over to HRE where they had the road blocked for the Audi clubs to park, and we were well over 50 cars deep.
After parking I took a tour of HRE guided by their CEO & President. He was very passionate about their history and mission, and has been with the company over 20 years starting as an engineer.
We learned about how forged wheels are made, saw the software they use, and got a walk-through of the shop floor.
There is a lot that goes into a building high performance wheels, and you can sense the passion HRE has for doing everything to meticulous standards.
It’s also crazy to see how much work goes into building a set of forged wheels.
There is a misconception that HREs are overpriced, but when you learn and see that building a single set can take 4+ hours of machine work, as well as all of the design work, finishing work, etc. that goes into it, it’s no surprise they’re more expensive than a “one size fits all” cast wheel.
We also got a sneak peak of two of the new Flow Formed models coming out, which you’ll see later in this post.
The tour also went into detail in their 3D printing of titanium wheels, which is the future of wheel making but still really expensive and hard to do now. They had two cars on display with their 3D wheel prototypes on display, a new Ford GT and a McLaren P1.
After the tour, I took a walk through the parking lot, which took a good hour.
Strolling through the show there was lots of really cool cars to check out. Since recently watching Tavarish rebuild a Supra, I found myself instantly drawn towards the half dozen or so nicely modded Supras in attendance (many of which didn’t have HREs, but HRE has such good taste they let them park in the reserved spots anyway).
I’m sure the prices on Supras will keep going up, as they’re aging quite well.
The other car that really wows me every time I see it is the new Ford GT. The lines on it are so amazing, and there were several in attendance rocking HRE wheels.
Ford limited the production of the new GT as most owned, and priced it really high to boot. There is lots of debate on if that was the right move, but I have to hand it to Ford for two reasons; first it created a ton of buzz for the car, and secondly it makes it rare to see the car and those who do end up buying it tend to be true car enthusiasts and not someone buying it for a status symbol.
Another highlight of the show was Allroad Outfitters, a shop in Southern California known for doing wild Audi builds.
Allroad Outfitters brought the thunder from an Audi perspective, with the Group B rally car homage that you’ve likely seen before…but what you probably haven’t seen before is a modded e-tron or RS5 sportback, and what you DEFINITELY haven’t seen is the upcoming HRE Flowform HRE FF10 and FF11 pictured on the
Another vendor/partner that brought the thunder was TAG motorsports, who happens to be located walking distance from HRE.
They had an ABT RS5 that was pretty cool to see, and a nardo grey SQ5 that would be the ideal “dad mobile” for anyone who wants to get the kids to soccer practice in style.
From there, there was a great mix of cars ranging from exotics to classics. Whatever you are into, it was probably there.
Beyond the Supras, Audis, and Ford GTs, the other marque that was bringing hot fire was McLarens.
Since riding in my friend Ian’s 600LT, I’ve grown more and more interested in these cars as they’re super unique, packed full of tech, and built with a purpose.
They also happen to look great on a set of HRE wheels 😉
There was really something for everyone at the show, and I’ve included a bunch more pics below.
Thank you HRE and the sponsors who made the event happen!
You can check out past years coverage here: HREOH 13, HREOH 14
