The history behind Hayashi Racing Equipment and HRE?

[ayuaddict]

So i have been trying to get some concrete information on this subject for quite some time now.

i've been searching the classic japanese car forums and of course google.

so far i have read that Hayashi racing sold all of their merchandise to HRE about 12 years ago, and now hayashi makes only one wheel and HRE sells to a much larger group.

i have also heard that Hayashi Racing Equipments is HRE and its just that simple, they simply have two different names to cater to two different groups of consumers.

if HRE does not stand for Hayashi Racing Equipments, what does it stand for?

discuss:

[silviaguy240]

quick look at HRE's site, their "history" says they've been around for 30 some years and every wheels meets the TUV which leads me to believe they started out/still are a european/german company. so unless they opened hayashi racing equipment in japan or hayashi sold the company to some german dudes. or they just happen to have the same initials. who knows.

[ayuaddict]

well the thing is, i have a set of HRE 505s.

very popular wheels with domestic and european cars.

they are for my S30Z.

i came across these photos earlier today on a volkswagen forum which made me very curious.

http://i40.tinypic.com/f0sxeo.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/29uq903.jpg

those are clearly the same wheels as mine:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/ayuaddict/img_5381.jpg

(trust me they are ive looked at dozens of photos on mustang forums to volkswagen forums) now mine came with an HRE center cap but without the hayashi racing on the back of the face, i suppose perhaps these wheels were sold right as whatever happened between the two companies happened.

so i became curious.

The point of this thread is to convince myself that it would be okay to put a Hayashi racing equipment vinyl on the lip of the wheel. haha.

[silviaguy240]

i think it'd be ok. like i said, they probably expanded into the japanese market with their wheels, took their name and made it sound like a japanese brand i guess to make it seem more legit to the people than buying a euro brand. although it seems to me back in the 80's and 90's (even now) that euro cars and brands (benz, bmw, ferrari, BBS....) are a big thing in japan. so im not sure why they would have went with a sub brand to market their products their.

[BrokenWhite240]

Found this just browsing don't know if it helps..kinda seems like they were a japanese brand that made wheels for other countries there or a sub-division I dunno lol.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NOFX http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:honda-tech.com/get//images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?p=36872206#post36872206)
http://www.playerschallengeseries.ca...hure_front.jpg (http://www.playerschallengeseries.ca/images/1991_Firebird_Brochure_front.jpg)
http://www.car-part.com/images/interchange/W1507.gif (http://www.car-part.com/images/interchange/W1507.gif)
http://www.car-part.com/images/interchange/W1508.gif (http://www.car-part.com/images/interchange/W1508.gif)


yeah i believe those wheels may have been made by hayashi or HRE(hayashi racing equipment) which also made optional wheels for the saleen:

http://www.sunflower.com/~shopdrop11/images/Wheels/8486/8486hayashi2.jpg (http://www.sunflower.com/~shopdrop11/images/Wheels/8486/8486hayashi2.jpg)

the hub portion is not exact but i know for a fact that both the hayashi and the firebird gta wheels were made in japan.


There's another set available on the Firebirds too. The HRE's (same wheel available on the Saleen) were on the Pontiac (http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2463619#) Trans-Am GTA.

[Matej]

Hayashi turned into HRE, to trick Americans and Europeans into buying their wheels, haha. That is when they also seemed to start catering predominately to the European and American auto markets.

However, since people are not as against buying foreign products as they were a few decades ago, HRE has somewhat gone back to its roots and revived the Hayashi name.

[ayuaddict]

okay thanks everybody!

but really, Matej said so.

good stuff good stuff.

[IIIXziuR]

This doesn't pertain to the topic very much but, Yuta, you are such a well spoken ( in this case written) young man! I can appreciate one who knows how to properly spell and use punctuation.

[drift freaq]

well the thing is, i have a set of HRE 505s.

very popular wheels with domestic and european cars.

they are for my S30Z.

i came across these photos earlier today on a volkswagen forum which made me very curious.

http://i40.tinypic.com/f0sxeo.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/29uq903.jpg

those are clearly the same wheels as mine:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b342/ayuaddict/img_5381.jpg

(trust me they are ive looked at dozens of photos on mustang forums to volkswagen forums) now mine came with an HRE center cap but without the hayashi racing on the back of the face, i suppose perhaps these wheels were sold right as whatever happened between the two companies happened.

so i became curious.

The point of this thread is to convince myself that it would be okay to put a Hayashi racing equipment vinyl on the lip of the wheel. haha.

Yuta the Gold ones look very much like Cromodora's. An Italian wheel that used to come on Ferrari's and you would seem them on several different Italian makes.
Yet another case of Japanese wheel makers copying Europeans. Something of which I expounded on in another thread.

[ayuaddict]

yea, thank you for your observation.

they are also very similar to auto strada modenas, another company from japan.

i believe they are all a copy of the factory Ferrari F40 wheels.