2022 has been our biggest year yet! We contributed to hundreds of amazing builds, developed a range of incredible new products, and grew massively as a business. We welcomed many new customers this year and saw many of you return to us, which is always amazing. Behind the scenes, our team doubled in size and our product portfolio tripled!
We also learned a great deal and we have so much planned for 2023! This year, you’ll see a fair few new cars join the fleet, some exciting new projects, and some more wild adventures! Stay tuned…
Here are some of our best bits from 2022. Looking back, it’s crazy to think how far we’ve come since our launch in 2019.
Here is our 2022 wrapped:
JANUARY
We kicked off 2022 with some cool builds and some innovative product development. Working with DMO Deejay, we installed MHC’s aggressive kit for his Mercedes C63 AMG Coupe (205). We also gave the car a full satin black wrap (the DMO uniform). The car left us looking super imposing and stealthed out in DMO’s signature black on black on black.
The A90 Toyota Supra saw some MHC development in collaboration with Alex from Tucked. The kit aimed to make the Mk5 look lower, wider, and more unique compared to its BMW sister car. Alex was really happy with the look we achieved. Take a look for yourself.
January also marked the beginning of our 8Y Audi RS3 development, a kit that will be released to the public very soon.
FEBRUARY
R44 hit the Netherlands to visit Story BMW & AutoTopNL. We supplied and fitted a stunning bespoke SHFT steering wheel to the AutoTopNL G80 finished in a BMW Individual paint. As their M3 follows a very OEM+ theme, we installed a flat-bottom wheel in gloss carbon fibre and leather with a custom Kyalami Orange 12 o’clock centre marker to match the vehicle’s interior. This was the first manual G80 we had worked on, and also the first non-Competition example as we do not get these in the UK.
We also installed a stunning gloss carbon fibre Hexon brace, a new product for us at the time. The brace is a lovely finishing touch to the G80 engine bay and the guys were really happy with the result.
Story is an official BMW dealership over in the Netherlands and their gorgeous G80 M3 is running an assortment of R44 supplied parts. From our MHC+ SP1 Front Splitter to our R44 Full Titanium Catback Exhaust System - this build has it all! Story is our Dutch distributor, meaning it was important for their Fashion Grey G80 to showcase the best MHC+ and R44 have to offer.
We also built our first G83 M4 Cabriolet as well as a Nissan GTR owned by our close friend from Sambo's Tyres.
MARCH
In March, we collected our G42 M240i shop car for our sales manager, Zach. Our example was finished in Thundernight Metallic and it managed to stay that way for almost 2 months… More on that in May. Our G42 was one of the UK’s first customer vehicles to be delivered and we began development on it straight away.
We also Maxonised Archie Hamilton’s Audi RS3 8Y - such an aggressive and great-value kit. The selection of Maxton parts added so much road presence to the 8Y, we definitely recommend this route if you’re on a sub £1000 styling budget.
Our shop A90 Toyota Supra changed colour to Inozetek’s Snow Blue. Not only is the colour incredibly unique, we think it suits the A90 perfectly! As you would expect from Inozetek vinyl, it’s incredibly thick, and working with it can be a challenge. That being said, the results are always worth it and the wrapping team at R44 knocked it out of the park. At meets, we love to see the shock on people’s faces when they find out it’s a wrap and not paint!
You can enquire about vehicle wrapping here.
APRIL
April was the month we started work on the G42. We began with most people’s first modification to their new BMW: spacers. This got the wheels sitting flush with the arches, addressing a major stylistic concern for many owners. Bimecc has always been our spacer of choice and we went with 12mm at the front and 15mm at the rear. These spacers' quality, strength, and finish are second to none.
Another highlight for us in April was attending the Motech Performance meet at the Sharnbrook Hotel. It’s always a joy to network with the community and meet all of you in person. Huge shoutout to Motech!
MAY
Another colour change! Our G42 M240i was wrapped in Inozetek Era Green. As stunning as the Thundernight Purple is, everyone seemed to be speccing the colour, which didn’t help us stand out as a business. Era Green was another brand-new colour for Inozetek and we were excited to showcase it on the G42!
The wrap came just in time for our trip to the Nurburgring. We took the G42 as well as our development G80 M3 for some extensive testing and a weekend of fun!
Upon return, we fitted our first development R44 exhaust system on the G42 which we worked closely with Deutschtech on. The system is still being developed, tested, and refined. We don’t just want to release any old exhaust system. This will be a very popular platform so it’s important our system is bang on like our G80 Titanium Catback.
JUNE
To start off the summer, we flew across the pond to visit some companies, attend some meets and install some modifications for a bunch of our USA customers. We attended a meet hosted by Philly Bimmer Club and met up with BMW Turnersville as well as our friends at iND Distribution.
After an eventful trip, we returned to the UK and quickly got to work on wrapping our G80 M3 development car. We showcased Inozetek’s new Super Gloss Violet colour offering which looked mesmerising adjacent to our custom R44 x West Forged wheels in silver.
JULY
July saw us Maxtonise Archie Hamilton’s 2nd Audi RS3 8Y with some sleek gloss black styling from Maxton Design. We had now done both Archie’s Saloon & Sportback with a full Maxton kit. He loved the first kit so much, he had to come back a second time! It’s a great time whenever Archie comes to visit.
We did a cool photoshoot of both vehicles together:
We also attended Tucked on July 16th - an awesome event with a selection of insane car builds including a mixture of stance, classic, track, supercars and more!
AUGUST
August was a hectic month for us as a business. We invested heavily in our workshop with some new Garage Style flooring. We reinvest heavily in all departments of R44 to consistently improve the customer experience.
We also picked up our very own F80 M3. The F Series cars still represent a huge market for us so we’ve been making a huge push with development and content for these vehicles. The F80 is currently away having a few bits and pieces done on it - we are planning to make it a serious track monster.
R44 Detailing was also heavily in the works leading up to the launch in early September. Big things are still to come with our detailing store - thank you for all the love and support you’ve given us from launch up until the present! Our vision with R44 Detailing was to create an online superstore for only the highest quality detailing products with fast delivery and outstanding customer service. Although R44 Detailing is still very young, the early growth has been incredible and we’re glad to see so many of our R44 Performance customers also utilising the service.
SEPTEMBER
We picked up another F Series shop car - Jade’s new F20 M140i. This car has already seen some cool development parts you have all been loving. Jade had been after one of these for a while and we’re so proud to finally see her in one.
We collaborated with Convicted Automotive for a fantastic event. We showcased some of our favourite detailing brands and lots of you secured a few car cleaning pickups for yourselves. Lots of you got to see some of our shop car builds in the flesh
OCTOBER
BMW Park Lane invited us to an exclusive track day down at Goodwood. They trusted us to drive some of their fleet cars around the circuit - huge thanks to them for an awesome day out. We got behind the wheel of the F40 M135i, a vehicle that many overlooked due to the downsize in engine displacement and the decision to ditch rear-wheel drive. The new M135i is a LOT of car for the money and we definitely recommend experiencing one for yourself. We also went out in their MINI JCW which was an absolute blast - we’re currently looking at offering a range of MINI performance parts.
One of our favourite M4 builds came out of PPF. Sean’s M4 has a range of R44 parts fitted and it was great to get it protected for many miles to come.
NOVEMBER
The R44 team attended the SEMA show in Las Vegas where we showcased a G80 build we put together with PQ Performance. Their build has our MHC+ CSL Style Front Grille in pre-preg carbon fibre, our SP1 Front Splitter, SK1 Side Skirts and more!
At the show, we checked out EBC’s stand to pick their brains about their innovative braking technology. We run EBC discs and pads on all our shop car builds and speaking to the team at EBC really enforced to us that you cannot skimp on brakes. So many people focus on power and styling, not acknowledging how essential upgraded brakes are for performance and safety.
We also had a good look round Inozetek’s display booth as they had just launched a range of interesting and unique new colours we were keen to see in the flesh.
We had a brilliant time at the show and met so many like-minded people.
DECEMBER
Another month, another show. This time, we travelled to Germany for the Essen Motor Show.
We also picked up our Toronto Red BMW G80 M3 to turn into a unique R44 Edition 1 build. You can follow the build from start to finish here. The build is soon to be complete and sold to its new owner!
As you can see, we got up to quite a lot in 2022. These are just some of our personal highlights - it would be impossible to list all the amazing builds, events and experiences - we know a lot didn’t make it.
We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to each and every one of you for the love you’ve shown throughout 2022.
2023 is going to be a big one.
