Hotchkis 76 Dart Build

I am going to chime in on this because the discussion represents a subject that I have been observing with interest for some time. As to the price of Hotchkis products, I believe the points made by DTMRacing are extremely valid. The cost of employing the services of professional engineers is significant, believe me. Yet for a company marketing suspension products for public use, it represents an intelligent investment, and I'll tell you why. I have been in business for over 40 years in a two different fields, supplying various products to the public. During that time I have been involved in a couple of legal actions brought against associated manufacturers, and one of my companies was "named" in a suit. I truly wonder if these little companies, or one man operations, realise the risk they are exposing themselves to. Inevitably, unavoidably, a vehicle with one of these tubular wonders is going to be involved in a fatal accident of some kind. When (not if) that happens, the relatives; wife, parents, whatever, are going to be looking for a settlement ..read $$$$$
They hire legal representation to go after insurance money from whoever is involved. So what happens then is the insurance company examines the accident and vehicle(s) for cause. When it is discovered that this vehicle has been tampered with (even by the now deceased owner) they go looking for further cause. i.e. what all was done and where the components came from. The legal team then tracks down and researches the company that supplied the components. When it is found that this was a non-professionally designed and built product, that company WILL be named in the legal action. There may have been absolutely no wrong doing, or fault on the part of the people that made the product, but it won't matter; they will still be named. The cost of defense in a fatal claim will be six figures. I have a friend who develops sub-divisions. Last year, a guy who was intoxicated removed the barriers and warning signs, and drove his car into the site, lost control at high speed and slammed into a bulldozer, killing himself and seriously injuring his passenger. Even though all of the above is proven fact, Brian's company has been named. So far his legal bill is in excess of $125,000 dollars for legal preparation and they haven't been in a courtroom yet. Now the plaintiff's legal people know that they don't have a prayer of winning in court, but they know that it will cost Brian an additional
$ 250,000 to defend. They have made it known that they are open to an out of court offer. You see how it works. Legal black mail. Brian has the resources to defend, but what about someone like Reilly Motorsports, or Magnum Force or this Hemidenny chap. And by the way, all the legal disclaimer stickers in the world won't prevent them being named. So for people like Hotchkis or XV, that have professional engineering documentation, it is at least some defense against frivolous legal actions. Now I'm sure there will be people here who think I don't know what I'm talking about, but believe me..I do. I have the financial scars to prove it.