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A visit to Ole Haugård’s One Engines: the tuner who seems to be a manufacturer
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A VISIT TO OLE HAUGÅRD’S ONE ENGINES: THE TUNER WHO SEEMS TO BE A MANUFACTURER
The founder and owner of one of the most successful Racing Kart engine tuning companies ever guided us to discover the headquarters in Stenløse, Denmark. We found out about, on the one hand, a man with an astonishing professional vision and, on the other, an incredible and unexpected place, with machinery, methods and work processes that can easily compete with those of engine manufacturers. In the CNC machine room, for example, bases are used for components with chips that…
In international karting, One Engines is a name that needs very little introduction: it is one of the most successful engine tuners for Racing karts of the new millennium. Many know the name of its founder, the Danish Ole Haugård, known to everyone as "One"; others know the names of the drivers (George Russell, Lando Norris, Logan Sargeant and many others) who have won the most important karting competitions in the world with engines tuned by Ole and his staff. On the other hand, very few people know that one of the factors that allows One Engines to stay at the highest levels of our sport is a corporate headquarters that is a real gem. Located in Denmark, in the town of Stenløse (about a thirty-minute drive from Copenhagen airport), the headquarters of the group led by Ole (a farmhouse built in 1969 and renovated in 2018) looks like something out of a design magazine and is a perfect synthesis between an organised rationalisation of spaces (a clearly Scandinavian quality) and an obsessive functional study of each work area. In these facilities, Ole has managed to translate his idea of agile, efficient and, above all, precise work in a practical manner. Even if this firm is not known by everyone, even fewer people have visited it. We did, in the company of an exceptional guide (Mr. "One", Ole), and we will tell you about everything we saw: from the latest generation machinery to hyper-organised workstations (as well as memorabilia that tells the stories of the main successes of One Engines in karting). Make yourself comfortable and read on.
We went to One Engines on 19 June 2023 (curiously in the year the company turns 20). We were welcomed by Mr. "One" himself, who immediately invited us to follow him to the company's meeting room for a pre-visit briefing. The journey from the entrance to the room was certainly not that long (a landing and a flight of stairs), but it immediately helps us to understand that One Engines is not a "classic" tuner, but something different, beyond... The ideal place for all kart drivers looking for top-notch services. In fact, crossing the main entrance you are immediately hit by a sense of obsessiveness (in a positive sense!) that pervades the facilities. Each space is full of details that attract our attention: the staff's refreshment area is complete with every accessory and appliance, so much so that it can easily compete with a cafeteria; the walls are decorated with One Engines engines, winners of the most important international karting titles; The workstations, at least the first ones we see, have an arrangement of instruments that looks more like that of an operating room than that of a workshop. Our every step is monitored by various sensors. In fact, the lighting and door opening are connected to motion detectors, so as to optimise electricity consumption and constantly maintain a certain internal temperature. And we were soon to find out why…
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