A POTTED HISTORY

Helger Racing was established in October 1986 to provide a wholesale service to UK model shops who were experiencing great difficulties obtaining radio control accessories from America.

By 1987 is was necessary to incorporate Helger Racing and so Helger Racing Ltd. was born. The company began life as sole agent for Parma International who manufactured body shells and accessories along with slot car kits and other consumables. Helger Racing was then based in Edmonton North London, but soon had to move to larger office and warehouse premises in Harlow.

To aid the growing company sales personnel were engaged to cover the entire country, visiting shops with a view to sales and feeding vital sales information back to the main office. Warehouse staff and administration personnel were added to take up some of the growing work load, all of whom remain with the company today. In recent years, specialist personnel have joined us to head up the team and the product development side of the business. The directors took the position that they would remain within the wholesale sphere and leave the model shops to deal with the general public, and their adherence to this policy proved to be the foundation of their position within the market.

In 1990 Helger embarked upon the model paint sales market offering a range of easy to use aerosol paints within the UK under the Custom Colour label. This was quickly followed by sales into Europe, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. This brand of paint is established in over eighty percent of UK model retailers. In 1993 Helger were invited to distribute car kits and accessories for one of America’s two largest manufacturers, Team Losi who are based in California. America’s largest motor and battery manufacturers Trinity Products Inc. based in New Jersey quickly followed this new alliance. The Trick Bits brand name was launched in 1995 to fill in any gaps that these suppliers had left. Since July 1997 Helger have added the distribution of L.R.P. electronic goods to their range, as well as K.O., Sportwerks, M.I.P, Deans and Lunsford and in recent times Corally, Academy, CEFX and Peak motors and batteries.

This rapid growth necessitated the move to bigger and better premises in September 2000, where it operates from today. Warehousing either side of this new building has now been acquired to double the floor space of the business with a brand new two-storey facility which came on line in May 2005.

The most exciting move during 2004 for Helger Racing was to be acquired by Horizon Hobby Inc. who is one of the largest U.S. distribution companies. Five years prior Team Losi had been acquired by Horizon and so a strong partnership between Helger Racing and Horizon had been in operation ever since. Helger’s working practices, policies and goals are in close harmony with those of Horizon, not to mention a similar sense of humour which goes a long way toward forging good working relationships and friendships. It made good common sense for Helger to be under the Horizon company umbrella and so from April 2004 onwards the company’s name changed from Helger Racing to Helger Distribution to reflect the addition of the vast range of planes, trains and boats that will be on offer along with Helger’s original suppliers.

As Helger had predominantly been a model car company a new species of specialists were employed to cater for the flight side of the company. This new breed helped to launch Helger Flight which was a new division of Helger Distribution sporting brands such as Hangar 9, E-flite, Parkzone, Hobbyzone. The expansion into this new line of business is still growing with new staff and new aero models adding to the development of the company. To complete Helger’s integration into the Horizon company infrastructure, the company changed its name in March 2007 to Horizon Hobby UK; a move celebrated by all concerned. We are all proud to have built the original Helger Racing but we are thrilled to approach the future as Horizon Hobby, a name well respected throughout the RC industry. This is where we are today. It’s been a very interesting journey for all those involved and all we can say is ‘watch this space’.
Potted History