Bilstein may look back on more than four successful decades in motor racing: Dieter Glemser, Hans Heyer, Jackie Ickx, Walter Röhrl, Alain Prost, Bob Wollek, Stefan Bellof, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Klaus Ludwig... The list of drivers who made it to the record books as race winners and champions while relying on the dampers from Ennepetal looks like the international motor sport’s Who is Who. And the spectrum of the secured titles and race wins is just as variegated – at least: from the historic Mille Miglia through wins in all the important 24-hour races all around the world to the title at the pinnacle of motor racing, the Formula 1 World Championship.
In the 1970s, Bilstein drivers secured German Motor Racing Championship (DRM) titles and European Touring Car Championship titles in series. In 1977, Ickx/Barth/Haywood (Porsche 936 Turbo) clinched Bilstein’s first win in the legendary and prestigious Le Mans 24-Hour race and two years later, Klaus Ludwig celebrated his first DRM title at the wheel of the Kremer Porsche 935 Turbo.
The following decade turned out to be the most successful for ‘Bilstein Motorsport’. With McLaren, Alain Prost secured two consecutive Formula 1 World Championships, in 1985 and 1986; Walter Röhrl, Timo Salonen, Juha Kankkunen and Miki Biasion won a total of five World Rally Championships and in 1984, Metge/Lemoyne and their Porsche 911 AWD prevailed in the toughest rally of the world, the Paris-Dakar. The icing on the extremely successful 1980s-cake: four wins in the Le Mans 24-Hour Race, a success in the Daytona 24-Hour Race and the Ennepetaler’s first triumph in the 24-hour race held at the Nürburgring’s famous Nordschleife, the ‘Green Hell’, secured by Ravaglia/Pirro/Giroix at the wheel of a Schnitzer BMW M3.
And the streak of success was continued in the 1990s. In the USA, up to 90 percent of the NASCAR grid temporarily relied on Bilstein dampers, with true legends such as Dale Earnhardt and Sterling Marlin securing their titles with the German technology. At the same time, in Europe, DTM experienced a major boom and again the majority of the grid often was equipped with Bilstein dampers, helping the likes of Nicola Larini, Klaus Ludwig and Bernd Schneider to secure their race wins and DTM titles.
Following a several-year break, DTM was revived in 2000, with Bilstein successfully equipping Team AMG-Mercedes right from the start. At the wheel of the AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM, Bernd Schneider secured three titles in 2000, 2001 and 2003, with the 2005 champion, Gary Paffett, also being a HWA driver.
