In the 1980s, Wilfried Eibach laid the foundation for the now legendary Heinrich Eibach GmbH. In the meantime, Eibach Federn is regarded as the world’s leading system of racing springs. Every suspension system, of which the springs are a component, is tested down to the last detail by specialists to the highest standards before the product is launched.

Up to now, Eibach was mainly active with its testing activities on the Nordschleife. However, last year the Eibach team discovered the BILSTER BERG as a testing ground and found it extremely interesting. “With its topography, the BILSTER BERG is strongly reminiscent of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. At the same time, it offers a highly selective course and that on only one fifth of the distance of the Nordschleife,” says Thomas Kirchhoff, Head of Sales & Marketing Germany at Eibach. “Perfect conditions for productive tuning and testing work”.

The BILSTER BERG is one thing above all: efficient. With its 4.2 km, it is significantly shorter than the Nordschleife, which is why far more of the components being tested can be tackled on a single test day, with a similar volume of data for the engineers. In this way, the two different tracks remain comparable. At the same time, the engineers have come to new conclusions. The data from the BILSTER BERG have partly shown that already existing products require design optimisation. “Even if only a few people are likely to drive a test car, such as Benny Leuchter as a Volkswagen development driver or René Rast, as a three-time and reigning DTM champion, our chassis must deliver 100 % performance with the same level of safety, even at the absolute limits,” clarifies Thomas Kirchhoff.

As a leading manufacturer of high-quality suspension and chassis systems, Eibach’s goal is to offer customers the best possible product. Therefore, it is already a matter of course: the test capacities at the BILSTER BERG are to be further expanded and even more on-site testing is to be carried out. “By the way, our internal working title for this is: We don’t just talk about it, we really test it!”, Thomas Kirchhoff reveals to us with a wink. “We also really appreciate the particularly friendly interaction with the staff at BILSTER BERG. We feel comfortable here and can therefore concentrate well on the testing “, he explains. “Appointments and detailed clarifications are made quickly and reliably, and the price-performance ratio is also good. And when you get to test our chassis with professional racers up here, as we did with Rene Rast last November just three days after he won the DTM title again, then of course the work is a lot of fun. The only thing we could work on is the weather. Sometimes the weather is almost like the in the Eifel”, he adds with a smile.

In addition to the test work, there are currently other projects that Eibach is working on. Thomas Kirchhoff shares a few details: “In the last few weeks, suspension tests were filmed with Eibach brand ambassador Benny Leuchter and long-time test drivers Tim Schrick and Patrick Brenndörfer from the Eibach base in the Rhine-Main region. More videos will follow shortly, such as an explanation of the ideal line of the BILSTER BERG.” All of this will then be available to watch on the social media channels of Eibach and the BILSTER BERG.