KW – Successful 24h-Race for the German Suspension Manufacturer
KW equips most of the participants and reached twelve class victories. After the successes at the long distance races in Dubai, Daytona and Bathurst, the KW Motorsport customers also presented a top performance at the “45th ADAC Zurich 24h-Nürburgring”: 12 out of the 21 class victories were reached by racing cars equipped with KW Competition suspension technology.
For example, motorsports enthusiast rapper Smudo from the German hip-hop band “Die Fantastischen Vier” along with the Four-Motors-Bioconcept-Car-Team on their Porsche equipped with a KW Competition suspension reached a class victory. Another very successful team was the KW customer “Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus”. The team of the directors, screenwriters, and investment manager James Glickenhaus provided a great surprise at the top 30 qualifying. Ahead of numerous factory-assisted customer motorsport teams, the private team secured the pole position and won the race in the class SP-X. From the 160 participating racing cars, the medium-sized suspension manufacturer equipped 83 cars.
The ADAC Zurich 24h Race Nürburgring is the motorsport festival par excellence. With fantastic weather and a backdrop of more than 200,000 fans on the track, the position battles in the respective classes ensured tension. After 24 dramatic hours, twelve of the 21 class victories were reached by motorsport customers of the suspension manufacturer KW automotive. From the starting field of 160 cars at the long distance race, the majority of the vehicles were equipped with KW competition dampers and suspensions – from close-toproduction cars all the way up to GT3-vehicles and prototype bolides. “To deliver 83 suspension kits to a great variety of vehicles and racing car concepts at the toughest 24-hour race, shows the high level of trust and reliability on our KW suspension technology”, said KW CEO Jürgen Wohlfarth, who successfully competed in ten 24h Nürburgring races. Not only on the Nordschleife, the owner-managed medium-sized company is one of the most important suspension providers of the recent times. In addition to the homologation of the Porsche 911 GT3 R (991) and Opel Astra TCR, KW equips the BMW M235i Racing from the BMW Sports Trophy Customer sports program as well as the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubport racing cars and many other brand trophies with the KW Competition suspension technology.
Twelve out of 21 – the KW class winners in detail:
The demanding and material-destroying 24-hour race on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, also known as the “Grüne Hölle” = Green Hell, actually is, is proven by a look at the individual classes. Some rating classes have really been decimated. For example, from the 15 starting race cars in the class SP3 after 24 hours, only nine cars could classify. In the SP3, the “Renault Clio RS Cup Avia Race”, supported by Mathol Racing, won a clear six-lap lead.
The yellow-black prototype sports car of the US-Italian racing team “Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus” (supported by Traum Motorsport), who had long become a favorite of the Nordschleife fans, came up with a surprise at the top 30 qualifying. In front of the numerous factory-assisted Audi, BMW, Motorsport Mercedes and Porsche motorsport teams, the team secured the pole position and dominated the first laps of the long-distance race. After several damages and longer pit stops, the “Glickenhaus Team” drove back into the top 20 and won the SP-X class. Three laps ahead, the Porsche 911 “GT3 Cup-MR” from Manthey Racing secured a superb start-to-finish victory in the SP7 class. Also the premiere of the TCR class at the 24-hour Nürburgring was a great success for the suspension manufacturer. Since the beginning of 2017, KW also equips various touring cars in the TCR category. Right away, the VW Golf GTI TCR of Mathilda Racing won six laps ahead the new rating class on the challenging circuit. The “Four Motors Bioconcept-Car Team” with its driver, the German singer Smudo of the band “Die Fantastischen 4” reached a deserved victory in the class AT for alternative drives. For years the team, together with the rapper has been a pioneer for sustainability in the automotive industry and motor sport at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport that is also equipped with a KW Competition suspension, is running with E20 petrol, which 20% ethanol content is generated from recycling material. Even the motor oil is recycled waste oil.
In the Cup-3 rating class for the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, the long-standing KW customer team Teichmann Racing secured the class victory. The Cup-5-Class victory, the BMW M235i Racing Cup, went to the BMW from the ADAC Team Weser Ems e. V. with the starting number # 249. KW Competition racing customers also won in the classes SP5 (BMW 1M Coupé from Leutheuser Racing & Events), V4 (BMW 325i from Securtal Sorg), V5 (Porsche Cayman from ProSport), SP2T (Renault Clio “Endurance” from Stanco & Tanner Motorsport) and SP3T (Audi “TTRS2” from LMS Engineering). The packing race was accompanied by high-summer temperatures, which required the tribute on the demanding Nürburgring Nordschleife. Numerous favorites became victims of the race course, also known as the “Green Hell”, and did not reach the finish. A total of 51 racing cars were not counted. A dramatic finale followed in which the favorites on the world's most demandingrace track were jumbled once again, two laps before the end.
In different national rally championships, hill climbing, or other many long-distance classics such as the 24-hour race Nürburgring or the 24-hours of Spa-Francorchamps, teams equipped with KW suspension technology are leading. In addition, the Swabian suspension manufacturer supports numerous international and national series and offers a wide range of motorsport suspension even for the mass sports.
About KW automotive:
KW automotive is market leader and innovator of individual suspension solutions for the street and racing applications. Sporty drivers rely on KWcoilover kits with its three street damping ariants, as well as on the Nürburgring Nordschleife tested KW Clubsport coilover kits, which are street legal and have a technical component report. Worldwide successful racing teams rely on the patented valve technology of KW Competition, the six-time overall winner of the 24-hour-race Nürburgring, winner of the ADAC GT Masters and the 24-hour race of Dubai 2017. With its large portfolio of suspension kits, modern production technology, development- and test center, KW has been succeeding for more than 20 years in markets around the world. www.kwsuspensions.com
