In the world of motorsport, our brands BBS, KW suspensions, and Reiger Suspension are directly and indirectly represented in almost all world-class championships and racing series – from DTM to IMSA, WEC, WRC, and even at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

At the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed, we’ll be showcasing selected innovations at the joint appearance of BBS, KW suspensions, and Reiger Suspension. Why? Because the Festival of Speed has been an absolute must-attend event for years and we’re not the only ones who think so.

Goodwood Festival of Speed – Automotive Culture in Motion

Sir Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond, 11th Duke of Lennox, 11th Duke of Aubigny, 6th Duke of Gordon, CBE, DL, is the founder of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. For over 30 years, he has brought together the world of motorsport, the automotive industry, and car enthusiasts from around the globe.

It’s far more than just a show or an open-air exhibition on his estate in the south of England, in the county of West Sussex. It’s a tribute to the automobile – and above all, to motorsport. As early as the 1930s, the grounds of Goodwood House hosted the first hillclimb events, followed later by circuit races on the former military airfield until the mid-1960s.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed, as we know it today, has been held since the early 1990s. Since then, it has evolved from an insider tip into an absolute highlight for car and motorsport enthusiasts. Many automotive manufacturers are present at the festival.

In the early days of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, their presence was more on the sidelines, but for over a decade now, they’ve been actively participating in the races with their supercars, race cars, and concept vehicles. The event grounds are enormous, and often four days aren’t enough to see everything. It’s easy to get lost in the sheer scale of it all.

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Our colleagues from KW automotive UK, founded in 2005, have also been present at the Goodwood Festival of Speed several times as exhibitors. However, most visitors will likely remember the years 2018 and 2019. In those two years, KW was not only exhibiting at the Festival of Speed but also took part in the action on the track.

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While it’s usually customers from the worlds of motorsport, drifting, niche manufacturers, and automotive OEMs who take part in the hillclimb and rally stage using products from KW brands BBS, KW suspensions, and Reiger Suspension, in 2018 and 2019 the BMW 320 JUDD V8 also joined the action.

The BMW built by hillclimb driver Georg Plasa, who sadly passed away in 2011, was a true underdog at the Goodwood Festival of Speed competing against a who’s who of the motorsport and automotive world.

KW founder and managing director Klaus Wohlfarth was a close friend of Georg Plasa. Back then, together with a dedicated group of Georg’s companions and friends, he pulled out all the stops to ensure that the memory of this hillclimb legend would never fade.

Georg Plasa had always dreamed of proving in England, together with his hillclimb racing companion Jörg Weidinger, what a self-built hillclimb car was capable of. The result in 2018 spoke for itself: even without traction control or racing ABS, the BMW, powered by its high-revving 3.4-liter JUDD V8 producing 560 hp, clocked a time of 46.43 seconds, the third-fastest overall that year.

The E36 was actually the fastest race car with a conventional combustion engine and rear-wheel drive — only two electric vehicles, the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak (43.86 seconds) and the NIO EP9 (44.32 seconds), were quicker in the Shootout Final.

In 2019, the ‘Plasa BMW’ returned to the hill, this time on rain tires. Despite a slightly dirty track and scattered puddles, the BMW held its own with a time of 50.65 seconds. It finished sixth overall — behind the electrified Volkswagen I.D. R (42.32 seconds), the modern all-wheel-drive Volkswagen Polo WRX (47.83 seconds), Citroën DS3 WRX (49.39 seconds), Dallara SP1 LMP (49.55 seconds), and the Penske-Chevrolet PC-22 Indianapolis 500 race car (50.31 seconds). Not bad at all for an aging BMW E36…

KW automotive will be at the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed

At BBS, we’re presenting another BBS Unlimited wheel that offers even more styling options thanks to its two-piece design: the new BBS CH-R II Unlimited. Manufactured using the flow-forming process, this BBS wheel features the BBS Unlimited bolt pattern of 5×117.5 millimeters.

Using BBS adapters, the BBS CH-R II Unlimited wheel is mounted to the vehicle-specific five-lug bolt pattern. Thanks to the available widths of 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 millimeters, the offset can also be individually adjusted. Additionally, BBS centering rings allow for precise centering of the wheels during installation, which contributes to improved ride smoothness.

The BBS Unlimited system also offers significant added value for retailers thanks to its adapter-based design. If the wheels are mounted and the vehicle owner feels they could sit more harmoniously under the fenders, wider adapters can be quickly installed using the Unlimited mounting system — instantly changing the visual impact of the wheels due to the resulting offset.

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Retailers also benefit from significantly reduced inventory requirements while being able to serve a much broader customer base with BBS Unlimited wheels. After all, the BBS Unlimited adapters cover bolt patterns of 5×100, 5×108, 5×110, 5×112, 5×114.3, 5×115, 5×120, 5×120.65, 5×127, 5×128, 5×130, and 5×132 millimeters.

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Thanks to order-based production at the wheel factory in Herbolzheim, it is possible to paint the two-piece BBS CH-R II Unlimited wheels in multiple colors. For the wheel rim, the colors black and titanium are available in both matte and glossy finishes. Meanwhile, the wheel center can be ordered in the colors black, platinum silver, racing gold, white gold, and bronze with a silky matte finish.

The connecting bolts are available in black and titanium. Optional BBS Unlimited accessories such as rim protectors, center caps, and valve caps are also available in various colors. In addition, high-quality wheel bolts made of titanium are available. More information coming soon at www.bbs.com.

Generational change: New KW Cup damper and KW GT3 damper

Various automobile manufacturers rely on our extensive KW Racing suspension program for their customer motorsport initiatives. At the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed, we are presenting the KW V1 Racing suspension, which will be used in the new BMW M2 Racing starting in 2026.

The KW V1 Racing solid-piston dampers used do not feature adjustable valves due to regulatory requirements. Because of the high lateral forces encountered in modern sports cars and production-based race cars like the BMW M2 Racing, the front and rear struts are designed in an upside-down configuration.

In addition to the V1 Racing suspension for the BMW M2 Racing, we are also presenting an evolution of our KW V6 Racing suspension for GT3 race cars in England: the KW V7 Racing.

This new GT3 damper offers the same advantages as our proven solid-piston dampers. It covers a wide force range and provides a broad characteristic curve spectrum—ideal for meeting the increasing aerodynamic loads of modern GT3 vehicles. Depending on the Balance of Performance classification, current GT3 race cars can generate up to 900 kilograms of downforce on the Döttinger Höhe section of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. That corresponds to more than two-thirds of the total weight of a current GT3 customer racing car.

What sets our solid-piston dampers apart is the absence of through-flow pistons. Instead, the entire working piston is sealed, displacing the hydraulic column. This design enables the generation of significantly higher forces even at low gas pressures. KW solid-piston dampers operate cavitation-free and deliver exceptionally precise, high-frequency response. The flow-optimized valves are offsettable for fine-tuning. On the KW V7 Racing, six damping parameters can be adjusted independently: high-speed and low-speed compression, high-speed and low-speed rebound, along with dedicated blow-off valves for both compression and rebound.

In double wishbone suspensions where the dampers are not involved in wheel guidance, the housings are made from a high-strength aluminum alloy. Ride height can be adjusted using shim inserts, allowing precise leveling without altering suspension travel through the spring perch.

Reiger Suspension presents Off-Road Dampers for the Aftermarket

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Reiger Suspension is presenting the new triple-adjustable MT-RC 2.5 damper set and the quadruple-adjustable Reiger SP-RC 3.0 damper set.

With the Reiger MT-RC 2.5, we’ve applied Reiger’s proven Dakar Rally technology and adapted it specifically for street-legal off-road vehicles and pickup trucks. Our development goal was to ensure that vehicles equipped with this damper set deliver outstanding performance off-road, on unpaved tracks, and on regular roads alike.

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The MT-RC 2.5 is designed as an upside-down monotube damper featuring a 58 mm shim piston with an adjustable low-speed rebound valve, as well as independently tunable high-speed and low-speed compression valves located in the remote reservoir. The position-independent reservoir with cooling fins and all components, including seals, piston rods, guide assemblies and valves, are directly sourced from Reiger’s Dakar program.

The dampers are optionally available with a hydraulic bump stop. Depending on the vehicle model, the MT-RC 2.5 can also provide a lift of up to 60 millimeters. Thanks to component certification, they are approved for use on public roads.

Wenn kompromisslose Performance auf maximale Robustheit trifft, entsteht ein Fahrwerk wie unser Reiger SP-RC 3.0. Gemeinsam mit unseren Kolleginnen und Kollegen bei Reiger Suspension haben wir einen 4-fach einstellbaren Offroad-Dämpfer entwickelt, der die Vorzüge unserer Solid Piston Technologie mit der Offroad-Kompetenz aus der Rallye Dakar, dem Rallycross und der DTM vereint.

The foundation is our solid piston damper design, setting new standards in the off-road segment. The Reiger Suspension SP-RC 3.0 allows separate adjustment of high-speed and low-speed compression as well as high-speed and low-speed rebound, enabling precise tuning for any terrain and driving situation. Whether rocky, sandy, technical, or highway use.

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Thanks to the solid piston design with an internal reservoir, we achieve not only higher damping forces but also a more compact construction without an external piggyback. The SP-RC 3.0 operates like our KW V5, KW V6 and the new KW V7 racing dampers, based on the principle of oil volume displacement. It shows its strengths especially when it really counts. At high speeds on corrugated tracks, with large suspension travel and demanding terrain, the Reiger SP-RC 3.0 enables maximum vehicle stability and control.

The SP-RC 3.0 uses only components that have proven themselves in demanding rally conditions, including our blow-off systems as well as hydraulic compression and rebound stops. Depending on the vehicle model, our damper can even allow for a lift of up to 60 millimeters. A parts certificate is, of course, included in the scope of delivery. Detailed information about the new Reiger Suspension dampers can be found on the Reiger Suspension website: www.reigersuspensions.com.