The year was 1968 and, alongside countless students, a tall Bavarian took to the road for the first time to annoy the establishment. Walter Röhrl did it in a completely different way, at the wheel of a 47 hp FIAT 850 Coupé, with which the 1.96 meter tall giant competed in the Rally Bavaria. The "motorsport novice" may not have had any special training, but at least he had the right components. "I drove the very first rally with Bilstein," confesses "der Lange". As Röhrl recalls, his co-driver Herbert Marecek came along with four blue and yellow shock absorbers and said that they were simply the best for rallies. And the successes were not long in coming. Röhrl turned 70 in 2017 and can tell a few stories from the sewing box - in many of them, the Bilstein brand, for which he now works as a brand representative, also played a decisive role.
In addition to his four victories in the Monte-Carlo Rally, which he won with four different car brands - FIAT, Lancia, Opel, Audi - the 1972 Olympic Rally was one of the most formative events for Röhrl. On the way from Kiel to Munich, as a 24-year-old nobody in his blue-and-yellow Ford Capri RS with Bilstein suspension, he mixed it up with the world's elite, but had to retire at the end due to a technical defect in the engine. An interesting anecdote in passing: while setup battles are constantly taking place today, back then nothing was changed to the chassis during a rally. Despite the failure, Röhrl's career got off to a rocket start. He started his professional career at Opel in 1973 with 800 marks a month. In 1974, he became European Rally Champion together with his co-driver Jochen Berger. Naturally, this victorious Ascona was also equipped with Bilstein components.
At the end of the decade, Walter Röhrl changed his car brand but not the shock absorbers. With his new car, the FIAT 131 Abarth, he finally became world champion in 1980. South Tyrolean Klaus Trettl, himself a racing driver at the time, commented: "Walter, you took the Bilstein shock absorbers across the Alps." At the time, this setup in an Italian car was still an absolute novelty. Trettl, who died unexpectedly and far too early in 2010, later founded the company N.T.P., which became one of the leading Bilstein importers in the region and is still involved in suspension improvements today. Then the Italian moments came to an end and Walter Röhrl won his second World Rally Championship title in 1982 with his Opel Ascona 400. A year earlier, he had already completed a "transitional season" with Porsche after a rally project initially planned with Mercedes was stopped shortly before realization. Incidentally, Bilstein already had a long history of joint development with both car brands. However, there were repeated disagreements within the Opel team, which is why the native of the Upper Palatinate switched to Lancia in 1983 and switched to the 037, which was already a vehicle in the notorious Group B class. Within this class, every major manufacturer at the time created its own four-wheeled monster to take on the competition in an unprecedented technological battle. Röhrl also drove successfully on Bilstein dampers in the Lancia Rally 037, and at least snatched the title of runner-up in the world championship.
Even though the legendary driver next moved to Audi, where a different shock absorber manufacturer was chosen at the time, Walter Röhrl remained closely associated with the Bilstein brand. After ending his career as a professional rally driver in 1987, he became a test driver for Porsche as a man in his prime and has also been an official Bilstein brand representative for a good ten years - and not just on paper. He is always a welcome guest at customer events and race taxi rides with him are highly sought after. He has also repeatedly performed outstanding set-up work for Bilstein suspensions, for example for the 964 Porsche, which Röhrl himself also has in his garage. Nevertheless, it was not only his work that won over his fans, it was above all his completely unpretentious personality. And this always signaled to them: I am one of you! And people from Cham to China appreciate a guy like that!
Further information about Bilstein can be found on the supplier's website.
