Eibach is seen as one of the top suspension manufacturers in the world, to celebrate its 65th birthday the guys and gals at Eibach have teamed up with exhausts specialists Scorpion to offer a fantastic prize to improve the already-impressive facelifted (2015-on) Mk3 Focus ST, open to both petrol and TDCi models!
The company was founded back in 1951, and today Eibach supplies suspension and alignment products all over the world, with factories in Germany, the USA, and China, and engineering and sales offices in the UK, Australia and South Africa – Eibach has come a long way from its humble beginnings in a small workshop in the German Sauerland.
As suppliers for all types of motorsport worldwide, such as F1, BTCC, DTM, NASCAR, and World Rally, and direct suppliers to car manufacturers, including Ford, Eibach has exclusive access to new car factory data, which enables them to stay at the forefront of design. This, along with a close working relationship with their machine manufacturer, allows them to push the frontiers of design. One such outcome is their trailblazing technology with the hollow anti-roll bar, maintaining their position at the top of their industry.
UK BASED
At the UK site in Broughton Astley, Leicestershire, Eibach engineers work in-house on designs for prestigious companies such as Aston Martin, Lotus, Ariel and Bugatti. Such companies use Eibach as their OEM supplier for suspension parts, be it springs or anti-roll bars, or both. These are predominantly designed in the UK, and the companies work closely together to create the perfect suspension solution. These parts are then delivered to the assembly lines – in fact one whole area of Eibach UK is dedicated to organising this type of delivery.
All this knowledge and expertise is then transferred over to the products we are most familiar with – Eibach’s famous aftermarket products including their Pro-Kits and anti-roll bars. Their UK’s sales team is kept busy taking orders and sending product to its many dealers around the UK.
PRIVATE LABEL
One area that is currently growing within the company is their Private Label range. These are primarily spring kits, developed on request by Eibach for their customers. If a company becomes associated with a particular vehicle, for example the new Focus ST, a special Private Label kit can be produced solely for them. This will be made in their name, yet engineered by Eibach. It isn’t the same as a standard Pro- Kit, as the customer can request their own settings to make it unique to their company (for example a slightly lower drop at the rear, or a slightly softer ride), coated in their own colour, and with their name printed on the springs. Yet these will all be manufactured using the same quality processes as the award-winning Eibach Pro-Kit, so you know it’ll be a real quality product to put your company name to.
The Eibach engineer will develop the kit, listening to the customer’s requirements, but also adding their own experience to the development. One such kit going through this development at the moment is for the new facelifted (2015-on) Mk3 Focus ST. And the car being used for development belongs to exhaust specialists, Scorpion…
RED POWER
Scorpion, famous for their hand-built exhaust systems, approached their friends at Eibach to help with their new project. Scorpion wanted an ST to showcase their newly developed exhaust system, so the timing was perfect to join forces with Eibach who were in the process of developing a special spring kit here in the UK, which will only be available to UK customers. With both Scorpion and Eibach having
a very similar quality and design ethos, and both being heavily involved and influenced by various forms of motorsport, this is a dream collaboration.
TESTING TESTING
Developing a performance spring kit is not just a case of sitting
in front of a computer, but is a much more involved process incorporating hours of track testing! Once a set-up is decided upon it’s off to Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground where the real work begins! Depending on what the customer wants from their spring kit, Eibach will conduct testing accordingly. They use a combination of fast lane changes, double lane changes, 0-100-0mph tests, slalom courses, and fast laps. All the data is recorded using Racelogic boxes, plus a photographer records the visual information to see how the car is physically behaving.
STEALTH NOT ONLY BY NAME
The kit created for Scorpion’s Focus ST dropped the ride height by 25mm all round, giving it a visibly sportier stance. Scorpion wanted a kit that would not only enhance the look of the vehicle but also improve its handling as they have further plans for this demo car, and the ideal starting point is to ensure the chassis setup is perfect. By lowering the centre gravity not only is the handling improved but any propensity to roll is reduced.
For a project car that has plans for increased power output this
is a must. Feedback so far has been great, and now the two companies have joined forces
to offer Fast Ford readers the opportunity to kit their own ST out with these latest upgrades!
COMPETITION TIME….
At present this new spring kit is not available as it has not yet been released on Eibach’s Private Label range. However, as an incredible offer both Eibach UK and Scorpion Exhausts are giving one lucky Fast Ford reader the opportunity to win this performance package!
From Eibach there’s a set of these special springs developed as a Private Label, while Scorpion are offering their new performance exhaust system too. The prize is available for the Mk3 (2015-on) Focus ST, including both petrol-engine and TDCi variants (hatchback models only).
HOW TO ENTER…
To be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize simply head to the Fast Ford competition entry page here. Here you will be asked to supply a few personal details and then asked to answer a qualifying question:
‘What car is on the cover photo of the Eibach UK Facebook page?’
- Ford Fiesta ST
- Ford Focus ST
- Ford Mustang
Select your answer and submit your entry, simple as that. But hurry, the competition closes at midnight 17th June. Good luck!
