Bcomp: Zimspeed - A Legend of the Nürburgring with a Legacy of Fibre

MIA Member Bcomp has shared the following news article.

Zimspeed: A Legend of the Nürburgring with a Legacy of Fibre

Nestled amongst the dense forests of Germany’s Eifel mountains lies the Nürburgring, a public road unlike any other. The asphalt twists, climbs, and descends for 20.8 kilometres in a loop that was bestowed a not-so-affectionate nickname by the legendary Formula 1 driver Sir Jackie Stewart, “The Green Hell”.

A racetrack, a proving ground, a monument, and a benchmark, it has cemented itself within the automotive and motorsport worlds as something unique and formidable. Its notoriety is matched only by the innovators who have created machines capable of conquering it. One such man is Holger Zimmermann and his composites company, Zimspeed. It is a name associated with decades of German motorsport history that now looks to the industry’s future and the sustainable composites revolution.

Heart of the ‘Ring

A short drive from the iconic track is the charming town of Mendig – the home of Zimspeed. For half a century, Holger and the team have designed and manufactured high-performance composite parts for privateers and factory teams alike. It is the result of a passion first formed by Holger’s father, Ekkehard Zimmermann, an early pioneer of German motorsport composites. Ekkehard was heavily involved in the precursor of Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) and was the designer and builder of the iconic bodywork sported by the Kremer Racing Porsche 935 K4.

Holger loved visiting the racetracks with his father and getting up close with the action. On one particular occasion, when he was just six years old, Holger was denied entry to the pit lane on account of his age. Being the 70s, his dad contrived to simply smuggle him inside French driver Bob Wollek’s Vaillant Porsche.

Soaking up all things Porsche, Holger eventually found himself training to be an automotive electrician at the Porsche Zentrum Cologne in the early ’90s, but the pull towards the family business was strong. Holger worked side-by-side with his father for seven years before setting out on his own and establishing ZIM Composites in 2000.

The Phoenix Rises

After a challenging and failed project in East Germany on the so-called Young Engineers Sportscar, Holger set up shop close to the Nürburgring and worked with customers who raced in the VLN and in the Belcar series. ZIM Composites was proving a success, and Holger was earning a reputation, but trouble was on the horizon. A tragic fire engulfed the business and destroyed the halls of ZIM Composites, along with dozens of customer projects.

This terrible event led Holger to partner with long-term customer M-Speed to launch Zimspeed, selecting Mendig for its proximity to the ‘Ring. Here, Zimspeed would go on to become an icon of the region, producing handmade composite parts for the NLS, 24H Series, DTM, GT World Challenge, and many more.

One of the standout projects of Holger’s long career was a collaboration between Zimspeed, M-Speed, and Rinaldi Racing – the Cayman. Originally, when Porsche announced a new mid-engined car in the early 2000s, Holger and his partners had ambitions to modify this car for racing purposes, with the final result being a mixture of RSR and GT1. The modified Cayman impressed many with its wide stance and aggressive aerodynamics. Unfortunately, the car was forced to retire following a crash, but Holger confides: “In truth, I didn’t think the car would last the full 24 hours, but due to the crash, we could blame the driver!”

Witness to an Evolution

Having witnessed the evolution of the composites industry throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, Holger is quick to point out how professional the industry has become. For example, many vehicle manufacturers now offer composite parts directly to customers, something unheard of back then. Originally, the performance composites niche was occupied by drivers, engineers, and teams looking to optimise their racecars beyond the heavy, conventional parts provided by the OEMs. At his father’s company, the work centred on glass fibre, but Holger witnessed the evolution to Kevlar and Aramid fibres before the eventual dominance of carbon fibre in the 80s and 90s.

In 2025, around 90 per cent of the parts made by Zimspeed are carbon fibre, with a select few in glass. However, the evolution of composite technology and the rise of sustainability introduced new materials that intrigued the industry veteran.

The Race for Natural Fibre

In 2010, after decades in the industry, Holger was presented with something new. As part of some work for Four Motors, a sustainability-driven racing team, Zimspeed was tasked with producing parts using natural fibres. At the time, natural fibre products were akin to “a potato sack” and far from high-performance. The fabric’s drapability was poor, while the quality and design fell short of a modern, industrialised automotive product.

The status of natural fibre composites remained unchanged until Bcomp introduced its ampliTex™ 300 gsm twill 2/2 flax fibre fabric to motorsport in 2018. Fast forward to 2025, and Zimspeed has seen the development and progression of Bcomp’s ampliTexTM into one of the world’s leading sustainable lightweighting composite technologies.

Comparable to the introduction of carbon in the ‘80s, the industry is adapting to the new material and fine-tuning everything around it. Part design, layups, manufacturing processes and finishing of the parts are all evolving. Just as glass and carbon fibre parts evolved and were optimised, the same is happening with Bcomp’s natural fibre technologies, which continue to close the gap. This is also reflected in its accelerated rate of adoption across motorsport and beyond, becoming an increasingly popular material for mass production road cars.

“There is a huge potential for more sustainable composites in motorsport, especially bodywork. The moulds are the same, and the processing is also similar. I am not surprised it has been made mandatory in the GT4 class and features so frequently at almost every level of motorsport. It offers an excellent combination of properties, including ductile failure mechanics and high specific bending stiffness,” Holger explained.

Today, Holger (and the team at Zimspeed) are trusted by some of the most renowned motorsport teams racing the Nürburgring and beyond. They continue to evolve with the industry and the technologies at their disposal. “Back in the ‘80s, carbon fibre parts were something special, and over the past 40 years, they became the norm. Now, if you want something special, innovative, and to separate your car from the mainstream, the choice is high-performance natural fibre parts,” Holger concluded.

Holger represents a continuation of his father’s legacy and the evolution of motorsport composites. Like the cars conquering the Nürburgring, Holger’s story is based on adapting to an ever-changing environment with innovation. Now, nearly every weekend, high-performance natural fibre parts are put to the ultimate test around The Green Hell, showcasing this green revolution one lap at a time.

To find out more click here.