51 replies to this topic

[MatsNorway]

Hi folks.

 

Have anyone seen this car before? got info on it?

 

Supposedly raced in Sweden and built in Norway. Built my Greger Strøm and Bengt Olsson++

The driver in the second photo is my grandpa (Bengt Olsson) so i have some extra interest in this. Dad says it was for track racing.

 

Edited by MatsNorway, 25 January 2016 - 09:21.

[Magoo]

Wow, what a neat car. I can't add any information except that the engine and front axle/suspension appear to be 1939-41, just in case that helps in any way. 

[MatsNorway]

Cool and thank you. Greger Strøm was the other man making it and probably the engine man.

 

More pictures will come. One could estimate what year on the cars behind i would think.

 

I wonder what type of racing it did. what class and so on.

Edited by MatsNorway, 28 September 2013 - 09:34.

[Catalina Park]

I love the background in the first photo, It appears that spare crankshafts weren't a problem!

I assume it was a very serious motor engineering works.

[MatsNorway]

Looks like your right, found some more on Greger Strøm. He was the factory mechanic for Ford Norway at least during the 60s. Working on Trond Scheas Lotus Cortina.

 

Trond Schea and Greger Strøm with the factory Cortina

 

http://www.kustomram...le=Greger_Strøm

Edited by MatsNorway, 28 September 2013 - 10:00.

[doc knutsen]

Looks like your right, found some more on Greger Strøm. He was the factory mechanic for Ford Norway at least during the 60s. Working on Trond Scheas Lotus Cortina.

 

Trond Schea and Greger Strøm with the factory Cortina

 

http://www.kustomram...le=Greger_Strøm

 

Greger Stroem was an accomplished driver as well as an engineer. He was my father's best friend, and together they were responsible for several of the Ford-engine Nordic Specials built in Norway

during those austere  first years after WWII.  The chassis shown was known as the Stousland car, designed and built for ex-Spitfire pilot Jac. Stousland...famous for flying his Spit between the twin towers of Oslo City Hall...

The car was built in Fram Motor Works in the Old Town of Oslo, they were Ford dealers at the time.

I have quite a few photos of the specials from this era, see if I can scan some and put them up here. Some of the early Nordic Specials were fairly fast by the standards of the time, whether on horse trotting tracks or

running spikes during  those Ice Grands Prix on run frozen lakes.

[Tomas Karlsson]

The Ford was built for Norwegian racer Arne Hinsvaerk in 1948, who had won a lot of races in an old Ford 4 special during 46-47. Hinsvaerk and his cars had started a boom of homebuilt specials and for the 1950 season a new class was invented "Nordic Special" (they got permission from CSI because of the problems in getting proper race cars). Unfortunately both Denmark and Norway had so big economical problems, that they never really took part. And Finland couldn't get hold of the same tuning parts or tyres as the Swedes. Most of the Norwegian cars were sold to Sweden in -49, just like Hinsvaerk's Ford. It first landed with Bertil Nilsson, who sold it on to young Gunnar Carlsson. Gunnar was to become one of the best Swedish drivers of the time and he, together with Erik Lundgren, became the top of the Nordic Special class. The class exsisted up through 1953. After that the best cars got mudguards and lights and raced on as sportscars.

Carlsson ruined the Ström-built engine but got a new with Ardun-heads. In '55 Carlsson bought a Ferrari Monza instead, but the Ford continued for one more season in other hands. In the 90-ies the wreck of the Ford was found by a Swedish enthusiast, Rolf Nyström, who spent several years to rebuild "Snowhite" to her former glory and it has even been raced in Swedish historic racing. Last year Nyström sold the car to Norwegian Eirik Böle, who has three Norwegian Nordic Specials. Unfortunately Nyström passed away in cancer this spring.

Since there were few racetracks here in Scandinavia, the Nordic Specials mostly raced on ice (with long spikes in the tyres), but also in hill-climbs, 1000m trotting ovals and on the few tracks. This Ford won the very first race at the Karlskoga track in 1950.

 

The Stousland car was more or less a copy of the Hinsvaerk car built in 1950, but was not built at Fram but in private house in Ströms spare time.

Edited by Tomas Karlsson, 28 September 2013 - 18:39.

[Tomas Karlsson]

More on the Nordic Specials (with a picture of Nyström in the white Ford)

http://forums.autosp...al#entry5666551

Edited by Tomas Karlsson, 28 September 2013 - 18:43.

[Tomas Karlsson]

Hinsvaerk, Nilsson and Carlsson won 34 events between '48 and '54. 14 on gravel ovals, 8 hill-climbs (also gravel), 8 ice-races and 4 on racetracks (Helsinki, Karlskoga, Gardermoen and Skarpnäck).

[D-Type]

Sorry to drag the thread off topic - but was Rolf Nyström related to Liz Nyström who sometimes co-drove a Saab with Pat Moss-Carlsson?

[doc knutsen]

The Ford was built for Norwegian racer Arne Hinsvaerk in 1948, who had won a lot of races in an old Ford 4 special during 46-47. Hinsvaerk and his cars had started a boom of homebuilt specials and for the 1950 season a new class was invented "Nordic Special" (they got permission from CSI because of the problems in getting proper race cars). Unfortunately both Denmark and Norway had so big economical problems, that they never really took part. And Finland couldn't get hold of the same tuning parts or tyres as the Swedes. Most of the Norwegian cars were sold to Sweden in -49, just like Hinsvaerk's Ford. It first landed with Bertil Nilsson, who sold it on to young Gunnar Carlsson. Gunnar was to become one of the best Swedish drivers of the time and he, together with Erik Lundgren, became the top of the Nordic Special class. The class exsisted up through 1953. After that the best cars got mudguards and lights and raced on as sportscars.

Carlsson ruined the Ström-built engine but got a new with Ardun-heads. In '55 Carlsson bought a Ferrari Monza instead, but the Ford continued for one more season in other hands. In the 90-ies the wreck of the Ford was found by a Swedish enthusiast, Rolf Nyström, who spent several years to rebuild "Snowhite" to her former glory and it has even been raced in Swedish historic racing. Last year Nyström sold the car to Norwegian Eirik Böle, who has three Norwegian Nordic Specials. Unfortunately Nyström passed away in cancer this spring.

Since there were few racetracks here in Scandinavia, the Nordic Specials mostly raced on ice (with long spikes in the tyres), but also in hill-climbs, 1000m trotting ovals and on the few tracks. This Ford won the very first race at the Karlskoga track in 1950.

 

 

 

According to my father, the Hinsvaerk car was indeed built at Fram Motor Company, when Hinsvaerk approached Greger Stroem for a lighter, faster and more reliable Ford-based racer. He had sold the first car to Paulus Berger, and Greger started building the new V8-engined  car at Fram, along with Herman Eriksen, Bengt Olsson og Ola Kind. The car was one of the very few racers that was commissioned from a regular motor car dealer's and built as an official in-house project, and the price was agreed at NOK 15 000,- at the time. The car featured  a Mercury V8 (3.9 litre as against the Ford's 3.6 litre), its ladder-type fram was built from cold-drawn seamless tubing, and it featured dual-circuit hydraulic brakes. It was completed in time (just!) for the Djurgaardloppet in Finland in 1948.

 

It was Greger's fifth racing car, the Stousland car, that was built in the kitchen of a derilect villa at Lysaker, just outside Oslo, in 1949/50.  When the car was complete, it would not go through the regular door...so the enterprising special builders took out one of the walls of the house... The car was quite sophisticated for its time, including a Bugatti-like system for cooling its oil (Stousland was an ex-fighter pilot and knew  how to keep a Merlin running sweetly). This car was probably the state of the art in Nordic Specials in the early Fifties. It passed through a lot of hands in quick succession, and it was brought back from the dead when Greger recognized a wreck found in 1983. The car was lovingly restored by Jack Stenslet, and resides to-day with a collector in Oslo, Erik Boele.

[Tomas Karlsson]

Sorry to drag the thread off topic - but was Rolf Nyström related to Liz Nyström who sometimes co-drove a Saab with Pat Moss-Carlsson?

No, I don't think so. Nyström is a common name in Sweden. Elsiabeth Nyström's father though was a well-known name in Swedish motorsport. He was a succesful motorcycle rider in the 20ies and 30ies. After WWII he started competing with cars and became Volvo's front figure during the 50ies both in rallies and in racing. He even did some racing in America for Volvo.

[Tomas Karlsson]

There was even a third car built by some of the Fram-guys along the same lines. It was left in Norway when the owner went to USA, but was bought by Gunnar Bratlie a couple of years later. He had it rebuilt and raced with it succesfully in Norway for several years. It is also owned by Böle today. The specials came to life in Norway after they had disappeared in Sweden, so they lived their own life there.

The interesting thing with these three Norwegian cars was that, while most of the Nordic Specials were built on revamped car chassis, they had specially made multitube chassis, although with a lot of Ford parts. Unfortunately the Stousland car did very few races together with the Swedish cars, although Hinsvaerk actually did some races with it later on.

[doc knutsen]

There was even a third car built by some of the Fram-guys along the same lines. It was left in Norway when the owner went to USA, but was bought by Gunnar Bratlie a couple of years later. He had it rebuilt and raced with it succesfully in Norway for several years. It is also owned by Böle today. The specials came to life in Norway after they had disappeared in Sweden, so they lived their own life there.

The interesting thing with these three Norwegian cars was that, while most of the Nordic Specials were built on revamped car chassis, they had specially made multitube chassis, although with a lot of Ford parts. Unfortunately the Stousland car did very few races together with the Swedish cars, although Hinsvaerk actually did some races with it later on.

The Norwegian-built cars featured ladder-type frames, not multi-tube chassis, strictly speaking. Greger Stroem had seen oval section steel tubing on his forays to the Continent (he accompanied Eugen Bjoernstad who raced his Alfa-Romeo at Avus in 1937) but there was no way such material could be obtained in Norway post-WWII. So he designed his own oval tube, made from circular tube of different diameter, and welded sheet steel between them, thus forming oval sections with internal reinforcement!

My father's last racing car, the "Masse-rart-i" ("Lots of strange bits and pieces in it"...does not translate too well!) built for Edward Gjoelberg hade a simple ladder frame built from 90mm round tube. The big difference with all these designs was that the (Ford) axles f and r were located on top of the ladder frame, rather than underneath it, thus lowering the whole car a great deal. The Masse-rart-i is still owned by the Gjoelberg family, and is

some times seen at shows in this country. Its B-model Ford engine had a Record cylinder head which was stolen while the car was stored.

 

It was good to see several of the Nordic Specials at the Velodromloppet in Karlskoga last May. Hopefully, some more will join them in future races at the historic Karlskoga circuit.

[Tomas Karlsson]

Yes, you are of corse right about the chassis. The interesting thing though is that the Swedes didn't care so much about the chassis. But several of them at least rebuilt the Ford frames and moved the axels underneath.

A picture from Karlskoga in June with the car that started this thread in front.

The other Nordic Specials are Gunnar Carlsson's first (#44), more or less a Ford '34 with a new body. The red GBII, a copy of the white Hinsvaerk car, had a succesful career in Norway in the middle of the Fifties. The blue TM special, the Ford V8-based car that Thure Melin won the Norwegian GP in '49 with and at the rear a Buick special, actually built in the Thirties, but got a new life after WWII and a new body. It has a brutal straight eight under the long hood. Under the apron two more Ford V8-based cars. The red one a sister car to the most succesful Nordic Special, Lundgren's Ford Special (that car unfortunately disappeared in the Sixties).

Edited by Tomas Karlsson, 29 September 2013 - 15:42.

[Ray Bell]

It's obvious they had some neat old Specials there...

 

Buick being mentioned, was there much with Chrysler power?

 

And what did they do, if anything, to obtain 4-speed gearboxes?

[fredeuce]

The subject car now appears to be wearing a 46-48 Ford Mercury grille. And does it still have the Ardun heads fitted?

[Tomas Karlsson]

It's obvious they had some neat old Specials there...

 

Buick being mentioned, was there much with Chrysler power?

 

And what did they do, if anything, to obtain 4-speed gearboxes?

There was a Finnish Chrysler, built in Sweden in the 30ies, that was quite succesful in the first years after the war. In Finland at least. A couple of Swedish cars were also based on Chrysler parts, but didn't scare anyone (apart from their owners maybe).

The cars should be built in Scandinavia, so if you had an old racecar you had to rebuild it. So one Swedish Bugatti got a Wolsley engine, a Finnish one got an engine from an Opel and an Alfa Romeo Monza got a Ford V8 engine. How about a Maserati 6CM with a Ford V8 with Ardun heads and a Morris grille?!

I don't know if anyone had 4-speed gearboxes, but there was a lot of experimenting going on. And a lot different parts from different sources were made to work together.

[Tomas Karlsson]

The subject car now appears to be wearing a 46-48 Ford Mercury grille. And does it still have the Ardun heads fitted?

The Ardun heads were gone when Nyström found it, but he traced down all Ardun parts he could find in Scandinavia. So there is at least one Ardun engine for the car, although it wasn't ready this summer. I have seen (and heard!) it with an Ardun-engine. But they are not easy to maintain and Nyström had an expensive little event with the engine some years ago. The piston with the valve buried deep into it was later an interesting sculpture in Nyström's home.

[Ray Bell]

Tomas, could you when convenient make enquiries about these matters?

 

What motors were linked to what gearboxes, what cars were like when the broken Bugatti pieces were removed and (what some people term...) 'Yankee black iron' is substituted. And that Wolseley substitution, what model (or size) engine would that have been?

 

Pictures of anything with Chrysler or Buick power would also be appreciated.

Edited by Ray Bell, 30 September 2013 - 21:25.

[Tomas Karlsson]

Tomas, could you when convenient make enquiries about these matters?

 

What motors were linked to what gearboxes, what cars were like when the broken Bugatti pieces were removed and (what some people term...) 'Yankee black iron' is substituted. And that Wolseley substitution, what model (or size) engine would that have been?

 

Pictures of anything with Chrysler or Buick power would also be appreciated.

  You'll have to wait for my book on the subject.

[GMACKIE]

  You'll have to wait for my book on the subject.

Perfect answer.

[Ray Bell]

Well...

 

You seem to be saying you have no knowledge of the gearboxes etc. I think this kind of information would be an important component of such a book.

 

What I am keen to see is whether the answers arrived at by Special builders there might have been the same as we saw here in Australia, and also why they might have been different.

 

For instance, several Western Australian cars used the 25hp Vauxhall 4-speed, one of a very small number of transmissions which would contain their power. Other cars from the eastern side of our continent used Fiat 501 boxes. But it might be the case that there was a gearbox from a European car, either German or French, perhaps a Mathis as used by our Kleinig Hudson, or maybe something from a Mercedes or an early Citroen.

 

As we moved into the fifties there were fewer big engines used here and the ready availability of the 2.2-litre Holden six meant that Rover, Riley and MG gearboxes became commonly used.

[doc knutsen]

Well...

 

You seem to be saying you have no knowledge of the gearboxes etc. I think this kind of information would be an important component of such a book.

 

What I am keen to see is whether the answers arrived at by Special builders there might have been the same as we saw here in Australia, and also why they might have been different.

 

For instance, several Western Australian cars used the 25hp Vauxhall 4-speed, one of a very small number of transmissions which would contain their power. Other cars from the eastern side of our continent used Fiat 501 boxes. But it might be the case that there was a gearbox from a European car, either German or French, perhaps a Mathis as used by our Kleinig Hudson, or maybe something from a Mercedes or an early Citroen.

 

As we moved into the fifties there were fewer big engines used here and the ready availability of the 2.2-litre Holden six meant that Rover, Riley and MG gearboxes became commonly used.

 

The one of these cars that I got to study closely, the NoBe, had a Moss-type Jaguar transmission connected to its Ardun-equipped Mercury V8. This may have been a late development in the car's career, as these transmission assemblies were not exactly readily available in Scandinavia  in the early Fifties.

Incidentally, the Nobe - named  from owner/constructor Gustav Nobelius - went through several iterations, and changed hands numerous times, both in Sweden and in this country. It ended its career as a sports-racer with Erik Hellum in Oslo. My father acquired it, sans Ardun engine, as payment for some engine work.  The car  was towed to a remote farm, outside Oslo, for storage in a barn. This would have been in 1965, and yrs trly spent a freezing hour at the wheel of the engine-less racer. Steering the racer at the end of a tow rope at age 16,  I had visions of Bill Spear towering out of his Cunningham at Le Mans...I felt like I sat on top of the Nobe, rather than in it. The Nobe was quite attractive looking, reminiscent if a Ferrari Monza. It subsequently disappeared from its barn storage, and re-emerged as an early drag racer named the Hot Lemon or some such name.

I understand that it is being restored in its Chrysler-engined dragster form, which I think is a shame, as it was very much a Nordic Special from those heady days racing on ice and horse trotting tracks in the early to mid Fifties. Thomas, perhaps you could post a pic of the Nobe?

Edited by doc knutsen, 01 October 2013 - 21:11.

[Tomas Karlsson]

Sorry, but the Nobe was not a Nordic Special. It was a sportscar built after the Nordic Special class had disappeared, and raced in Sweden in the Special Sportscar class together with Ferraris and Allards. And yes, it had a Jaguar box from the beginning.

 

The Norwegian Special class were not the same as the Nordic Special (1950-53). The Nordic Special class had a set of rules (where all cars were inspected and got a race-number), while the Norwegian class for Specials, that continued in the late Fifties, seems to have been more or less a FLibre. The Masse-Rart-I for instance would not have been allowed to race in Nordic Special.

 

Most of the Nordic Specials used the original gear-boxes, mostly 3-speed Ford (although one had a Wilson pre-selector box). Most of the races were short 15-lap heats on ice-tracks (around 1500m long). What you wanted was a lot of torque.

[Tomas Karlsson]

The first Specials that were built here after the war was built along the rules for special sportscars. The white Ford that Hinsvaerk commisioned was a actually sportscar. But in the barns and garages there were some old racecars that also were dusted off. And soon these were mixed with the home-bulit specials. In Sweden the international contact's were run by the Royal Automobile Club (KAK) in Stockholm, and they didn't like all the home-built cars. They wanted to make Sweden a part of the international scene. But since there were so few new cars avaliable, they had to give in and let the grass-rot movement have it's own way. But they wanted to have some sort of discipline, so together with the other nordic countries the Swedish motorsport federation set up a set of rules for two classes, one for cars up to 4,5 litre and one up to 2. The smaller class never really lifted. The cars were open-wheel racers (although there were sometimes demands for protective fenders) and most of them were two-seaters. Some beacause they origined from the free sportscars and some because they were registered for the road. The Hinsvaerk car was the actually a model for most cars, although they could have been built as single-seaters.

Those who survived as special sportscars were the fastest two-seaters that easily could be rebuilt with fenders and lights.

[doc knutsen]

Sorry, but the Nobe was not a Nordic Special. It was a sportscar built after the Nordic Special class had disappeared, and raced in Sweden in the Special Sportscar class together with Ferraris and Allards. And yes, it had a Jaguar box from the beginning.

 

The Norwegian Special class were not the same as the Nordic Special (1950-53). The Nordic Special class had a set of rules (where all cars were inspected and got a race-number), while the Norwegian class for Specials, that continued in the late Fifties, seems to have been more or less a FLibre. The Masse-Rart-I for instance would not have been allowed to race in Nordic Special.

 

Most of the Nordic Specials used the original gear-boxes, mostly 3-speed Ford (although one had a Wilson pre-selector box). Most of the races were short 15-lap heats on ice-tracks (around 1500m long). What you wanted was a lot of torque.

I have to say that although I knew Greger Stroem well for may years, I never heard him, nor my father, differatiate between the early Nordic Specials and the later cars, such as the Nobe and the Masse-rart-i. The Norwegian-built cars most definitely took part in races outside of Norway, such as the Djurgaardsloppet in Finland. Also, the Nobe was run on ice  (including running solid cast-alloy wheels with spikes bolted into the alloy, with no tyres used at all.) Norway had no proper race circuits until Roessvoll way up North in the Seventies, and the Rudskogen close to Oslo from 1990. So most of the locally conceived cars were built with ice-racing and horse-trotting tracks in mind.

[Tomas Karlsson]

The problem was that although Norway took part in the construction of the Nordic Special rules, they hardly took part. The economical situation in Norway ment that there were almost no races in Norway between 1950-1952. In 53 they got going again, and by that time there were only two cars (Stousland and Nyhuus) left racing. Hinsvaerk, Stousland, Berger and Nyhuus were the only Norwegian cars that raced outside Norway, and they did very few races compared to the Swedes.

The special class that continued in Norway after '53 was a free sportscar class and the only car that was seen outside of Norway was the ex-Stousland car that Hinsvaerk did a couple of races with in Sweden in 1955.

Nobe and Masse-rart-i were sportscars, while the Nordic Specials were open-wheel racecars.

A little film from one of the few races on a real track: Skarpnäcksloppet outside of Stockholm in 1953 (the title "Swedish Racing in the 60ies" is of course completely wrong) You'll also see some of the Swedish Ferraris in the pits (together with Rossellini's red one) and also a glimpse of Jo Bonnier's first racecar, a HRG.

In the Nordic Special race, that actually was labelled F1/F2 (during 52 and 53 all the big races were for F1 and F2 - the NS rules were loosly written along the F1 rules) you can see Gunnar Carlsson in the white Ford, making a visist into the haybales. There were no Norwegians in the field.

Gustav Nobelius was there though, doing his first race with the new Nobe, but that was of course in the Special Sportscarclass together with the Ferraris and Allards .

 

Another film with pictures from different ice-races in 1953 (wrong title again). Most of it are sportscars, but in the beginning you can see some seconds with Nordic Specials.

Edited by Tomas Karlsson, 03 October 2013 - 07:11.

[Tomas Karlsson]

I forgot - since the '53 Skarpnäck race was labelled F1/F2 there were not only NS-cars in the field, but also Nuckey in a F2 Cooper, Lang in a Veritas RS (as F2) and Finn Mattila in a small F3 Cooper with a 1000cc engine.

[Michael Ferner]

you can see Gunnar Carlsson in the white Ford, making a visist into the haybales.

 

That was before the invention of yellow flags, wasn't it?

 

Fascinating thread! Keep on, guys, enlighten us about the history of these "backwater" events (from a Central European perspective)!

[ChrisJson]

 The red one a sister car to the most succesful Nordic Special, Lundgren's Ford Special (that car unfortunately disappeared in the Sixties).

 

 

Is that the car that was entered but did not show up at the German Grand Prix 1951? 

[Tomas Karlsson]

Is that the car that was entered but did not show up at the German Grand Prix 1951? 

Yep! It's the same car that is involved in the fight for the lead in the film from Skarpnäck. It won eventually. I wonder what the scrutineers at Nürburgring had said if they saw it. Although Lundgren always kept his car neat and in perfect condition, it would probably not have survived a race at the Ring.

But there was another NS-car that did make it to Nürburgring and the German GP. One of the blue and yellow cars in the film (in the front row between a light blue and a silver car) is the BLG, Bertil Lundberg's little BMW-engined car. It was built for the 2-litre NS class along the same lines as the German F2 cars. It was the prettiest NS car around, but could not really compete with the big-engined Fords. Lundberg raced in the German GP in 1950. And later Wahlberg also had a try at Eifelrennen without any success. In the film the car had been rebuilt, the chassis lengthened and instead of the BMW engine there was a 2-litre Ferrari V12 under the hood!

Edited by Tomas Karlsson, 03 October 2013 - 19:07.

[MatsNorway]

Eirik Bøler and Jonny has been in contact with each others, he has a collection and talks about a museum i have been told. The car will also be seen at karlskoga next summer.

 

I might post a new thread with other cars that Bengt Olsson made in case you guys got info on them and want to see. They where completely unknown to Eirik Bøler and my father.

Edited by MatsNorway, 18 January 2016 - 20:36.

[Michael Ferner]

Yes, post away! There's definitely interest...

[MatsNorway]

Had the chance to see and watch it go at Karlskoga motorsport week. It now has the same style exhaust as i showed in the opening post. It sounded nice and looked good. I also had a sit in it and found myself too long for it. ^^ 

 

The engine will likely get a tune up but remain a flathead engine for now due to costs. He has Ardun tops if he wants to chance his mind. The engine builder (RS motor) called the cam a housewife cam so he is probably going to give it some more punch again and more revs to try too keep up with the Ardun engined competitor on the straights and perhaps overtake the smaller.. coopers?. Main problem now is that it runs hot but but he seemed to know how to fix it. Problem is that Snowhite has a different exhaust compared to the red one pictured in the post by Tomas. And it as to be same looking to be legal. so he has a challenge there. I want to tune Flat head engines now.

 

Was a bit exciting seeing them old ones go. Felt like Eirik was pushing his car a bit. No roll bar and no safety at all outside of a helmet really. One of them seemed to have retrofittet a bolt on rollbar and that was about it.

 

Found it interesting to see more worn tires at the front than the back. Is that due to toe in? What was the norm back then? They do slide at the back but the rears where fine from what i saw.

 

Mats Olsson

Edited by MatsNorway, 29 June 2014 - 21:59.

[Ray Bell]

It should lose its overheating problems when the Ardun heads go on...

Then there will no longer be those long exhaust ports in the water.

[Lee Nicolle]

It should lose its overheating problems when the Ardun heads go on...

Then there will no longer be those long exhaust ports in the water.

The water routing is part of the problem. But many sidevalves race succesfully without overheating. Both as road racers and dirt racers too. Military surplus racing!! They achieved a hell of a lot world wide. Though were outdated by the mid 60s though many raced on for a good while after that. And many are around as historic racers. As this thread is about!

Though hot rodders, speedway racers, road racers have modified those things beyond comprehension. The chassis was a good base, the engines were tough and can produce a LOT of power, the diffs are the basis of all quick change units. tis a pity about those fragile 3 speed gearboxes.

And most parts for the engines, diffs and chassis are still available! And improved too, Stromberg 97s that flow about 10% more, ring and pins that dont break, better torque tubes and everything for the engine too. Not bad for something up to 80 years old!

[MatsNorway]

The Engine builder will find a way with this engine too. He tuned the Red one. Gave it 1000rpm extra and designed the exhaust system so that it works to minimise the heat going into the water.

[GMACKIE]

Saw an interesting V8 engine-build going on the other day....Ardun heads and all.

[Lee Nicolle]

Saw an interesting V8 engine-build going on the other day....Ardun heads and all.

I saw a Lincoln Zephyr V12! Now that is a one up I think! 

Fresh rebuild, no cracks. Evidently the engine was a lot better than the car though that is at the restorers. 

Bought as  a rusty scruffy runner ex US. 

[Lee Nicolle]

A field of flat head racers. Late 90s at Bell Bay Speedway. 

The white car in front has a Chev though, the rest are all flat heads.

Edited by Lee Nicolle, 06 November 2014 - 07:14.

[MatsNorway]

Slight off topic. But since its a cool pic i thought it was ok. From facebook. Greger Strøm at full speed at Leangen i Trondheim, 1938

Edited by MatsNorway, 18 January 2016 - 20:39.

[nexfast]

. In 53 they got going again, and by that time there were only two cars (Stousland and Nyhuus) left racing. Hinsvaerk, Stousland, Berger and Nyhuus were the only Norwegian cars that raced outside Norway, and they did very few races compared to the Swedes.

Do you happen to know whether any of the four was  driving an Allard in the Nurburgring sports car race in 1952, in case the identification provided in the link below is correct?

 

https://revslib.stan...tem/qw554mn3412

[nexfast]

Another image here of the same car with the, for me, cryptic  inscription in the front "c'est si bon":

 

https://revslib.stan...tem/hn092yn1452

[Tomas Karlsson]

Do you happen to know whether any of the four was  driving an Allard in the Nurburgring sports car race in 1952, in case the identification provided in the link below is correct?

 

https://revslib.stan...tem/qw554mn3412

It's a Nordic driver alright, but not Norwegian. It's the Dane Robert Nellemann in his Allard J2. The best Danish driver of the time.

[nexfast]

It's a Nordic driver alright, but not Norwegian. It's the Dane Robert Nellemann in his Allard J2. The best Danish driver of the time.

 

Shame on me, I always confound the two flags...Thanks, Tomas.

[doc knutsen]

[doc knutsen]

 

Not my strongest suit, posting pictures AND adding an explaination, so it seems. Anyway, this is a much earlier Ford-based special built in Norway, check those tyres! Those are proper racing spikes, sharp cones that are bolted through the tyre from the inside. Gave fabulous grip on frozen lakes, those did.

[Tomas Karlsson]

I guess that this must be Arvid Johansen's Ford special. He won an ice-race on Öieren with it before the war. It had a 4-cylinder Ford with a Record OHV head.

After the war he sold it to Arne Hinsvaerk who showed the way for the rest of the Nordic drivers with that car. Hinsvaerk had a new V8 special built in '48 and sold the 4 to Paulus Berger who modified it and found even more speed. It was sold to Sweden were it continued to win races. It unfortunately has disappeared.

[doc knutsen]

I guess that this must be Arvid Johansen's Ford special. He won an ice-race on Öieren with it before the war. It had a 4-cylinder Ford with a Record OHV head.

After the war he sold it to Arne Hinsvaerk who showed the way for the rest of the Nordic drivers with that car. Hinsvaerk had a new V8 special built in '48 and sold the 4 to Paulus Berger who modified it and found even more speed. It was sold to Sweden were it continued to win races. It unfortunately has disappeared.

Yes indeed, that is the Arvid Johansen machine. With it is my Dad, at age 19 in 1938, in a rather cold paddock.

Edited by doc knutsen, 31 January 2016 - 20:03.