55 replies to this topic

[Paul Taylor]

Monte Carlo Rally winner and former Toyota F1 team boss Ove Andersson was competing in a classic rally in South Africa when he crashed head on into a truck with fatal consequences. He was 70 years old.

http://www.crash.net..._collision.html

R.I.P.

[BorderReiver]

Sad loss.

R.I.P.

[Nanni Dietrich]

Sad, sad news.

[fines]

[seldo]

Originally posted by Paul Taylor
Monte Carlo Rally winner and former Toyota F1 team boss Ove Andersson was competing in a classic rally in South Africa when he crashed head on into a truck with fatal consequences. He was 70 years old.

http://www.crash.net..._collision.html

R.I.P.

That is sad news.
I had the pleasure of firstly being piloted around Volvo's rally test-track at an insane rate of knots in a Volvo rally car by Ove, and then dining at his home.
He was a nice man.
RIP

[JacnGille]

aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwww

[Doug Nye]

Oh.

All these great rally stars are heroes to my mind. More tragic news...condolences to his people.

DCN

[RS2000]

Oh dear. Ove seemed to have always been around since I first got interested in rallying. I recall an early encounter as dawn broke over Eppynt on the Welsh International with Ove and Gunnar Palm looking for anything remotely similar to oil to pour into the leading Escort's diff to get to the finish. He effectively launched Toyota into motorsport by getting hold of a relatively standard Celica GT for the 1972 RAC (with Gerry Phillips, MN's then Verglas, co-driving). As a driver, his 71 Monte win in an Alpine against the French specialists in similar cars must be one of the best, although I also rate the 67 Gulf London in the un-loved Mk2 Lotus Cortina against the Scania Vabis 911s.

[raceannouncer2003]

Very sorry to hear this. The following photo is, I believe, Ove preparing for the Race of Legends at the Monterey Historics last year:



He is also seen briefly on this video:

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

Vince H.

[rx-guru]

Another great man gone for good. RIP, "Påven"!

[sterling49]

Just awful news, I grew up watching Ove's exploits from the mid sixties onwards, an enthusiast and gentleman, a devasting loss.

[Hieronymus]

Terrible news! The fact that it happened in my country makes it even worse. I am trying to find news of the circumstances surrounding this accident, but the local media has not mentioned one word thus far. The Milligan Historic Rally always take place in the Eastern Cape province.

[Hieronymus]

I was just given this link:

http://wheelsblogs.2...35-cd18575f1c01

[Richard Jenkins]

A warm, affable chap, he always seemed the wrong sort of chap to put in charge of a F1 team representating a major car manufacturer - both too cut-throat for the likes of Ove. Rallying is a much nicer world to team manage, it seems. It's noticeable that Toyota have barely moved forward at all, since he left them.

I am very sorry to hear this, but even more so in that Ove's new life in South Africa was cut so tragically short whilst he was really enjoying himself. RIP.

[Scuderia SSS]

I too have had the pleasure of meeting Ove during a VIP testing day with Toyota. Seemed a real nice guy and a pleasure to chat to when he answered all my questions

RIP.

[Alan Lewis]

Very sad.

If the rallybase site is correct (and I think it is!) then Ove single-handedly won the 1971 International Rally Championship for Renault Alpine; his four wins were their entire points score. Twice as much as runners-up Saab...

APL

[wolf sun]

RIP Ove

[Hieronymus]

http://www.theherald...01_12062008.htm

[David M. Kane]

A real man who lived a real life. RIP.

[rwhitworth]

That's very sad.

I've only helped out "in the field" for one rally: 1973 Total Rally. Ove was very much the "star", and was the only one I took the trouble to photograph. I've got the colour negative but no scanner, so I can't post it here right now. I guess his navigator on that occasion might have been Jean Todt, but I don't have an entry list for the event (does anyone else have one?). I don't think he finished, as I only remember seeing him once early on, and not at a later checkpoint in Swaziland.

The previous year I know he chatted to my father at a couple of checkpoints... quite unusual for a star to be willing to stop and talk to a complete stranger.

[DOHC]

Not the right way to go for the man. Ove "Påven" Andersson was a very respected man, and deserved a better fate.

[Felix]

I've only helped out "in the field" for one rally: 1973 Total Rally.

I was on that event - Ove drove a Celica in 1973, correct? If so, his co-driver was Arne Hertz. Together they competed in the 50th Anniversary Total Rally in SA in November last year, drove a Renault R8 Gordini. I had lunch with them both, and in fine fettle they were, too. Sadly, that was the last time I saw Ove, although we made a plan to meet at his safari lodge when I return to SA for a fortnight in November this year. Won't happen now...

[rwhitworth]

Originally posted by Felix

I was on that event - Ove drove a Celica in 1973, correct?

No - it's a Renault R12. Or have I got the year wrong? It's just possible I'm thinking of 1972.

[Felix]

Yeah, that was 1972, or even 1971 - he did both in an R12 IIRC

[Ian McKean]

Indeed a very sad loss.

He was a very fine driver as his wins in 1971 in the Alpine showed.

I watched a number of stages on that 1967 Gulf London (or was it 1968?) that he won in the Mark 2 Cortina Lotus, and that too was quite an achievement, as the entry was very strong. In those days it was not possible to really know (as a spectator) what the order was and I was frankly surprised to find out that Ove had won it! His Cortina was a sort of chocolate colour and did not seem to be a works car. I had not been aware of him before that rally. Perhaps he drove Volvos in Sweden and the Gulf was his first rally in UK? I have always thought that the Cortina was probably a works-loaned car rather than actually being run by the factory team (at least at the start of the rally). Perhaps someone can confirm this?

Certainly in the Gulf London in 1967 his style was more reserved than that of Bengt Soderstrom in the works Cortina and the Scania Vabis Porsches of Waldegaard and the other Andersson. That I suppose was why it was a surprise to find that he had won. Although I was never sure how much time the Porsches were loosing because of mechnical woes, because every time we saw them in service (at the side of the road in those days, where it should be) their bonnets were open and the oxy-acetylene welding torch was out. I presumed it was the rear suspension mountings.

He seemed to be a "sensible" driver who would always get the car home if humanly possible and very seldom made mistakes. I always reckoned he had retired from professional driving too soon.

[Carles Bosch]

Originally posted by Ian McKean

I watched a number of stages on that 1967 Gulf London (or was it 1968?) that he won in the Mark 2 Cortina Lotus, and that too was quite an achievement, as the entry was very strong. In those days it was not possible to really know (as a spectator) what the order was and I was frankly surprised to find out that Ove had won it! His Cortina was a sort of chocolate colour and did not seem to be a works car. I had not been aware of him before that rally. Perhaps he drove Volvos in Sweden and the Gulf was his first rally in UK?

Ove Andersson in British rallys before the '67 Gulf, according to my database:

- He was the #48 in the entry list for the '63 RAC -with Gunnar Wiman as codriver-@ the wheel of a Morris Cooper S 1071, 'though I don't know if he started the rally or not.

- The same thing on the '64 RAC, entered with the #125 in a Saab 96 Sport?.

- On the '65 RAC, he was @ the wheel of the #17 Saab 96 Sport, 'though DNF.

- Then, he finished 7th o/a in the '66 RAC, driving the Lancia Fulvia Coupé #17 with John Davenport codriving.


Carles.

[RS2000]

The 67 Gulf London winning car UVW924E was a full works Cortina but a Group 2 car not the Gp5 spec of the Clark and Soderstrom cars (which both had problems). It's paint colour was "Ford Saluki Bronze". That particular car had already finished 3rd on the Acropolis with Soderstrom and I think did one other rally in between. After the Gulf it was re-shelled to a white car that Soderstrom was due to use on the 67 RAC (that was cancelled). It was then used by Soderstrom on the 68 Swedish and then as a London-Sydney recce car, making it the most used works rally Mk2, albeit with 2 shells. Some Mk2s only managed one event. The (new) car Clark won the 67 Scottish with a few weeks before the Gulf was scrapped immediately with a badly creased shell.

[RS2000]

At Ford it was usually Soderstrom who played the role of the steady reliable finisher but not always. During the last year of the Cortina and the first year of the Escort I would consider Roger Clark the fastest of the three drivers with Ove very close behind. I firmly believe Clark was at his fastest relative to other drivers in 65 and 66 with the Mk1 Cortina. The problem was Ford trying to turn Clark into a tarmac specialist (undertaking a season of UK racing in a British Vita Mk2 Cortina) when they lost Vic Elford at the end of 66 and found themselves with 3 forest specialists? Ove probably got a rough deal at Ford when Stuart Turner arrived and wanted Makinen there, although he was probably right to give Timo precedence then, just as he was probably right to let Timo go when he did. Ove showed his stature in 71.

[Ian McKean]

Thanks Carles and RS2000 for further info on Ove Andersson's career and the Lotus Cortina.

Thinking about it again, I probably had heard of him before the '67 Gulf London as I think he drove a Saab Sport in the '66 Gulf London, the one where Tony Fall had a big crash in the works Mini.

Just shows my memory is not what it was!

[RS2000]

Can't see Ove on 66 Gulf entry list. Ake Andersson won in a Saab (this one)



Ove was in a Fulvia by the 66 RAC, as Carles has recorded above. I see he was also in a Fulvia for the cancelled 67 RAC, despite being a full and key member of the Ford team again in 68

Fall's 66 Gulf car DJB93B was at Stoneleigh in March, back in Aaltonen 65 RAC-winning spec. Or rather its registration number was...

[eldougo]

That is sad news indeed.....R.I.P.

[rwhitworth]

Originally posted by Felix
Yeah, that was 1972, or even 1971 - he did both in an R12 IIRC

I have the programme for the 1971 Total Rally (I think I worked at "control" that year, which meant I didn't see a single car), and he is indeed listed in an R12, but number 5.

In my photograph he's number 6 - so it must be 1972.

I've got some pencil notes on the 1971 programme, which I guess must be the finishing positions. If so, Ove finished 2nd behind Jan Hettema's Escort.

[Felix]

In 1971 a second R12 was driven by Liz Nystrom, who was then his second wife and went on to be a member of parliament in Sweden. Their son Frederik is an engineer in Renault F1's test team.

Also in an R12 in '71 was Pat Moss-Carlsson if memory serves right.

(Strange how we recall these things, yet can't remember who was second in Greece a fortnight ago...)

[rwhitworth]

Well done - but it seems that Moss & Nystroem were in the same car. There are three Team Renault R12s listed in my programme:

5 - O.G.Andersson / J. Davenport (finished 2nd)
14 - Miss P.Moss / Miss L.Nystroem (finished 8th)
24 - A.W.Porter / R.P.G. Klopper (finished 11th)

I also just noticed Francis Tucker listed in a Ford Capri. I hadn't realised he was still driving at that point - being better known as the boss of Kyalami.

[Felix]

I also just noticed Francis Tucker listed in a Ford Capri. I hadn't realised he was still driving at that point - being better known as the boss of Kyalami.

Mmm - FBK (Francis) Tucker was actually more rallyist than boss of Kyalami. he became chairman of the Sports Car Club of South Africa after joining as a member to go rallying. When the club established the circuit via an organisation called SAMRAC (South African Motor Racing Club) in conjunction with SAM (SA Motorsport Club) and PMC (Pretoria Motor Club), Francis as chairman of SCC was chairman of that, too. Being a lawyer he saw to the (il)legalities, but the de facto boss of Kyalami was Alex Blignaut.

Francis and Joan Tucker (also his legal secretary) rallied many different cars, incl Rambler, Ford Granada and the 3.0 litre Capri. These cars also mostly doubled as track cars. In 2002 I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Joan, and she told me many stories about Kyalami...

Incidentally, Francis passed away recently after a long illness, and a memorial service was held about a fortnight ago. Alex was electrocuted late one night - probably about five years ago - when he went to check on a pump. Unfortunately he discovered exactly why it wasn't pumping.

[Ian McKean]

RS2000 what were the differences between the Group 2 and Group 5 Cortinas? I cannot recall saloon cars being entered in Group 5 much in those days, apart from Malkin's Imp.

[rx-guru]

Originally posted by Ian McKean
RS2000 what were the differences between the Group 2 and Group 5 Cortinas? I cannot recall saloon cars being entered in Group 5 much in those days, apart from Malkin's Imp.

In the late 1960s DAF also had a very few DAF 55 Coupés for rallying entered in Group 5 and, therefore, those were called DAF 555 Coupé. These cars were in the early 1970s used by Jan de Rooy and his older brother Harry with variomatic 4WD systems and BDA engines in Rallycross.

[RS2000]

I think it came up on the Gulf Rally thread on here (where an excellent video was posted). As far as I could see from that, Tecalemit injection was used (although that could also have been used in Gp2 if it was homologated and if it fitted on the standard inlet manifold (or actual integral manifold/head casting in the case of the Twincam?). Bumpers were still fitted on the Gulf (removal the usual external sign of a Gp5 or 6 car) but not to the same cars at the cancelled 67 RAC. Lightweight panels/perspex were almost certainly used (I have a feeling these were then not yet homologated in Gp2 for a Mk2??) (the post- 1.1.66. regs didn't require them to be O/E). Most of the (quite drastic) suspension mods used on the race Gp5 Cortinas would not have been appropriate to a rally car. On that Gulf it may have been more about simply entering a different category from the opposition (the Scania Vabis 911s were Gp2 911Ls then). Saab appear to have split their entry too in Gp2 and Gp5.
Most major rallies did not allow Gps 5 and 6 then. The Coupe des Alpes was an exception and the only RAC that had such classes in the main event (rather than a separate event tacked on) that I recall was the cancelled 67 event (where Ford had cars in Gp5, BMC in Gp6 and Rootes had Imps in both).

[PS30-SB]

Originally posted by RS2000
He effectively launched Toyota into motorsport by getting hold of a relatively standard Celica GT for the 1972 RAC...........

No offence, but that's miles away from the truth.

Ove Andersson achieved a lot in his life, and much of it was in partnership with Toyota, but to imply that Andersson's 1972 RAC Rally entry was anywhere near the beginning of their participation in serious motorsports activities is just daft.

[RS2000]

Depends entirely what you mean by serious. We're discussing an International rally driver, not a minor club racer. Let's see some examples if you think it daft. Roundy-roundy types at lower status events must surely have used Toyotas of some sort by then but at International Rally level where it made a real impact it was the first serious mark any Toyota made. Were you on the 72 RAC?

[PS30-SB]

Originally posted by RS2000
Depends entirely what you mean by serious. We're discussing an International rally driver, not a minor club racer. Let's see some examples if you think it daft. Roundy-roundy types at lower status events must surely have used Toyotas of some sort by then but at International Rally level where it made a real impact it was the first serious mark any Toyota made. Were you on the 72 RAC?

I was not trying to pick any kind of a fight with you. Unfortunately you're writing more and more things for me to disagree with you over. "Minor club racer", "roundy-roundy", "lower status", ".... Toyotas of some sort" - it all sounds rather dismissive to me.

I was just pointing out that - contrary to your statement - Toyota had been active in serious motorsport a long time before 1972. To suggest that Andersson's drive on the 1972 RAC was some kind of Genesis in Toyota's motorsports history is at best misinformed.........

Originally posted by RS2000
Were you on the 72 RAC?

Only as a lowly spectator I'm afraid.

I wasn't 'on' the 1957 Mobilgas Trial ( or the fields of Agincourt in 1415 either come to that ), but I have read about it.

[sterling49]

Originally posted by PS30-SB


I was not trying to pick any kind of a fight with you. Unfortunately you're writing more and more things for me to disagree with you over. "Minor club racer", "roundy-roundy", "lower status", ".... Toyotas of some sort" - it all sounds rather dismissive to me.

I was just pointing out that - contrary to your statement - Toyota had been active in serious motorsport a long time before 1972. To suggest that Andersson's drive on the 1972 RAC was some kind of Genesis in Toyota's motorsports history is at best misinformed.........

I understood that Ove, set Toyota on the path for motorsport, I may be wrong, but that is my belief until I see evidence to the contrary. Back in the early days, when he ran TTE from Germany, and then set Toyota on the path with various cars, and stars including Hannu in the Celica and Bjorne in the later model. I have nothing but my memory to substantiate this, having read (back in the day!) from trusted sources such as MN and Autosport (Verglas etc). With respect, I am not trying to pick an argument, just offering my take on it for what it's worth.

[fines]

Surely the Toyota 7 pre-dated the 1972 RAC rallye?;)

[PS30-SB]

Originally posted by sterling49
I understood that Ove, set Toyota on the path for motorsport, I may be wrong, but that is my belief until I see evidence to the contrary.

......"evidence to the contrary". For heaven's sake!

I suppose if it wasn't in the pages of MN as it flopped onto the front door mat of no.23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, then it never happened......


fines,
Yes - but I think it doesn't take much effort to go back quite a lot further than that.

[D-Type]

Originally posted by RS2000
Depends entirely what you mean by serious. We're discussing an International rally driver, not a minor club racer. Let's see some examples if you think it daft. Roundy-roundy types at lower status events must surely have used Toyotas of some sort by then but at International Rally level where it made a real impact it was the first serious mark any Toyota made. Were you on the 72 RAC?

This isn't the appropriate place for this type of discussion, but a Group 1 Corolla won its class in the 1970 Safari driven by two local amateurs.

And coming back to the subject of the thread, Ove won the Safari in 1975 in a Group 2 Peugeot 504 from a brace of Group 4 Lancia Stratos. So an accident in an African rally is a fitting way to go. RIP

[Twin Window]

Can I remind everyone - in particular members 'PS30-SB' and 'RS2000' - that this thread is one concerning the tragic loss of a senior and well-respected member of the rallying & motorsport community in general, not a platform for petty points-scoring and bickering.

Please be kind enough to conduct yourselves with more respect in future.

[PS30-SB]

Point taken, of course. But respect for the man and his life should include accurate reporting, in my opinion.

[Nanni Dietrich]

Ove Andersson and John Davenport finished 3rd in the 1968 Rally Sanremo-Sestriere in a Ford Escort, behind the winners Pauli Toivonen-Martti Tiukkanen (Porsche 911T) and Pat Moss Carlsson-Lyz Nystrom in a Lancia Fulvia HF.
This was the first rally ever for a Ford Escort.

Lyz Nystrom became Ove Andersson's second wife. She later went on to be a Swedish Parliament member.

[Andrew Kitson]

Very sad news indeed, a well respected man within the F1 paddock.

As far as I am aware, Toyota's first major success was winning the Fuji 24 hour race in 1967 with the 2000GT model. In 1968 the first Toyota 7 Can-Am car was built. Without wishing to turn this into a shameless plug, I am pretty sure of these facts due to my research together with a Japanese customer who commissioned this Toyota Racing history painting that I did in 2005, showing the 2000GT at top left. My customer specified what he wanted included. It is a racing history painting, not rallying and I admit to having limited knowledge of the rallying side of Toyota in Motorsport. Ove certainly helped bring Toyota to the fore in many forms of international and national motorsport.
http://www.andrewkit...oyota-print.htm

[RS2000]

Originally posted by Twin Window
Can I remind everyone - in particular members 'PS30-SB' and 'RS2000' - that this thread is one concerning the tragic loss of a senior and well-respected member of the rallying & motorsport community in general, not a platform for petty points-scoring and bickering.

No you cannot remind me "in particular", although I am only too content to note and share a more general comment. I for one will not be sniped at and then wrongly lumped in with an offender to avoid your having to single out just one poster when I have recorded great respect for someone I had some contact with in earlier days: someone whose impact with just one entry with a vehicle from a particular manufacturer was so significant to all those directly involved at the time.
I for one respect people like Ove, whom I once encountered grovelling in the dirt under a leaking axle, rather than paper or electronic practitioners. That sort of remembrance is what should be recorded in places like this, not wrongly-targetted, headmasterly lectures.
In some other places, quite a number of posts on this thread would have been objected to as being off topic. I suggest most here are well above the sort of modern generation simplistic, questionably sincere and highly repetitive posts too often seen filling other forum threads when a "name" is lost to us. Shouldn't all posts on such sad subjects, say something specific? Shouldn't we have as many actual personal reminicences as possible at such times?