20 replies to this topic

[roger_valentine]

The following website was mentioned in the Pete Lovely thread. (I would suggest taking a look fairly quickly, before it inevitably gets closed down by the copyright police).


http://statsf1.com/d.....cteur=86&LG=1

One constructor which caught my eye was EL - a Scandinavian special which allegedly was entered for the 1951 German GP. As we have a few experts on Scandinavian specials on TNF, can anyone shed any more light on this?

(This may have been coveded before - EL is too short a name for Atlas's Search facility).

[Kpy]

The EL was Erik Lundgren's Ford V8 Special.
He thought about entering it for the 1951 German GP, but decided not to on the grounds of cost.
Probably a wise decision.

[AAA-Eagle]

The only post about Erik Lundgren and 1951 German GP I managed to find on TNF is this one: http://forums.atlasf...605#post1460605

BTW here is the right link to EL on statsf1.com: http://statsf1.com/d.....teur=239&LG=1

[Tomas Karlsson]

Erik Lundgren (born 1919) from Ockelbo had raced a few races with a small Fiat before he built his Ford Special (or EL-Ford Spl or Ford Ardun spl or...) for the 1950 winter season. It was built along the lines of the first post-war specials in Scandinavia. A lowered Ford chassis, a Ford V8 engine with Ardun heads and a sporty open wheel aluminium body. It was a two seater and with small fenders and lights it could be driven on the road.
It was built to the new Nordic Special rules (which fitted into the F1 rules) and Lundgren and his Special became the car to beat. Lundgren together with Gunnar Carlsson and John Kvarnström were the elite in Scandinavian racing. The EL special was famous because of it's immaculate race condition. Lundgren and his mechanic was very thorough and experimented a lot. The car had eight carburettors at one time.
For 1954 the car was rebuilt to the new special sports class and it continued to dominate and win races up until 1958! Bo ljungfelt raced it once before it was sold. It has unfortunately disappeared (some say in Spain...?).
Someone asked how many races the car did. Well I have found 73 (not counting heats) and of those he won 39. The rest he usually ended second...! Most of them was of course the short ice-races. But he won on any type of track. I don't think that the Ford spl's brakes would have lasted on Nürburgring though....
Lundgren got a Mercedes drive for the supporting GT race at the Swedish GP, Karlskoga and Skarpnäck races in 1955. He also drove Allard, Ford Anglia, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari Monza, Maserati 200S, Corvette, Saab Sonette and Saab 93.
In 1957 Lundgren started to experiment with glassfibre and made a body (moulded from Norinders Ferrari Mondial!) for those who wanted to make a pretty sportscar at home. He made his own car on an Alfa Romeo. Several of these "Ockelbo" cars still exist. Lundgren then continued in the plastic business and became a famous boatmaker before he died at the early age of 48 in 1967.

[AAA-Eagle]

Thanks. Do you also have some photos?

[Tomas Karlsson]

The EL spl as Nordic special 1950-1953:

And as Special sportscar 1954-1958.

[AAA-Eagle]

Very nice! Thank you a lot again. Is it possibly to determine the place where photos were made?

[Tomas Karlsson]

Sorry can't help you there. But I guess that the b&w picture is from lake Varpen outside Bollnäs in 1951.
Here are some pictures of other Nordic Specials that are still excisting:

This car was built at the same time as Lundgrens, and the body was made at the same place. This was also rebuilt as a sportscar for the 54 season. The present owner managed to buy it a couple of years ago by an old man who had stored the car in a box in his backyard since the early sixties! I think it would fit into another thread....

This car was built in 1949 by Thure Melin. Lundgren was acting mechanic on this car when Melin won the GP of Norway in '49. It continued also as a sportscar. Today it is raced in Swedish Historic racing by the present owner Robert Petterson.

This car was built in Norway in '48 for the Norwegian Arne Hinsvaerk. It was later sold to Gunnar Carlsson, who raced it until he got a Ferrari Monza. This car together with Lundgren's were the ones that used to wrap up the victories.
All three are Ford V8 Specials, but there were other cars as well.

GoOnII first had a Lancia and later an Alfa Romeo engine... It wasn't so successful.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by Tomas Karlsson
.....Bo ljungfelt raced it once before it was sold.....

The name strikes a chord...

This is the guy who shattered everyone in the Falcon Sprint V8s in the Monte Carlo Rally, isn't it?

[Tomas Karlsson]

Yup, Bo Ljungfelt was one of the big icons of Swedish motorsport. He drove his first hill-climb in 1948 and continued to race into the seventies. He was a Ford driver for most of the sixties both on track and in rallies. But he really made a name for himself with an old BMW 328 in the middle of the fifties.

[AAA-Eagle]

Thanks for an interesting information.

[ChrisJson]

The EL was Erik Lundgren's Ford V8 Special.
He thought about entering it for the 1951 German GP, but decided not to on the grounds of cost.
Probably a wise decision.

Just saw this browsing through some old threads.

Do you mean that he decided not to enter because of the entry fee or did he enter the car
and then decided not to go because of the cost of racing the car at Nurbugring?

As I understand it he was entered as #96 at the German GP.

Does anyone know how much the entry fee was in ´51?

Christer

Edited by ChrisJson, 16 April 2012 - 23:39.

[Tomas Karlsson]

Well, since he was entered, I suppose it wasn't the fee that bothered him. I haven't been able to find out more about this strange entry. The car was a race winner on short Swedish ice-races. I wouldn't want to think what would have happened with it on the Nordschleife.
It's sister-car has got a new owner and might do the historic Rally to the Midnight Sun this summer by the way.

[ChrisJson]

Thank you Tomas!

If he had dared to go would he have been allowed to race?
Was the Nordic Special cars in accordance with the F1 rules?

And vice versa would a Talbot Lago T26C or Ferrari 375 be
eligible in the swedish races?
Did anyone drive a "true" F1 car in these races or was all
swedish built specials?

Thanks in advance

Christer

[Tomas Karlsson]

The Nordic specials was loosly based on F1 and F2. At least with their engine sizes, although superchargers were not allowed. One of the cars actually raced in the German GP in 1950 (F2).
In 52-53 the big races were announced as "F1 and F2" and there were some foreign guests. In Helsinki 1952 Roger Laurent in a Lago-Talbot had a good scrap with Lundgren. Laurent was back in '53, but was beaten by Rodney Nuckey in a Cooper 23, again with Lundgren as the main contender. Nuckey then won the streetrace in Tampere, a race for FLibre. Nuckey raced a lot in Scandinavia, mostly with his F3 Cooper. Later in '53 he met the Nordic Specials again at Skarpnäck, Stockholm (F1/F2), but left the track on the first lap. German Adolff Lang in a Veritas didn't get any further and Lundgren won.

Edited by Tomas Karlsson, 17 April 2012 - 07:12.

[uechtel]

I think over the times the German GP had seen more unsuitable cars on the grid. They were either optimistic enthusiasts or starting money specials. In the latter case all would depend on whether the negotiations on starting money would lead to a surplus over travelling costs. In the previous year obviously the organizers had tried to present as much as possible an "international" field, so perhaps Lundgren was speculative on this again. But with the full F1 / WC status of the race in 1951 and with the presence of all the top works teams maybe the organizers did not feel the need any more to offer too much money for some "exots".

[David McKinney]

I'd be surprised if starting money was paid to the lower-order entrants in the German - or any other - GP. Drivers entered for the honour and glory of competing at GP level

[uechtel]

I know from the German national events that there were payments. Drivers like Bechem were very creative to pretend cars that were not even existing, just for this purpose.

[David McKinney]

But what about those further down the order - especially the DDR drivers?

[uechtel]

Bechem was not very high up the order in 1952/53 either (before he joined Borgward of course). And I think also the East German drivers could expect some money, declarated as "traveling fees". And even if the sums may have been not high, they were paid in "Westmark"...

I have found mention of such fees back in a report from June 1948, when there was the introiduction of the new money in the three Western Zones. A race had been scheduled on the very weekend at the Schottenring, but despite the drivers had agreed to waive their fees (because the organizers did not have any "valid" money any more), the race was cancelled because all policemen were needed to escort the money transports.

[Michael Ferner]

I'd be surprised if starting money was paid to the lower-order entrants in the German - or any other - GP. Drivers entered for the honour and glory of competing at GP level

I don't think that's true at all! Prize money was negligible in those days, but starting money was an important item in the make-up of all racing, including Grands Prix in that era.