The most
important rally victories and some other competitions
1950 Rolf Mellde/K G Svedberg and Greta Molander/Margaretha
von Essen take part in the Monte Carlo Rallye in January. The two
cars have chassis numbers 7 and 8 respectively. Greta Molander comes
in 55th overall, Sth in her class and 2nd in the Ladies Class. In
the Rikspokalen in November, at that time Europe's most gruelling
event, Saab is the overall winner with Rolf Mellde, and is the best
marque team with Mellde, Svedberg and Greta Molander, who also wins
the Ladies Class.
1952 Greta Molander and Helga Lundberg win the Ladies Cup in
the Monte Carlo Rally.
1953
Rolf Mellde wins the Swedish Championship.
1955 Erik Carlsson gets to be 'on the roof' with all Sweden
and wins the country's most important dependability contest, the Rikspokalen,
in a Saab 92.
1956 Bob Wehman and Louis Braun win the fourth and last Great
American Mountain Rallye. Rolf Mellde comes in sixth, with another
Saab 93 in seventh place. There is
only one American car among the first twenty.
1959 Two Saab 93s compete in
the 24 Hours at Le Mans. One of thern, driven by Sture Nottorp and
Gunnar Bengtsson, comes in twelfth place overall and is second in
its class. Erik Carlsson scores an overt victory in the Midnight Sun
Rally.
1960 Erik Carlsson wins the British RAC Rally, his first of
three consecutive victories. This year Saab also builds two Formula
Junior racing cars.
1961 Erik Carlsson enters for the Monte Carlo Rally in a Saab
95 -- the factory's only four-speed
car. Finishes in fourth place.
1962 Erik Carlsson and Gunnar Häggbom win overall in the
Monte Carlo Rally. The starting number of the winning car is 303.
1963 Erik Carlsson wins the Monte Carlo Rally for the second
time, now with Gunnar Palm as his co-driver. Starting number this
year is 283, Erik Carlsson and Gunnar Palm come second in the Spa-Sofia-Liege
"Marathon de la Route", one of the most demanding rallies.
1971 Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish Rally in a Saab V4.
A new generation of drivers takes over as Erik Carlsson becomes Saab's
roving ambassador, accredited to the whole world.
1976 Stig Blomqvist wins the Belgian Rally Boucles de Spa.
The winning car is a Saab 99 with double
overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. 220 h.p. is the rating,
against 170 trimmed horses from the ordinary engine with only one
camshaft.
1977 Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish Rally in a Saab 99
EMS.
1979 Stig Blomqvist wins the Swedish Rallye in a Saab 99
Turbo - the first win by a turbo-charged car in a World Championship
rally.
1980 Saab shuts down its competition department and retires
from all rally activities.
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1986
On 7 October, three Saab 9000 Turbo
16s, in guaranteed standard condition, get off the mark on the world's
fastest race-track, the Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega,
U.S.A. 31 drivers take turns at the controls of the three cars, with
stops only for refuelling and service. In nearly twenty days of uninterrupted
driving they break two world records and 21 international speed records.
The fastest car covers 100,000 km at a mean speed of 213 '299 kph,
the other two average around 210 and 208 kph.
1996
Ten years later Saab returns to Talladega, this time with six Saab
900s, absolutely standard cars,
powered by different engines: a 2-litre turbo, a 2.5-litre V6 and
a 2-litre injection engine. They clock up 40 new international speed
records. The fastest car, a 900 Turbo, turns in an average speed of
226.450 kph.