Bjørnstad scores in the first race

This minor race was the first one in the Nordic ice racing season. Each driver got the chance to set a time in two heats, the quickest race time of those two was used as the final result. Norwegian Bjørnstad with a dual rear wheels Alfa Romeo proved fastest, followed by Carlsson's Bugatti and Widengren's Alfa Romeo.

The Nordic ice racing season took off with this minor ice sprint on lake Brunnsjön near the small city of Hedemora, 150 km northwest of Stockholm. The race was run for standard cars and for racing cars, each divided into two classes, one for cars with over 2 litre engines and one for cars with engines under 2 litre. There were nine heats altogether. The overall result was based on the quickest race time, regardless of the heat.

Entries: Several drivers took the opportunity to test their cars for the important Swedish Grand Prix, a month later. The favorites were the Swede Widengren and the Norwegian Bjørnstad, both driving their own Alfa Romeo Monzas. Bjørnstad's Monza had for the 1936 season been rebuilt in Norway to a 2.6 litre monoposto. Bjørnstad also showed for the first time his Monza with dual rear wheels, which was a sensation. The wheels were custom-made in Italy, and each consisted of a single rim where upon two studded tires were mounted. Swede Knut Gustav Sundstedt raced his old ex-Chiron Bugatti T35B (#4922) and Finnish driver Karl Ebb his huge Mercedes-Benz SSK that had been rebuilt for the 1936 season.       In the smaller class Helmer Carlsson raced the ex-Bjørnstad Bugatti (#4928) that had once won the 1929 Targa Florio with Albert Divo. Västerås Racer Kompani also entered their small Amilcars (one light blue and one red) with Karl-Emil Rolander and Adolf Westerblom as drivers. Ivar Lind raced a 4 cylinder voiturette Bugatti (#37418) while Gunnar Thorsell did not appear.

Race:

Heat 4 / Heat 7 in inverted order Rolander Amilcar Westerblom Amilcar Heat 5 / Heat 8 in inverted order Lindh Bugatti Carlsson Bugatti Sundstedt Bugatti Heat 6 / Heat 9 in inverted order Ebb Mercedes-Benz Bjørnstad Alfa Romeo Widengren Alfa Romeo

A brilliant sunny winter weather with 25 degrees below zero (-13° F) and an international start field with the best that the Nordic countries could provide made the races immensely watchable for the Swedish racing fans.       The three first heats were for standard cars and total winner was Erik Olausson (Singer 1 litre) from "Mas" Harry Larsson (Plymouth) and Ivar Isacson (Ford V-8). Thereafter the eight race cars, divided into three heats, got two opportunities to set the quickest race time. The grids vere inverted for the second attempt. The cars pulled up such a cloud of snow and ice that visibility was very poor and it was almost impossible to make a pass.       In the sixth heat Bjørnstad immediately took the lead followed by Ebb and Widengren side by side. Widengren pushed himself in front of Ebb but he was unable to do anything against Bjørnstad. At the finish Widengren's hands were so shaky they were hardly able to hold to the steering wheel. Therefore Widengren was unable to better his time in the 9th heat, doing a miserable 11m14.2s while Bjørnstad was out of the game with a failing valve.       So, Bjørnstad won the overall race, perhaps thanks to his dual rear wheels. Helmer Carlsson sensationally managed to beat Widengren's time to finish second on aggregate results and he was quite unchallenged in the small class.       Widengren in an interview: "Helmer did a fine race. Not that I think he can cause a sensation at Rämen - because his Bugatti is not fast enough - but it is sure and certain that he belongs to the wise drivers and that he has a high quality driving technique. He deserves his beautiful success today."

Widengren - Bjørnstad: 1 - 1

Clash between Bjørnstad and Widengren

Dominant Bjørnstad

The Swedish Winter Grand Prix was run with a racing car class and a standard car class. With Helmer Carlsson having an engine failure on his Bugatti during practice and P-V. Widengren suffering from 40° fever the two major Swedish drivers were absent and the race class was dominated by Norwegian Bjørnstad (Alfa Romeo) who led from start to finish followed by Finnish driver Ebb (Mercedes-Benz) and Axel Jonsson (Bugatti) in a rather boring event where the only spectacular event was Westerblom's crash with an Amilcar. The standard car race started off with a major crash that eliminated the whole German Adler works team. Olsson (Graham) lead from start to finish.

The 1933 event had ended with protests and confusion but after a two year pause the Swedish winter GP was back for the fourth time to be held in the woods near the frozen lake Rämen, with the start on the lake itself. New railway tracks had been laid out for 25 extra trains bringing spectators. Remembering the horrible accident at Vram 1933 Kungliga Automobil Klubben (K.A.K.) had made changes and improvements to get the event safer. The race was divided into two classes, a standard car class for untrimmed stock cars and a racing car class. The standard cars must not cost more than 9,000 SKr but as car dealers set the prices as well as entered cars the rule was controversial.       The 29 standard cars were to race six laps and had to make a compulsory 3 minutes pit stop during the race to check the condition of the car. The 11 racing cars raced eight laps. There was also a team competition. No riding mechanic was needed any longer, so the drivers raced solo.       The winner of the racing class was to receive a 10 000 kronor prize.

Entries: In the race class the favourites were Swede Per-Victor Widengren and Norwegian Eugen Bjørnstad with their Alfa Romeo Monzas. Bjørnstad's car again featured dual rear wheels.       Bertil Carlsson's "Västerås Racer Kompani" entered three cars, an ex-Bjørnstad Bugatti T35C (#4928) for Bertil's brother Helmer Carlsson and two Amilcars (one light blue and one red) for Karl-Emil Rolander and Adolf Westerblom.       There were five other Bugattis in the entry list. Gustav Sundstedt raced his ex-Chiron T35B (#4922), Finnish driver Emil Elo an ex-Isberg T35C, Axel Johansson an ex- Einar Lindberg shortened T43, Per-Helmer Stoltz a T38A and Ivar Lindh a 4-cylinder voiturette T37A (#37418).       German driver Herbert Berg entered a Mercedes-Benz SSK as did Finnish driver Karl Ebb.       László Hartmann arrived to the event early on Sunday morning, too late to make a practice run.       The standard class was dominated by Swedish drivers in American cars. Entries included 20 Swedes and American born Swede Franklin Eck. There were four drivers named Johansson racing in the standard class. Oldest driver was almost 47 years old Carl-Gustav Johansson from Filipstad who had decided this would be his last race. Youngest was 24 year old Martin Strömberg from Hedemora.       Apart from the Swedish entries there were Lyder Grönneberg and Svein Helling from Norway, Asser Wallenius from Finland, Erik Castenschiold and Hans Pahl from Denmark and Adler drivers Paul von Guilleaume, Peter Orssich and Rudolf Sauerwein from Germany. The German factory entered front wheel drive Adlers that apart from two B.M.W. cars were the only non American cars. They received a lot of attention before the race and there were a lot of discussions whether they were legal to take part as stock cars or not.       Challenging the Adlers in the team competition were two Ford team consisting of C-G Johansson, T. Johansson and Eck (Team I) and Sundqvist, Servais and Wallenius (team II).       All used stud tyres. Several including Widengren and Bjørnstad raced a type of studs developed by Finnish driver S.P.J. Keinänen.

Practice: There was a practice run from Rämshyttan to Sällnäs (i.e. half a race lap) on Thursday between 7 and 10 a.m. Bjørnstad destroyed a gear in the gearbox.       Results were: Ebb 15m36s, Widengren 16m00s, Elo 16m24s, Axel Johansson (Bugatti) 16m16s, Carlsson (Bugatti) 16m41s, Rolander 17m25s and Stoltz 19m24s. Fastest standard car entry was Forsberg with a time of 16m21s       Friday morning it was time for the qualifying. The event was an acceleration test on a some 1300m long section of the course on the ice of lake Rämen. Bjørnstad, who had worked all night to get his gearbox repaired, was fastest (39.8s) before Widengren (43.8s) and Ebb (45.8s).       When Carlsson should make his run there was a bang in the Bugatti engine and smoke went up. An exhaust valve had dropped down, destroying the piston, and bending the connecting rod. The destroyed piston damaged the crankshaft and made a hole in the crankcase. Due to the extensive damage Carlsson was unable to make repairs in time and was out of the race.

Race: The early Sunday weather was cold (minus 18-20 C°) and foggy with some fear of snow in the morning. 9000 spectators arrived by train and an estimated 30,000-35,000 spectators turned up at Rämshyddan plus several more in Sellnäs and in the woods along the course for a total of some 50,000 spectators. Anyway, it was a disappointment for the organizers as it went with a loss.       Despite efforts from the organizers the course was in a quite miserable condition. There had been great snowfalls the days before the race. On the lake the ice was packed with snow. On the roads the ice and snow were partly gone and the roads had deep tracks and huge bumps. The track was still too narrow for cars to pass apart from the lake sections. The ice thickness on the lakes was 40 cm.       Unfortunately on Saturday the racing class favourite Widengren got 40° fever and bronchitis and was lying in bed at the Håksberg boarding house strongly forbidden by the doctor even to consider taking part in the race. His brother Henken Widengren and Helmer Carsson were considered as a replacement but as Henken was too far away and as Helmer never had raced the Alfa Romeo the idea was scratched. Thus both Carlsson and Widengren, the two top Swedish drivers were non starters.

30 A Olsson Graham 55.4s 24 C-G Johansson Ford 55.9s 16 Castenschiold Terraplane 56.9s 34 Pahl Terraplane 57.3s 42 Wallenius Ford 57.4s 35 Sauerwein Adler 57.5s 26 T Johansson Ford 58.1s 31 G Olsson Ford 58.2s 19 Grönneberg B.M.W. 58.2s 20 von Guilleaume Adler 58.2s 37 Skarp Plymouth 58.8s 18 Forsberg Ford 58.8s 39 Sundqvist Ford 59.0s 33 Orssich Adler 59.1s 17 Eck Ford 59.3s 28 H Larsson Plymouth 59.3s 23 A Larsson Dodge 36 Servais Ford 1m00.9s 15 Boström Plymouth 1m01.0s 38 Skeppstedt Plymouth 1m01.2s 43 Westerberg Plymouth 25 N Johansson Ford 41 Svensson Terraplane 27 Å Johansson Hupmobile 21 Hell Plymouth 32 Strömberg Plymouth 29 Olaussen Singer 40 Svedberg Chevrolet 22 Helling B.M.W. 2 Bjørnstad Alfa Romeo 39.8s 14 Widengren Alfa Romeo 43.8s 4 Ebb Mercedes-Benz 45.8s 8 Lindh Bugatti 46.0s 11 Sundstedt Bugatti 46.2s 12 Westerblom Amilcar 46.5s 5 Elo Bugatti 50.1s 9 Rolander Amilcar 51.2s 7 Johnson Bugatti 53.9s 1 Berg Mercedes-Benz 54.0s 10 Stolz Bugatti 54.1s 3 Carlsson Bugatti 6 Hartmann Maserati

In the morning the course was inspected by autogiro. The plan was that the standard cars were to start 11:10 and the race cars 20 minutes later at 11:30. In that way the race cars would start before the standard cars had finished their first lap and the race cars would have the course free in front of them.       The standard cars started at the correct time and raced through the curves on the ice in a cloud of snow towards the viaduct with Anders Olsson leading followed by C-G Johansson, Castenshiold, Wallenius, Gunnar Olsson, Thure Johansson and Pahl. To the surprise of the spectators Westerberg and Strömberg decided to make the compulsory 3 minute stop immediately, hoping to have a free course after that, so they pitted and thus avoided the multiple crash near the viaduct involving some ten cars. The incident started when Norwegian Grönneberg, trying to close a not properly locked car door, got the door fully open by mistake and the car spun in the middle of the field. Seven cars had to retire including the whole Adler team as the three Adler cars one after the other crashed into the heap of spun or tipped over cars.       Boström, Svedberg, the Norwegians Grönneberg and Helling and all three Germans had to retire. Luckily there were no serious injuries. Von Guilleaume got a bleeding nose, Grönneberg a cut on an ear and Sauerwein a light concussion.       It took time to sort up the mess. The worried spectators knew no details about the crash, just that the start of the race class had to be delayed.       Andes Olsson made the first lap in 31m30s followed by C-G Johansson, Wallenius, Thure Johansson, Eck and Servais. Right then the race cars were flagged off in the middle of the standard car field, just what the organizers had hoped to avoid. Luckily the standard cars did their best to give room for the race cars throughout the race.       Bjørnstad took the lead at the start and made the first lap in 26m23s followed by Ebb 28m09s. Ebb had early realized he had no chance to keep up with the Monza with twin rear wheels and settled for second position. Hartmann, who had forgot to bring with him a type of patented chains he had planned to test, stopped at the pit after the first lap and retired his Maserati.       The race order after the first lap: 1. Bjørnstad (Alfa Romeo) 2. Ebb (Mercedes-Benz) 3. Lindh (Bugatti) 4. Elo (Bugatti) 5. Sundstedt (Bugatti) 6. Jonsson (Bugatti) 7. Berg (Mercedes-Benz) 8. Westerblom (Amilcar) 9. Rolander (Amilcar) 10. Hartmann (Maseratii) 11. Stolz (Bugatti) Herbert Berg was in trouble with the battery. After the second lap Bjørnstad with a medium speed of 105 km/h held a 2 ½ minute lead over Ebb. Race situation after lap 2: 1. Bjørnstad (Alfa Romeo) 2. Ebb (Mercedes-Benz) 3. Elo (Bugatti) 4. Jonsson (Bugatti) 5. Lindh (Bugatti) 6. Sundstedt (Bugatti) 7. Westerblom (Amilcar) 8. Rolander (Amilcar) 9. Berg (Mercedes-Benz) 10. Stolz (Bugatti) At the Sellnäs viaduct on the third lap Westerblom had to swerve hard for another competitor. The Amilcar went on two wheels, made a forwards somersault and landed upside down in the snow outside the course. No one thought the driver had survived but as the clerks rushed to the place of the accident they could hear Westerblom shouting that they should turn the car right. He had ducked into the cockpit and held on to the gear level and thus survived uninjured from the crash and was able to return to the race as soon as the Amilcar was turned over the correct way. After the event Westerblom was nicknamed "Spak-Adolf" (Level-Adolf).       During the lap Jonsson passed Elo for third position. The Order after lap 3 looked like this: 1. Bjørnstad (Alfa Romeo) 2. Ebb (Mercedes-Benz) 3. Jonsson (Bugatti) 4. Elo (Bugatti) 5. Lindh (Bugatti) 6. Sundstedt (Bugatti) 7. Berg (Mercedes-Benz) 8. Rolander (Amilcar) 9. Westerblom (Amilcar) 10. Stolz (Bugatti) In the standard class Sven Servais crashed his Ford into a ditch and retired. Westerblom had to retire due to a damaged axle, probably a consequence of the crash on the previous lap. After four laps Bjørnstad was leading Ebb by 4m32s. Berg's electrical troubles went worse and worse and eventually he retired as hardly any plugs were working any longer. Apart from that the race order remained the same from the 4th to the 7th lap.       The race order for laps 4 to 7 thus stayed like this: 1. 1. Bjørnstad (Alfa Romeo) 2. Ebb (Mercedes-Benz) 3. Jonsson (Bugatti) 4. Elo (Bugatti) 5. Lindh (Bugatti) 6. Sundstedt (Bugatti) 7. Rolander (Amilcar) 8. Berg (Mercedes-Benz) retired after 4 laps Bjørnstad started the last lap with an over 4 minute lead and considered making a stop for fuel but in the end he decided to continue.       On the last lap Elo suffered from a broken carburettor seal and he had to make a three kilometre walk to the pit and back for tools and spares, dropping from 4th to 7th position. Stoltz either retired his Bugatti or, as one source says, was pulled off the event for being too slow.       After 3 hours 36 minutes Bjørnstad took the chequered flag to win the race almost six minutes in front of Ebb. Bjørnstad had only 1 1/2 litre fuel left in the tank. Ebb's studs were worn out but he had decided it was no use to stop and then destroy a new costly set of stud tyres even if had made him a bit faster. Jonsson with his Bugatti was the best Swedish driver in third position. Lindh just made it past the finish line in fourth position, a few hundred meters afterwards his Bugatti run out of fuel. Sundstedt was fifth followed by Rolander in his little Amilcar and Elo.       Anders Olsson won the standard car class leading from start to finish. He had only seen second positioned C-G Johansson during the 3 minute pit stop. The latter first tried to keep up with Olsson's speed and held eye contact for a while but then realized he would never be able to pass the faster supercharged Graham so he settled for second position in his final car race. Axel Larsson from Falun in a Dodge finished third.       The Ford team I was the only team to finish the event intact with C-G Johansson (2nd), Eck (6th) and T. Johansson (8th). The Adler team was destroyed in the start crash and Servais crash into a ditch after 4 laps split the Ford team II.       The studs on most of the tyres were totally worn down at the end of the race.