Recently in Rally Team Category

It's been a big week for the Saabs United Historic Rally Team and there's been plenty of new stories on the SUHRT website.

The big story of the week has been the Swedish press picking up on the fact that Vladimir Antonov will be driving for the team in the #2 car in the Midnight Sun Rally. TTELA featured the story and I think a few of the Stockholm papers ran it as well.

I'm going to be there in Trollhattan when the rally guys hit town on the first night and I can't wait to see the cars, as well as the drivers and navigators.

The other posts in the last week include:

• Our premiere sponsor - Mellowood Medical
• Our #2 car is going green!
• Our new rally clutch arrives
• Preparations for the new paint on car #2
• Interior works on Car #1 (including a good look over the re-vamped dash)
• Mixing our Marble White paint for Car #2

Make sure you head on over to the Saabs United Historic Rally Team website and check it all out.

The Midnight Sun rally is now less than two months away!

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Thanks to Justyn for the Antonov link!

This is a pretty important post, even if it doesn't concern Saab news.

As Jorgen said on the SUHRT website...... just like the little fella in Mellowood Medical's logo, only one car can finish first (normally). We aim to have that car on our team.

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Mellowood Medical is a global purveyor of clinic management software for reproductive clinics (those that specialize in In Vitro Fertilization) - with the largest installed user base in the English speaking world. The company is based in Toronto, Canada, but has offices in various countries all around the world.

Our product, IDEAS (Infertility Database Embryology Andrology System) is available in 4 languages at 80 clinics including: The world's first successful IVF birth unit, Bourn Hall; the first clinic in Canada (IVF Canada) and 2 US 'Top 10' Medical Centers - Yale and UCSF.

Why sponsor 'SaabsUnited Historic Rally Team'?

Well, in addition to the fact that the Company President, Mark Marcon, is in ever-lasting bliss with his Saab Turbo X, we believe in the 'Saab Spirit' - in its Renaissance especially - and we believe it's in keeping with the branding, style and niche excellence that Mellowood has conscientiously and consistently put front-and-center (and plans to expand upon).

Some geography at play: Mellowood Medical recently established our first clinic in Norway [IVF Hausken] and we are preparing to push deeper into the Nordic and Scandinavian markets. We can't think of a more exciting 'vehicle' to put one's advertising Kroner towards. We're sure our clients - and us too - will get a kick out of following the progress of Jörgen, Bo et al.

Mellowood Medical is a firm believer in the 'Small is Beautiful' tenet. To borrow an automotive analogy from Italy, the medical software world is full of Fiats - huge companies with expansive reach. Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne predicted last year that a car company would have to be huge to survive. Nobody knows better than we do, how difficult it is to be a profitable, niche player... but we relish the challenge and (like Victor Muller with Saab) we love putting the skeptics in their place!

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It's our sincere pleasure to have a company that makes such a positive contribution to society like Mellowood Medical on board with the Saabs United Historic Rally Team.

We thank them for their interest and support and look forward to representing them well at the Midnight Sun Rally and beyond.

As you know, this website is sponsoring a team competing in the Midnight Sun Rally in Sweden this July. It's called the Saabs United Historic Rally Team and the two guys behind the team, Jörgen Trued and Bo Hanzon are building two Saab 99 Turbos. These cars will be replicas of the cars driven by Stig Bloqvist and Per Eklund in the 1978 RAC Rally.

The #1 car - the black one - is coming along really well. The #2 car - the white one - still needs a reasonable amount of work before Vladimir Antonov gets behind the wheel.

And that's where you might be able to help. Here's a message I received from Jörgen yesterday:

SUHRT is expanding!

Due to recent developments and to the high level car #2 is being built to, we need some assistance in the garage for a short time before the Midnattssolsrallyt. We are searching for someone, preferably with Saab knowledge and a good feel for getting things together.

The workshop is located in central Sundbyberg in a well equipped garage. We offer reasonable payment and the chance of becoming part of this unique rally team. The ambition is to reach further out in the world with the two Saab 99 Turbo CombiCoupes!

If you are in Stockholm and feel like you may be able to help, please contact Jörgen via email at jtrued@gmail.com

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Here are some of the latest build pictures. The 6.5 compression pistons have just been installed.

I was going to wait a little longer to confirm, but it seems to be out there on the internets now......

The Saabs United Historic Rally Team is pleased to announce that Vladimir Antonov has accepted an invitation to drive our #2 car for the 2010 Midnight Sun Rally in Sweden!

Antonov is the former part-owner and board member of Spyker Cars NV who, in controversial circumstances, rescinded his ownership stake in order to facilitate the sale of Saab from General Motors to Spyker Cars.

Antonov is also the Chairman of the Snoras Bank supervisory board and the largest shareholder in Snoras Bank, who are big sponsors of the Spyker Squadron motorsport team.

Antonov is, of course, a very curious figure in the emerging Saab landscape with an obvious passion for the company. It's going to be great to see him flying around the forests of Sweden in our white Saab 99 Turbo, based on Per Eklund's early Saab Turbo rally cars.

That car is still under construction in Stockholm, but should be ready very soon.

From Jörgen:

Success has followed the whole Saabs United Historic Rally Team project.... until now.

We have run into a BIG problem: finding the Pistons for the Turbo B-Engine.

We spoke to Trollspeed, they do not have them. Ads have not produced any results, so we need to go worldwide in our search.

Hence, we're placing this appeal at at SU. We need to find preferably a set of new original pistons, or used pistons of good quality.

If you can help in any way, please contact Jörgen at jtrued-at-gmail.com

I've just been very busy posting some updates to our Saabs United Historic Rally Team home page.

What, you didn't know that there was a Saabs United Historic Rally Team?! Well, there is, and our two Saab 99 Turbos will be running in the 2010 Rally to the Midnight Sun in just a matter of months from now.

Car #1 is now looking absolutely fantastic with its shiny black paint and rally livery. The guys are finishing off the body work now and soon the engine will be ready to go in.

Here's some of the recent postings and videos from the SUHRT website:

• A look inside out rally engines.....
• Rally car suspended by Bilstein.....
• Welding our Wishbones.....
• Saab 99Turbo Engine honing.....
• Reproduction rally decals for our Saab 99 Turbo.....
• More engine work for our Saab 99 Turbo rally cars.....
• Visit from Historic Rally Racing Team.....
• New sponsor decals for our rally Saab 99 Turbos......

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And now to our competition!!!!

Watch the video and Jörgen will explain it to you. If you can figure out the answer to the quiz, send your answer via email to trued-at-telia.com

Get thinking and when you're done - get writing.

I'm going to have to get thinking myself as I don't know the answer either!!!!

Another great video update from our friends Jörgen and Bo as they build the Saab 99 Turbo for this year's Midnattssolsrallyt.

They are making great progress and I hope that we can support them as well as they have executed their plan. Well done!

If you're relatively new to Saabs United then you may not be aware that in 2009/10 we decided to do something a little bit daring - we're fiscally conservative types around here - and support some grassroots Saab motorsport.

The Saabs United Historic Rally Team is being run by a couple of guys in Sweden, Jörgen Trued and Bo Janzon, and with a bit of support from SU and other sponsors, they're building not one, but TWO Saab 99 Turbos to compete in the 2010 Midnight Sun Rally.

The addition of a second car might even be news to some of you who already knew about the team.

The #1 car is going to be a replica of Stig Blomqvist's black car that competed in the 1978 Lombard RAC Rally. The #2 car is going to be a replica of Per Eklund's white car of the same era.

I think the last time I did an update here, the #1 car was just getting stripped of its paint using a fascinating process called Dry Ice Blasting.

All of that has now finished and the car has just come back from the painting booth, where it's had several coats of glossy black truck paint applied.

Car #2, meanwhile, has been getting stripped out and ready for its own trip to the paint shop. It'll probably go for the dry ice treatment pretty soon.

It's all getting pretty exciting now. Tearing the cars down is a lot of work for little satisfaction. But when you start to put everything back together, that's when it starts looking like something that you'll be able to compete with.

And that's exciting.

Keep checking in with the Saabs United Historic Rally Team website and watching the progress. The Midnight Sun Rally is now less than 6 months away, running from the 14th to th 17th July.

Things are really starting to take shape with our competition car.

Now that it's had its paint stripped, it's ready for the next stages of construction. That's included some re-fabrication in areas and the delivery of some new bits and pieces.

Here's the break down:

• We're just about to take delivery of some fibreglass fender extensions thanks to the guys at RP Glasfiber. They run a workshop in northern Sweden where they make a whole heap of reproduction panels and pieces in fibreglass, many of them replicas of Saab factory items or the original Saab Sport and Rally catalog items.
• We've fabricated an exhaust tunnel though the area where the spare tyre normally sits in order to allow adequate space for our new exhaust system when it comes.
• The car has now been completely stripped of paint, is ready for its roll cage and will shortly go in for a paint job, being finished in black truck paint (tougher and cheaper!)
• We managed to get hold of a whole swag of images from Tekniken's Varld, showing the original 1978 competition car that we're basing our build on. These have been invaluable in nailing some of the finer details of that car.
• And finally, just yesterday, Jörgen took delivery of a groovy little toy - a genuine 1978 Coralba rally tripmeter, which will be fitted inside to aid Bo's navigation.

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Check out all the updates at the Saabs United Historic Rally Team website. The excitement is building slowly as we aim to get the car finished in time to run it and iron out the bugs before the Midnight Sun Rally in mid-2010.

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