SUHRT – More photos
July 17, 2011 in News
The guys at SUHRT have had a very good time at the midnightsun rally.
Jörgen has sent me even more photos, enjoy!
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by TimR
by Tompa
SUHRT: Petroleum and straight pipes
July 12, 2011 in Rally Team
SaabsUnited Historic Rally Team: Here we go again!
Tomorrow, Wednesday 13´th of July to the 17´th of July the Midnightsun Rally will take place in Västerås, Sweden.
In light of this and the fact that Rally cars are in my heart, I grew up when Saab still had a factory team, I went to Sundbyberg in Stockholm yesterday to meet a group of people with a passion for Saab, Rally and Performance.
I am talking of course about, The SaabsUnited Historic Rally Team, SUHRT.
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by TimR
SUHRT: New 99 Turbo Sedan
May 3, 2011 in News
Here is the latest update from Jörgen Trued and SaabsUnited Historic Rally Team! =)
by Swade
New cars for the Saabs United Historic Rally Team
October 25, 2010 in Rally Team
It’s been a little since we updated the SUHRT website but that doesn’t mean the team has been idle.
Far from it, in fact!
The last few months have seen the guys add two more cars to the garage. The question, now, is which historic rally cars these ones will made into replicas of.
First, to the two new cars.
Jörgen picked up this blue 99Turbo 2-door notchback:
And Vladimir Antonov purchased this green 99Turbo, which is also a 2-door:
Both cars will be rally-prepared eventually and the team is currently deciding which historic Saab rally cars to re-create.
The options are as follows:
1. Stig Blomqvist RAC 1979 Red
2. Stig Blomqvist Swedish Rally 1981 Blue
3. Stig Blomqvist Swedish Championships 1980 Black
4. Ola Strömberg Swedish Championships 1980 White
It’s definitely going to be a busy winter for the guys as they prepare these two cars.
Which ones would you choose?
by Swade
Tuesday Snippets
October 5, 2010 in Saabology
The Jalopnik top blogger competition (they’re basically soliciting audition pieces for a new weekend editor) is turning up some interesting articles.
Here’s another Saab one, the second of the competition. Not as well written as the the one from yesterday IMHO, but a good tribute to the Saab 900 nonetheless. And here’s a good one about track day fever.
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Someone at Volkswagen thought the new New Beetle needed to look more like a PT Cruiser?
Yechh!
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More prominent Saab Billboardage – this time from Zurich, Switzerland.
Click.
Thanks to Nikolay for the pic!
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Just to show the Saabs United Historic Rally Team moves in lofty circles…..
One of our major sponsors is a company called Mellowood Medical, a company run by SU regular and one of the most affable guys you can meet, Mark Marcon (otherwise known as North Toronto Punter). Mark’s company develops, supplies and supports software for use in In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) clinics.
Professor Bob Edwards, 85, has just been named as a Nobel Prize winner for his work in the IVF field, which has given hope to many aspiring parents since the first IVF birth back in 1978.
Here’s Mark with Professor Edwards, whom he’s met on a number of occasions. This photo was at a conference back in 2008. Mellowood Medical are very proud to say that Prof Edwards’ clinic has been a client of their for the last 10 years.
The SaabsUnited Historic Rally Team – bringing you lots of rally fun, and occasionally, babies!
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I think this is taking the whole Park n Ride concept a little too far…..
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by Swade
Midnight Sun Rally update
July 18, 2010 in Rally Team
The Midnight Sun rally is complete for 2010.
The Saabs United Historic Rally Team did well in that they simply managed to finish the event with both cars running. Remember, these were two brand new cars that were only completed in the days before the event and one of our drivers, Vladimir Antonov, was driving in his first rally event.
And then there’s the blown engine and all the drama of finding and installing a replacement overnight.
To the placings, then….
Our #1 Car, the black 99T, with Jörgen Trued driving and Bo Janzon navigating came in 21st position.
Our #2 car, the white 99T with Vladimir Antonov driving and Denis Giraudet navigating came in 23rd position.
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A message from Jörgen:
The whole team thanks all the supporters around the globe in making it possible for us to pull off this project. The goal was to finish with both cars in Västerås and we did.
I am so relived now an now I will have a 3 week vacation with the family. There is not going to be any mechanical work during that time
Keep looking in on our website for future plans and updates. This was the finish of Midnattssolsrallyt, but it is also the start of many great things to happen…..
Thanks again and I am sure that i speak for the whole team Vladimir, Denis, Bo and myself!
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Saab did well with good connections in other classes, too.
Jörgen’s uncle, Bertil Trued, won his class (Regularity, no tripmeter) in his Saab 96.
Stefan Helin came third in his class (Regularity, with tripmeter) in a Saab 99EMS.
The Historic Class (up to 1000cc) was won by Stefan Segerljung in a Saab 96 850 Monte Carlo
And finally, Kenneth Bäcklund from the Saab Performance Team won his 1600-2000cc D3 category in his Ford Escort RS.
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Congratulations to all the competitors and well done to our guys in the Saabs United Historic Rally Team!
And thanks to Thilo for the image, above!
by Swade
SUHRT update
July 17, 2010 in Rally Team
Today is the start of the final day in the Midnight Sun rally.
I spoke to Jörgen on the phone last night and after the drama of the previous day, he was a very relieved man.
The great news is that both cars – including the #1 car with the transplanted engine – made it through Day 2 unscathed. Well, almost unscathed. There may be a few marks or even indentations here and there where the conservatism of the regularity class was overlooked 
but both cars are running and will start the day looking to finish the event.
I’ll be posting the results to the site as soon as I hear that both cars are over the line.
by Swade
Saab Festival Update #2
July 16, 2010 in Saabology
The best laid plans…….
Yes, that’s the SUHRT Car #1 on a trailer. And yes, it appears to be terminal. The first news I received about this was in a video that I posted to the SUHRT website. There was an oil pressure problem and at that stage, with the car stuck on the side of the road, we were all hoping that the car would come in for repairs overnight and get underway again in the morning.
by Swade
Tuesday Night Snippets – Antourage edition
July 14, 2010 in Saabology
Greetings all. We’re still in sightseeing mode at the moment, with Mrs Swade enjoying Sweden as much as I told her she would.
Last night we had a very pleasant dinner with Mr and Mrs Par Brandt. Par is one of the nicest blokes in automotive journalism and he was my first contact with the mainstream motoring press, around 4 years ago. I love Par so much that I even went vegetarian for a night at his invitation (and enjoyed it!).
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This morning we saw the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace (OK, but missable if you had something urgent to do).
We then walked down to the Grand Hotel and waited for these guys to arrive….
That’s Jörgen from the Saabs United Historic Rally Team in the front and the Spyker LM85 in the rear was being driven by none other than Mr Vladimir Antonov himself.
They were meeting there for lunch and I was supposed to join them, but unfortunately we were running late for a long drive south.
I did get to meet Vladimir briefly, however, and he’s a very nice guy. I hope we get to chat some more in Trollhattan on Thursday.
After those two cars arrived, the rest of the Antonov entourage arrived (henceforth known as the Antourage ). There were three more cars, IIRC, with guys connected with the motorsports interests that VA indulges in and other assorted gents.
One of our own, North Toronto Punter, was scheduled to be there as well because his company, Mellowood Medical, is a premium sponsor of the rally team. Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet NTP as we were really in a rush and I couldn’t hang around. But I look forward to seeing him at the Festival.
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I think some media people turned up at the Grand Hotel later on. Bengt J has passed on the following, from TV4:
In an interview with Swedish TV4 Economy News, Vladimir Antonov says he plans to start a sub brand to SAAB in Russia. It will be a new brand that will use older SAAB parts.
It will be a budget alternative and will probably be built in Kaliningrad. They are targeting a production start in about a year and look to make 10,000 cars/year.
Antonov is also in talks with GM to be able to step in as an owner in SAAB.
This is a big story, and one that just won’t go away. Antonov has been talking about Russian production in one form or another for some time now.
He’s also very determined to iron out the whispering campaign that saw him removed from (from public identification in) the Saab deal in the first place.
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From our brief “hello” to Mr Antonov, we picked up our rental car and headed south. I’m writing to you tonight from Malmo.
The only thing worse than renting a VW Passat for a two day drive is turning up to collect it and finding out that it’s morphed into a Toyota Avensis. I think they use the Passat as an illustration of the vehicle category just to get people comfortable with the class of car, then they hit them with the cheap stuff.
When I asked if I could have the VW I saw in the picture, the AVIS guy told me they’ve actually only got 2 or 3 of them in the entire Swedish fleet. Tricky.
On paper, the Avensis was actually pretty good. 6-speed 2-litre and seats five, carried our luggage OK. Auto windows, Cruise, dual-zone aircon, rain-sensing wipers, light-sensing interior lights, heated seats, etc etc.
On the road, it was smooth enough, but dead boring and after driving it for 6 or so hours today, I felt like I’d been a demonstration event at an origami school.
I loathe Toyotas.
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I got to use our newly-purchased TomTom for the first time today and it pointed out an interesting thing with the Avensis.
I know most speedometers are a little less than accurate, but I wasn’t expecting a disparity of this size. Check the needle on the dash:
As you can see, it’s showing around 118 or 119 km/h.
Here’s a blow-up of the speed reading from the TomTom. Lower left corner.
Whilst the car was indicating 118 or 119, it was actually only doing 109 (and yes, officer, apparently someone was speeding whilst driving and taking this photo, but you can’t prove it was me).
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I love brown Porsches. This was taken yesterday on the boat cruise around Stockholm.
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I’m yet to see a 9-5 in the wild here, but I did see an AMG Mercedes SLS today.
My goodness.
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Whilst I love Stockholm, it’s fair to say I’m not quite so fond of the E4 highway, which dominates most of the drive to Malmo.
This is what you see for 80% of the 600+ kms between the two cities:
Blacktop and treetops – non-stop.
I think there’s definitely scope to dress this highway up with some public artworks or something similar. One could almost say it’s a safety issue, with the road becoming so mind-numbingly boring so as to induce fatigue at various stages.
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Tomorrow I have a special, special surprise to write about.
Very, very exciting for me personally, and I hope you’ll like it too.
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by Swade
SUHRT update – and then there were two
July 3, 2010 in Rally Team
It’s been a little while since I’ve done an update from the guys over in Sweden, building up the two 99 Turbos for the Rally to the Midnight Sun.
The event itself is less than 2 weeks away now!
This video is a few weeks old, but as you’ll see the #2 car has been re-painted in Marble White and now has its decals on. The cars are getting closer and closer to being finished.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLy1F6w26as
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There are plenty of updates over on the Saabs United Historic Rally Team website, including the announcement of our new sponsorship with ConversGroup, a profile of our #2 Car navigator, WRC guy Denis Giraudet – and a whole bunch more stories surrounding the build of both our cars (check out the gas tanks!).
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by Swade
Update from the Saabs United Historic Rally Team
May 21, 2010 in Rally Team
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!
by Swade
Saabs United Historic Rally Team Premier Sponsor – Mellowood Medical
May 17, 2010 in Rally Team
This is a pretty important post, even if it doesn’t concern Saab news.
It’s important that I give a shout out and a big round of thanks to this company – Mellowood Medical – for jumping on board and providing support to the rally team that bears this website’s name.
I’m even more chuffed because the guy behind the company is someone who freuqents, and contributes to, this website. I’ll leave his nom-de-blog out of this piece as I don’t have clearance to make that disclosure. But his belief and interest in the effort means that we’re better placed to get two Saab 99 Turbos into the rally field, and that’s why Mellowood Medical’s support is being acknowledged publicly here.
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 J
by Swade
Can you help the SUHRT?
April 26, 2010 in Rally Team
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, J
by Swade
Vladimir Antonov to drive SUHRT #2 car at Midnight Sun Rally
April 24, 2010 in Rally Team
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.
by Swade
