Erik Carlsson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Erik Carlsson
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Erik Carlsson and a Saab 96 pictured in 1999, Keystone Resort, USA
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| Born | 5 March 1929 Trollhättan, Sweden
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| Died | 27 May 2015 (aged 86) |
Erik Hilding Carlsson (born March 5, 1929 – died May 27, 2015) was a famous Swedish rally driver. He drove for the car company Saab. People knew him by two cool nicknames: "Carlsson på taket" (which means "Carlsson on the roof") and "Mr. Saab." He got the "Carlsson on the roof" name because of a fun children's book character named Karlsson.
Early Life and Family
Erik Carlsson was born in a town called Trollhättan, Sweden. He married Pat Moss on July 9, 1963, in London. Pat was also a very skilled rally driver, just like Erik! She was the younger sister of another famous racer, Stirling Moss. Erik and Pat had a daughter named Susie Carlsson on December 1, 1969. Susie later became very good at show jumping with horses.
Driving Saabs
The early Saab cars Erik raced were not very powerful. To make them go fast, especially the ones with special two-stroke engines, he had to keep the engine speed really high. This meant he had to drive super fast around corners. He also became an expert at a special driving trick called left-foot braking. This helped him control the car better during races.
Amazing Rally Career
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In 1965, Erik Carlsson and Pat Moss wrote a book together called The Art and Technique of Driving. It was so popular that it was translated into many languages, including Dutch, German, Japanese, and Spanish.
Erik got his famous nickname, "Carlsson on the roof," because he sometimes rolled his rally car onto its roof! This reminded people of the character Karlsson from Astrid Lindgren's children's book, who lived on a roof. In one race, the Safari Rally, Erik even rolled his car on purpose! He did it to get out of a deep mud pit. When some reporters didn't believe his story, he proved it by rolling the car again right in front of them! Another car team tried to copy him, but they ended up damaging their car much more.
Erik did many unusual things during his racing career.
- Once, in a rally in the United Kingdom, he needed a car part. He found a brand new Saab 96 in a parking lot. He and his mechanic quickly started taking parts off it! The car's owner was very upset, but Erik's co-driver explained that Erik was a factory driver for Saab and the owner would get a new car. Everyone ended up being friends!
- In rallies back then, you could get points taken off if your car was damaged at the finish line. Towards the end of one race, Erik's car had dents. To avoid losing points, they stopped and swapped the damaged parts with clean ones from their support car. But then the car looked odd – clean parts on a muddy car! So, they used their spare gasoline to wash the car. Reporters were amazed they had time to wash the car before finishing! Later, Erik saw the support car, clean but with the dirty, numbered parts still on it.
In the 1959 Rally of Portugal, Erik was leading the European championship. During the race, his car's front brake started to grab. As they went over a hill, they suddenly saw a closed railway crossing! They braked hard, and the car spun and rolled over. They barely missed being hit by a train! Even with this scary event and electrical problems, they finished third. This was enough for Erik to win the championship. But then, they were told they would get penalty points because their car numbers were white on black, instead of black on white. This still kept them in fourth place, so the championship was safe. However, at the award ceremony, they found out they got even more penalty points – 25 points per door! This pushed them all the way down to eighth place.
In the 1966 Coupe des Alpes race, Erik drove a Saab Sonett II. This car had a special engine that could go from 0 to 100 km/h (about 62 mph) in just eight seconds! It was almost as fast as a Porsche 904. But they had big problems with the spark plugs. They ran out of spare spark plugs and had to stop. People even thought someone might have put something bad in their gasoline on purpose!
In the 1961 German Rally, a rival team, DKW, spread a rumor that Erik was using a secret four-speed gearbox in his Saab 96. The standard car only had three gears. The DKW team even took apart his gearbox, but they couldn't find a fourth gear! It turned out Erik had tricked them by quickly pressing the clutch in third gear. This made it sound like he was shifting into a fourth gear!
In 2010, Erik Carlsson was one of the first four people to be put into the Rally Hall of Fame. This is a very special honor for rally drivers.
Erik Carlsson passed away on May 27, 2015, after a short illness.
Major Wins
Here are some of Erik Carlsson's biggest victories:
- 1955: Won the Rikspokalen in a Saab 92
- 1957: Won the 1000 Lakes Rally in a Saab 93
- 1959: Won the Swedish Rally in a Saab 93
- 1959: Won the Rallye Deutschland in a Saab 93
- 1960, 1961, 1962: Won the RAC Rally three times in a Saab 96
- 1961: Won the Akropolis Rally in a Saab 96
- 1962, 1963: Won the Monte Carlo Rally twice in a Saab 96
- 1964: Won the San Remo Rally in a Saab 96 Sport
- 1967: Won the Czech Rally in a Saab 96 V4
