ALL SET FOR THE SWEDISH WINTER G.P. THIS MONTH

ALL SET FOR THE SWEDISH’ THIS MONTH WINTER G.P.

ALTHOUGH of ‘recent inception—the first race was run in 193I—the Swedish Winter G.P. is now firmly established on the International Racing Calendar. For many years, since 1906, high speed reliability trials had been run (over the circuit of Ramshyttan, and it was accordingly not difficult for the authorities to decide that this circuit should be used for the race. The road is a typically Swedish one, generally covered with ice or snow, runs up hill and down dale, and at two points a loop is made over the frozen lakes at Ramshyttan and ‘Sell nas.

The organisation of the race is meticulonsly carried out by the Royal Automobile Club of Stockholm, under the direct supervision of Gunnar Andersson, the Clerk of the Course, and an immense crowd always attends the race, in spite of severe weather. The prices of admission to the circuit are reasonable, being paddock 4/-, on the lakes 3/-., and in the villages 2/-. A large entry is alWays secured by the fact of good prize money being subscribed, the winner generally receiving 2500, the second man £150 and third 2100. The circuit is 46 kilometres, , or roughly 28 miles, and 8 laps have to be tovered during the race.

Some details of the cars entered for the race to be run in February will probably be of interest to English readers. Bennstrom, the 1932 winner, spent 2300 on tuning his 24 h.p. Ford last year, increasing the b.h.p. from 40 to 65. Now he has a V.8 model, normally producing 65 b.h.p. and giving a road speed of 75 m.p.h. on top gear. He hopes to raise these figures to 120 b.h.p. and 110 m.p.h. The car is equipped with a neat 2-seater body weighing 71 kgs., with two spare wheels sunk into the rear panel. The weight of the whole car will be in the neighbourhood of 800 kgs.—approximately the same as W. Widengren’s 2.3 litre Alfa Romeo.

Altogether there will be 10 Fords, 2 of which will be 4 cyl. models with Silvani heads and down-draught carburettors, the rest being V.8’s. There will be a team, composed of Bennstrom and the brothers C. G. and Thure Johansson. There was a rumour of a team of Armstrong-Siddeleys being entered for the race, in which their self-changing gearboxes would prove a great advantage, but nothing has transpired. An interesting entry was the Reo belonging to Allan Westerblom, which was powered by a 200 • BY OUR SWEDISH CORRESPONDENT

h.p. aeropiane engine, but unfortunately the car cannot be prepared in time. There are two 2.3 litre Alfa Romeos entered, one by Wiktor Widengren (brother of Henken who has raced occasionally at Brooklands) and with which he won the G.P. of Finland last autumn, and the other by Eugen Bj8rnstad. The latter went to Milan with the intention of buying a ” monoposto,” but was unable

to, so went to Molsheim for a 4-wheel drive Bugatti. Here again he experienced difficulty, so he returned to Milan and bought a 2.3 litre racer once driven by Casacciola. The Finnish driver, Ebb, will again pilot a Mercedes-Benz,—he will be remembered as the other driver who was involved in the incident of Whitney Straight’s Maserati being ditched last year. Finland’s ” dare-devil ” driver, Keinfinen, will also continue with his car of previous years, a Chrysler. Sundstedt will be favoured as a winner on his Bugatti, for he led last year until a wheel

came off. He will be hard pushed, however, by Ebb and Wiktor Widengren, while Henken Widengren will not stand much chance with Berger’s Invicta against the three supercharged cars.

From the British point of view two interesting entries bre J. C. Carlsson’s Bentley and Wistedt’s blown M.G. Midget. Here is the full list of entries :—