Tom Trana (29 November 1937 – 17 May 1991), was a Swedish motor

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver. This

Värmland Värmland () also known as Wermeland, is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are ''Va ...

sportsman was

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

's counterpart to

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

Erik Carlsson Erik Hilding Carlsson (5 March 1929 – 27 May 2015) was a Swedish rally driver for Saab. He was nicknamed "''Carlsson på taket''" ("Carlsson on the roof" in reference to Astrid Lindgren's children's book character) as well as ''Mr. Saab'' ...

("Carlsson på taket" - "Carlsson on the roof"). It has been said that he had to drive the

rear-wheel drive Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the rear wheels only. Until the late 20th century, rear-wheel drive was the most common configuration for cars. Most rear-wheel ...

Volvo more enthusiastically than Carlsson, with the

front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longit ...

Saab.

Early life

Trana was born in

Kristinehamn Kristinehamn is a locality and the seat of Kristinehamn Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden, with 17,839 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Kristinehamn is situated by the shores of lake Vänern where the small rivers ''Varnan'' and ''Löt'' dr ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, on 29 November 1937. His father was Ivar Trana, who was an engineer at Albin Motor in Kristinehamn.

Career

Originally a Volvo mechanic, Trana started his career in his hometown in the 1950s through Einar Nyqvist. He showed strong driving performances with his own Volvo P1800 and with a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

BMC vehicle. He came to the attention of the Volvo works team and its leader, Gunnar Andersson, himself twice

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an rallying, automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The champions ...

, as early as 1962. For 1963, he was given a works drive and won the

RAC Rally Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...

in the same season. Volvo won the European Rally Championship in 1963 with a special 122S. Also in 1963 a 122S driven by Tom Trana finished a very close second to Jaguar in the European Touring Car Championship. A year later, Trana was again the overall RAC Rally winner. He achieved further wins in the 1964

Acropolis Rally The Acropolis Rally of Greece ( el, Ράλλυ Ακρόπολις) is a rally competition that is part of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally is held on very dusty, rough, rocky and fast mountain roads in mainland Greece, usually duri ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in 1964 and in his home event, the

Swedish Rally The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

in 1965. These achievements earned him a definitive place in the top league of motor sport and the nickname the "Horseman of the Apocalypse". Soon thereafter, the Swede was in collision with a transporter and his co-driver Gunnar Thermaenius died. Trana was cleared of any guilt, in the subsequent legal proceedings. Nevertheless, he changed from daredevil to careful driver, who could still be very fast but without the conquering carefreeness that is linked to success. In addition, Volvo withdrew its works team for more than ten years, following a further fatal accident on the 1966 Akropolis Rally, in which two mechanics died. It continued to provide generous support for private entrants, however. Tom Trana changed to Saab for 1967, which resulted in relative success, including a win in the 1967 Norwegian Rally. He also took the Swedish Championship, in 1968. He rallied with Saab until 1972, when he finally hung up his helmet and retired from rallying.

Postscript

Tom Trana died on 17 May 1991 at age 51. Volvo only officially returned to motor sport at the end of the 1970s, sending the Volvo R-Team (R stood for Rallycross, Rallying and Racing) to the FIA Rallycross European Championships of the years 1978 to 1980. Driven by Per-Inge Walfridsson, the legitimate successor to Tom Trana as a representative of the Swedish car maker, Volvo succeeded in 1980 (with a 343 Turbo) against the Norwegian

Martin Schanche Martin Schanche (born 1 January 1945), nicknamed ''"Mister Rallycross"'', is a Norwegian former racing driver and politician. Biography Schanche was born in Trondheim, as the son of a German WW2 airplane pilot, who lost his life in a plane cr ...

(Ford Escort RS 1800) and won the Rallycross EC title.

References

This article was partly translated from the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trana, Tom 1937 births 1991 deaths Swedish rally drivers European Rally Championship drivers European Touring Car Championship drivers