Obituary: Anders Kullang

It was with great sadness that the world of rallying learnt of the death of the Swedish rally star Anders Kullang, ironically on the eve of this years running of the event he won 32 years ago.

For British rally fans, Kullang is mainly remembered for one car, the Opel Ascona 400, and the one season he used it to compete in our own Open Rally Championship.

The Ascona 400 was an unsophisticated and utilitarian vehicle even in 1980, but Kullang drove it to victory in its second ever world event.

He then brought it here for the Mintex rally, the opening event on the Open, whilst the leader in the World Rally Championship. Yes, those were the days the British series really mattered.

It was a year dominated by two Escort driver; Mikkola and Vatanen, with Jimmy McRae, Russell Brookes, Henry Toivonen Stig Blomqvist and Roger Clark providing a stellar supporting cast.

Kulland, who had previously campaigned the heavy old Ascona and uncompetitive Group 4 Kadett here to little avail, had a respectable but unspectacular series, which made what happened on the RAC all the more surprising.

One of the Escort stars was expected to give the car its ninth straight win, especially as Fiat/Lancia were sitting the event out, having blown their budget getting the aged 131 to win them a brace of World Championships.

Instead it was Kullang who put the Ascona into the lead, with fellow Swede Bjorn Waldegarde snapping at his heals in a Toyota Celica.

The duos Michelin tires seemed to have the edge on Ford's Dunlops and Kullang led through Kielder and Scotland and into Cumbria, where he received an award from the Major of Carlisle during Windermere service halt.

Then those Michelin's let him down and he punctured three times in Grizedale, handing the lead to his fellow Swede who passed it to Henri Toivonen when his Toyota's engine expired. He lost seventeen minutes in Cumbria, and finished sixteen and a half minutes behind the Finn.

Kullang eventually fought his way back to fifth. The next year he had a respectable finish on the Monte and led for a while on the Safari, but Opel's sponsors ran out of cash and he had to leave the team. The dawn of the Group B era saw him piloting an off-the-pace two wheel drive Mitsubishi Lancer.

And that's the way rallying often goes and Kullang remained one of World Rallying's one hit wonders. If it hadn't been for those punctures, or if Publimmo had had a bit more money, he could have added to this tally.

In later life he ran a rally school and Colin McRae and Sebatian Loeb both came to learn about Swedish rallying - although if subsequent performances are anything to go by McRae would appear to be the only one who actually learnt anything.

It almost goes without saying that nobody appears to have had a bad word to say about Kullang. That's usually the case with rally men, but it's worth repeating.

So those are my happy memories of Kullang. Thanks a lot Anders, you'll be missed.