Author Archives: Lars Strom
The Swedish GP – Dufnäsviken Two hours race 1972-1976
This marathon boat race was by far the best in northern Europe.
The first race was run 1972 and the last 1976 in late October..!!
The location was perfect in one of the busiest boat channels just outside Stockholm. My hometown race and my outboard dealership was next to the race course.
The Benson family with their SUK Club did an excellent job organizing the very popular race.
Duvnäs udde is an upper class neighborhood and some of the people living there used their power to stop the future of the race.
I did not race the first two years because the dates collided with some international races.
The race was open to all circuit classes but back then the SE class was the most popular.
Over 50 boats was part of the race
1974 was for me a perfect race and was the overall winner. Past the Finn Pentti Aminoff for the win at the last part of the 2 hour race.
1975 gearcase problems and did not finish.
The last year..1976 another perfect race and won over Kim Kalda with 17 seconds.
The race got lots of press but in Swedish only. All the major newspapers had articles about the race and the winner.
Please check the pictures. It is a mix from the three years I was part of the Swedish GP – Dufnäsviken Two hours race.
The race course in red. Around 5000 meter long. My outboard dealership location in yellow.
A visit to the Velden factory Boxtel, Holland 1980.
I have so many good memories from Cees van der Velden. He was a very interesting person in many ways. Raced for him in both the F3 class and the F1-V8. You did never know what was around the corner hanging out with Cees.
My worst memory was his very bad accident in Liege, Belgium 1982.
Was watching when he crashed his Velden/Johnson V8 wide open. Pretty hard to believe he survived and came back to win another race.
Cees was also a little bit of an underdog compare to Renato and Mr Bill..but man he was a lot of fun..
We all miss you.