JL Racing Update

JL Racing’s season starts in just over two weeks from now on May 17.

The car has been undergoing a total ground-up rebuild for the 2008 season, complete with MY2008 panel work and a number of mechanical enhancements.

One of the new developments is a deal with Quarter Master to provide racing clutches for the team. Not only will JL Racing get a great, reliable source for some critical components, they’ll also be the focus of some development for these parts with the distinct possibility of street applications arising.

Click here for the full press release.

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JL Racing’s Diana Dale has recorded a podcast with regard to JL’s groundbreaking move into E85 racing. They’re going to be the first team in the Canadian Touring Car Championship to run on the fuel.

They’re converting their 2005 Saab 9-3 to run on ethanol and running it in the touring class of the competition. It’s an interesting conversation and I’m sure there will be a few race teams, some of which are in Sweden, watching their progress with this car.

Hit the podcast link from the main page to listen to the podcast.

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New aerodynamic latches. Cool.

Calling all Saab Turbo X owners – how’s it going?

We read about your impending deliveries with great excitement. We clapped our hands in anticipation. We ooooohed and aaaaahed when they finally arrived.

So a few weeks in to the ownership experience – how’s it all going?

Thoughts in comments or via email would be well and truly appreciated. This is the big daddy Saab delivery of the year, without doubt, so feel free to let us know how it’s all going.

Saab Turbo X

Saab Turbo X

Saab Turbo X

Custom badges!

We have a slight problem with the European version of the Saab Design T-shirt shop at the moment, but we’re hoping that it’ll sort itself out with a little diplomacy. The US shop is still OK.

In the meantime, you might want to take a look at this badge. This is a prototype that Ivan’s designed just to see how well it works. He’s also done a design for one of the noted Saab tuning companies, but I’ll keep that quiet for the moment.

I’ve suggested a prancing moose version but the good news is that the possibilities are only limited by your imagination. Ivan can make up just about anything for your Saab if you’re in the mood to badge it. He’s working on a Griffin version at the moment.

The badges are made from a “sandwich” like substrate with a brushed metal surface on black plastic base, engraved and cut via laser. The badge is self-adhesive, you just need to clean the surface where you want to place it and remove the protective layer from the adhesive and place it firmly into position.

Ivan’s used one on his Viggen for around a month now and has tested it in a high-pressure carwash and it keeps it’s place firmly. The only tests that haven’t been done are extreme heat tests, which are difficult during the European winter, but it’s expected to hold. If not then the adhesive will be upgraded.

If you’ve got a design idea, feel free to get in touch with Ivan at saabdesignshop@gmail.com

An apology from an enthusiast Saab blogger

I love driving.

I had my first car sitting in my driveway for four months before I got my driver’s licence. The first thing I did after passing my test was to get in my Holden Gemini, go pick up a mate of mine and fly down the Greensborough Bypass at 160 km/h. It was totally stupid, but fun.

The ensuing years saw a number of cars that were always a little bit different. I’ve never owned a Holden Commodore, a Ford Falcon, a Toyota Camry or a Mitsubishi Magna and I hope I never do. I’ve never been one for the standard three-box sedan and once I had my first experience with a Saab I knew I’d discovered something that was quite special.

Like I said, I love driving. A lot. I love the interaction with man and machine. I love seeing different parts of where I live in comfort and at speed. I love twisty corners. They don’t even have to be taken fast. I just love the act of driving. And I love driving in a Saab.

I consider myself to have been a Saab enthusiast, probably since the mid-1990s. I wasn’t in a position to buy one, though, until the late 1990s. Either 1999 or 2000. And even that was just a $1,000 Saab 99E from 1972. Shortly thereafter I got my 99 Turbo, got divorced, got a better paying job – and that’s when things really took off for me and the brand I’ve come to love.

Continue reading

Swedish Day UK – the story

I just got this in from Robin M, our unofficial Saab Ambassador for the UK and organiser of the Swedish Day UK car show last weekend.

He just prepared this for Saab Driver magazine over there but given that most of us don’t get Saab Driver, I feel pretty sure that the wider audience will appreciate it too.

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As you know I organized a Swedish Day here in the West Country at Haynes International Motor Museum, Sparkford. The day was a fantastic success with everybody commenting on what a great day they had.

The gates to the museum opened just before 9am and we got down to getting the party tents erected. A few of the early arrivals helped and within the hour we were ready. By 10am a good dozen Saabs had turned up and we started to park then in the designated area that Haynes had set aside for us.

Haynes Motor Museum

By 11.30 we had a very nice gathering of Saabs and then the first Volvo turned up, greeted with a cheer from the Saab owners. After all it was a Swedish Day. The Volvo was a very smart gold C70.

Volvo C70

During the day we had a total of 41 different cars turn up. A couple of Saabs did turn up as visitors to the museum so were invited to park with us. It was great to talk to so many enthusiasts.

The oldest car was a very beautifully kept 1968 Volvo 144 from a local man here in Yeovil. The newest car, or I should say cars, were a pair of Saab 9-3 Turbo X’s, both picked up earlier this week. One an estate and the other a saloon. A visitor from Germany on holiday in the West Country came along to the event too, in his Volvo V40.

What’s the collective noun for a group of black turbos?

Black Turbos

The Saabs and Volvos came from many places in the UK. Kent, Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, West Midlands, Oxfordshire, West Sussex and here in Somerset.

Almost all the Saabs from the 99 & 96 to the newest models were on view. You will see a gallery of all those who entered at www.swedishday.co.uk. I hope I didn’t miss anybody out.

The other attraction of being at Haynes was the Museum. Everybody who signed their car in received a couple of tickets to get in the museum at a reduced rate. Almost everybody took a visit to enjoy the great cars within the Museum. The children had the play park as well, go-karts, diggers as well as the wooden fort/climbing frame. None of them looked bored.

During the day there were two judging competitions going on. One was named “The Most Admired” and was sponsored by Dave and Wendy from the “Designs on Something” embroidery company. Each entrant was given the task of choosing their Most Admired car at the show. The second was “Best in Show”, sponsored by Peter Swann from “The GB Motor Book Company” As Pete said it was very difficult to choose one as there were a great many “Best” cars, so he decided to ask himself, Which car would I like to travel home in?

The results for Most Admired were, 1st, David Dallimore with his Saab 99 Turbo in black & 2nd, Mark Smith with a Saab 99L in white. The Best in Show award went to Isabel Rankin in her Saab Classic 900 Convertible in red. You can see pictures of the winners at www.swedishday.co.uk.

Winners!

I would like to thank everybody for supporting this event in its first year, the helpers, the two sponsors mentioned above, Tim and Haynes Museum for the location, Cheryl at Saab GB for arranging the banners and flags, my friends Simon, Pete & Alex for the constant support, the internet forums and trohattansaab.net and of course, my wife Kerry and daughter Azabeth. But the biggest thank you goes to all the owners of those lovely Saabs and Volvos that came along on the day.

See you next year, Sunday the 26th April sounds like a good date.

Robin.

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As I mentioned in snippets yesterday, it’s events like this and enthusiasts like Robin who make the motoring world go ’round. It’s not something that’s unique to Saab, but it’s noteworthy all the same.

There’s a gallery at the Swedish Day UK website (linked above) and there’s also 70+ photos at Flickr for you to peruse and there’s some brilliant cars in there, from Turbo X’s to Carlssons and V4s, and the odd Ovlov too, of course. It was called Swedish Day after all :-)

Congratulations on a great event and all you UK Saabers, slot April 26 2009 into your calendar.

Counterpoint: Sometimes Born from Jets ain’t so bad

I know that most of us like to bash “Born from Jets” because it seems to value flash over substance. However, take heart: We could be Mini fanatics that have to endure this advertising campaign for the new Mini Clubman:

zig, zag, zug

That’s right. zig, zag, zug. Really.

To quote Mini themselves:

“ ‘Zig, zag, zug’ allows us to position the Clubman as another member of the Mini family, and also allows us to promote all of the vehicles we have,” said marketing manager Trudy Hardy for Mini, Woodcliff Lake, N.J.

I’m sure that Ms. Hardy said this with a straight face. I’m not sure that I could do the same.

To make matters worse for Mini devotees, I became aware of this advertising campaign upon viewing a billboard along I-65 near my house that pictures a Mini Clubman S in a three-quarter rear view against a black background with the slogan “Someone’s been sleeping around.” in huge white lettering.

I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean. I guess that it means that the Mini and some other vehicle, perhaps a wayward Honda Element, have given birth to the Clubman? I choose the Element because its doors are arranged in similar fashion to the Clubman, with the extra rear-hinged opening on the passenger side and the large upright rear opening. This is strictly on speculation; I’ve got no inside track on the sexual habits of faux English cars built by German companies.

In any event, Born from Jets looks good by comparison.

SOTW – Saab Motorsport – bring it back

You can’t underestimate the contribution that motorsport can make to a car company. Engine development, suspension, fuel, safety – it’s the pinnacle of everything that makes up a car.

Saab had a lot of early success in rallying but eventually motorsport got too expensive for a little company like Saab. They certainly punched above their weight when they were competing, though.

Which is why I still get shivers when I see great shots like this one. It came up on my Flickr feed tonight, taken by Arild (the same one who comments here???).

An inspiring shot. And how good does that 99 look?

Saab 99

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It’s funny. I know how great the 900 is. I own one and I love it. But I’m going to sell it soon and I probably won’t miss it much. I know the role the 900 plays in Saab’s history and how much fun it is to drive, yet for some reason I haven’t had the connection with it that I know some of you have.

The 99 on the other hand…..I could almost buy my 99 Turbo back for the third time! It was the first modern Saab and in my eyes, still one of the best.

Who should be deciding Saab’s future products?

This is a Saab blog, so I’ve put that headline in Saab terms. But transpose any company you like in there and ask the same question – who should be having input into the products that a company sells?

Go and read nearly any book on Saab’s birth and development and the stories that you’ll encounter are about Sixten Sason, Bjorn Envall, Rolf Mellde, Gunnar Ljungstrom and Sten Wennlo. With the possible exception of Mr Wennlo (I don’t know much about him) all the others are engineers or designers. These were the guys who devised Saab’s early products.

We all hold on quite proudly to the fact that Saab started in the car business with a clean sheet of paper and designed a car the way they thought it should be made. It was the 1940′s and relatively little was known about car esign. They didn’t have too much conventional thinking to weigh them down so they set about making a car for the Swedish people. Those early cars had their faults and limitations, but they also had the essence that would carry Saab right into the 1990s – an incredible feat.

Other notable car companies have done the same thing: they’ve adopted a particular philosophy and developed it, expanded it, honed it to perfection. Think of Porsche, Ferrari, BMW. Even Toyota and Subaru have done the same thing within their own corporate philosophies. These are the things that happen when you allow engineers and designers to drive product development. You get great products that the sales and marketing people can then go out and sell.

Where is all this leading, I hear you ask?

GM has recently started to show real signs of the design-led recovery that Bob Lutz keeps talking about. It’s really encouraging.

But I’m still puzzled by the recent corporate realignment that sees one guy taking charge of three GM Premium brands in North America and how his position is going to influence the development of those three brands. I asked questions about this last week and I still haven’t received an answer from Saab USA yet.

Consider this article from Advertising Age today:

Importantly, the new VPs will have a seat at GM’s product-development councils, which Peter Ternes, a GM spokesman, said was “the biggest change.” Under the current system, a centralized global panel headed by product czar Bob Lutz decides which models will be made. Three of the four new channel chiefs “will have a voice” on new products, the spokesman said…..

….This is a change that will make marketers at many other companies very jealous. Brand champions are typically charged with being the ears of their companies, using either traditional market research or, more recently, social-media tools to garner insights about what consumers want. But it’s still relatively rare that they get to impart those insights early enough in the process to influence the product.

I’m not sure which one makes me more nervous – a group of Lutzian yes-men gathering in a dark room deciding which crumbs might fall from the table in Saab’s direction. Or a group of Lutzian yes-men including a brand chief who’s got to divide his thoughts between three premium brands for the US, one of which is distinctly un-American and a smaller chance for him to hit the home-run that’ll get him to that next rung on the corporate ladder.

Forgive my scepticism, but Saab already had a chief in the US and I just don’t see how adding another later of management is going to help things.

And I really don’t see how giving this new guy influence and input in product decisions is going to help things, either. Any student of 1980s and 1990s major-brand vehicles would know that allowing the marketing people too much influence results in cars that drive like pancakes, look out of date before they’re developed and are underengineered thanks to costs being reallocated to the parties with the shiniest teeth.

I want Saabs to be Saabs. I want all the great design elements that made Saabs of the past so distinctive. I don’t want to re-live the past, but I want each and every Saab to fresh, new and yet familiar.

Saab have two crucial things going for them – potential and soul. The marketers can help to realise the former, but its the engineers and designers who make the latter. I hope the cat in the hat understands this. All three of his brands will be better off for it if he does.