Swedish ski legend Jon Olsson likes fast cars so much he’s decided to build one for himself. He tells us why his exciting R1 Rebellion powerhouse is in demand.
What most appeals to you about designing your own supercar?
Driving is a lot like skiing with braking and cornering points, so having a car that handles well is important. It’s one thing to buy a car straight off [the production line] but being part of a build allows you to understand, for example, what happens to the handling if you increase the downforce on the front. When I got into this project four or five years ago, I knew absolutely nothing about cars. In order for me to start driving better I needed to understand ‘what does what’ on a car. I’m still very much a rookie and it’s been fun to get better at it all.
There are rumours about you going into full-scale production with the Rebellion… what’s the story?
The car was originally supposed to be just for me but since I’ve built it, I’ve had a lot of requests from people that want the car. I’m looking at where I can take that now and getting those requests for a car I’ve designed is the best feedback you can get.
I’ve been looking at which other supercars are available on the market and in what kind of price range. There might be a potential to actually sell cars… it’s a little insane to be a skier and to be thinking about setting up a car company! That’s one of my strengths… that I’m crazy enough not to see limitations!
Tell us about the prototype and what your plans are for testing it…
The tubular chassis is based on an Ultima GR so there are parts of that left and we also have a windscreen from that car. Everything else has been made from the ground-up. First we’re going to drive the car across Europe all winter and once we’ve proven the drive-ability we can start looking at selling them. We wouldn’t want to sell anything that is less than perfect. We’ll be testing a couple of different engines and we have a set up where we can use a lot more horsepower. I change my mind every day about these things but I’m going to work out where I want to go with this car.
'It’s a little insane to be a skier and to be thinking about setting up a car company!'
How did the project take shape initially?
I’m half extreme in everything I do and that made me good at skiing but with it also comes with the obsession of perfection in other areas. I always have a lot of ideas and when I was driving cars on the track I couldn’t help but think about what I could improve. Designing my own supercar is a dream!
As a Lamborghini man you must know where the bar is set… how can you create something to rival other supercars?
The Lamborghini is a big, impressive car but it is pretty heavy. The strength of the Rebellion really is the weight and we’re looking at engine choices, which are between 900-1000kg. With a weight like that it creates a totally different feel and you have to be in the extreme as a person to enjoy the almost race car feel. A Lamborghini is a very comfortable cruiser compared to the Rebellion. I think there are a lot of people that would like something a little more extreme but it depends how hard you want to push the throttle.
Where have you been able to really test yourself as a driver?
We’ve done the Gumball Rally and drove 10,000km in 13 days… so we got to see a lot of roads. Some of the best driving was in Croatia on the four-lane highway. We didn’t see a single policeman for a very long time so we got to stretch the engines a bit there. Driving on the track is the most fun because you can push the car to the limit, that’s where it’s at. I drove a lot in Norway and although they have very strict speed limits, they do have amazingly curvy roads. The only problem is it’s so scenic you want to look at the mountains and fjords rather than driving!
How about changing jobs and becoming a Formula One driver?
I think I’d quit everything else in life if I could do that!
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Oskar Bakke
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