Sture Selander & 2 Spectators Fatal Crash @ Gardermoen 1949
- 8 months ago
A race course made up from the concrete airstrips and runways of the old Gardermoen airport, a minor airfield located north of Oslo, Norway, in the same location of the Oslo International Airport today, hosted several cars and motorcycles races between 1946 and 1950. The track was later used as a dragstrip.
The 1949 edition of the Gardermoracet was held on a 7.0-kilometer (4.35-mile) clockwise variant of the circuit. More than 50,000 spectators gathered at the track for the race which was marred by a number of accidents. The first of them occurred when Erik Bjørnstad in the #9 car hit the hay bales at the end of a fast straightaway. A few minutes later another huge crash resulted in the deaths of three people: the Swedish driver Sture Selander and two spectators, Svanhild Hansen and Christian F. Ottersen.
The accident occurred on Sunday, 28 August 1949, during the third event of the meeting, the 500 cm3 Formula 3 race, in which nine cars were entered. Locally known as "Midgets", at the time the Formula 3 racers were very popular in Scandinavia. Selander was charging after a bad start, being the fastest on the track at the wheel of his Effyh TT13 - JAP. On the sixth of the 10-lap race, he lost control of his car on the approach to a 90-degree turn, where a large crowd of spectators were standing. Selander's car left the track and somersaulted into a public area. The driver was thrown out and got hit by the car. He was killed almost istantly, and two spectators standing inside a prohibited area, were also killed by the flying car.
After the tragedy the race was not stopped, and the Swedish Brune Tavell in a Cooper MkIII - JAP eventually was the winner, in 39min19.0, at an average speed of 106.79 km/h (66.37 mi/h), from John Andersson, also from Sweden in another Effyh - JAP.
The son of Daga Maria and Anders Ivar Eugen Selander, Sture Selander was born in Göteborg, Sweden, on 26 May 1916. He lived in Linköping, where he was a Volvo salesman and was married. He had been an accomplished boat racer before the outbreak of the World War II. He started racing cars in the late forties, competing in hillclimbs in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2600 Monza. He moved to the newly introduced 500 cm3 Formula 3 category, by acquiring his brand new Effyh. In 1948 he scored an outright win at the Linddalsbacken in Laxå, Örebro County, Sweden. The Effyh cars were built in Malmö, Sweden, by Folke and Yngve Håkansson, being baptized Effyh after their initials FYH.
Both the deceased spectators were from Oslo, Norway. Svanhild Hansen, 46-year-old, was watching the race next to her husband who was not hit by Selander's car, when the accident occurred. She was buried at the Østre Gravlund in Oslo.
A radiator manufacturer, Christian F. Ottersen, 57, was buried at the Gamlebyen Gravlund in Oslo. The owner of "Chr. F. Ottesen Bilradiatorfabrikk", established in 1916, he was survived by his wife, Anna Marie.
R.I.P
The 1949 edition of the Gardermoracet was held on a 7.0-kilometer (4.35-mile) clockwise variant of the circuit. More than 50,000 spectators gathered at the track for the race which was marred by a number of accidents. The first of them occurred when Erik Bjørnstad in the #9 car hit the hay bales at the end of a fast straightaway. A few minutes later another huge crash resulted in the deaths of three people: the Swedish driver Sture Selander and two spectators, Svanhild Hansen and Christian F. Ottersen.
The accident occurred on Sunday, 28 August 1949, during the third event of the meeting, the 500 cm3 Formula 3 race, in which nine cars were entered. Locally known as "Midgets", at the time the Formula 3 racers were very popular in Scandinavia. Selander was charging after a bad start, being the fastest on the track at the wheel of his Effyh TT13 - JAP. On the sixth of the 10-lap race, he lost control of his car on the approach to a 90-degree turn, where a large crowd of spectators were standing. Selander's car left the track and somersaulted into a public area. The driver was thrown out and got hit by the car. He was killed almost istantly, and two spectators standing inside a prohibited area, were also killed by the flying car.
After the tragedy the race was not stopped, and the Swedish Brune Tavell in a Cooper MkIII - JAP eventually was the winner, in 39min19.0, at an average speed of 106.79 km/h (66.37 mi/h), from John Andersson, also from Sweden in another Effyh - JAP.
The son of Daga Maria and Anders Ivar Eugen Selander, Sture Selander was born in Göteborg, Sweden, on 26 May 1916. He lived in Linköping, where he was a Volvo salesman and was married. He had been an accomplished boat racer before the outbreak of the World War II. He started racing cars in the late forties, competing in hillclimbs in an Alfa Romeo 8C 2600 Monza. He moved to the newly introduced 500 cm3 Formula 3 category, by acquiring his brand new Effyh. In 1948 he scored an outright win at the Linddalsbacken in Laxå, Örebro County, Sweden. The Effyh cars were built in Malmö, Sweden, by Folke and Yngve Håkansson, being baptized Effyh after their initials FYH.
Both the deceased spectators were from Oslo, Norway. Svanhild Hansen, 46-year-old, was watching the race next to her husband who was not hit by Selander's car, when the accident occurred. She was buried at the Østre Gravlund in Oslo.
A radiator manufacturer, Christian F. Ottersen, 57, was buried at the Gamlebyen Gravlund in Oslo. The owner of "Chr. F. Ottesen Bilradiatorfabrikk", established in 1916, he was survived by his wife, Anna Marie.
R.I.P