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THE RENAULT 4CV

The Acceleration Archive: An obvious beginning is to ask how were you introduced to drag racing?

Pelle Lindelöw: I have always been interested in cars and when I was at school I spent more time dreaming about them than concentrating on my lessons.  A school friend of mine told me he was going with some friends to Mantorp in May 1970.  I'd never heard of drag racing so I decided to go too, and we arranged to meet at the trackside.  When we eventually met up, Gunnar Elmqvist and Janne Rosqvist were with my school friend.
Gunnar and I later discovered that our fathers had known each other too, but it was at Mantorp that Gunnar and I became friends.

AA: Now we know your first race car was a Renault 4CV, can you tell us how you and Gunnar came to choose this little French car for drag racing?

PL: Gunnar and Janne both had Renault 4CV’s  that they were 'hot rodding' with wide wheels, swapped motors, new interiors etc when we first met.  I bought my own 4CV in 1971 and during the winter the car was completely rebuilt with lots of homemade fibreglass details.  In 1972 we decided to go to Santa Pod for the July Internationals with our three 4CVs.
Firstly to watch the drag racing but also to tour around the south of England.  The race was a real eye opener, we saw all the great drivers at the time, and the last run of Roland Pratt's "Transcontinental" Funny Car.
It was also our first visit to Wellingborough (which all us Swedes call "Vällingby" which in turn is a well-known suburb of Stockholm and pronounced almost identically in Swedish).
Our three Renaults were given a lot of attention at Santa Pod and we were invited to join a bunch of British street rods that were on display in the pits.

AA: So this first trip to Santa Pod was very inspirational for you?

PL: Yes, we saw and were impressed by all the small engines and how they performed (Stripteaser, Rick Fielding, John Whitmore and others) so once we were back home we started to plan for something similar with our Renaults.  First we thought that we should put the biggest possible Renault engine into one of our hot rods but we soon discovered that would cause problems.  So we purchased another 4CV body, stripped it totally and put in an R16 TS engine.  The weight of the complete turn key car without driver was only 495 kilos.  1974 was our first year and we alternated drivers so everyone had a chance to enjoy the fun.  The motor was totally untouched and the best result was a 15.2 ET  The next year we had the motor modified by Arne Berg, a famous Renault engine wizard from Nykvarn, just south of Stockholm, who increased the power to 195 bhp.  We were a killer threat in Competition Altered (I/CA).  The best we did was 12.2, and if you deduct the 2.4 sec handicap advantage we had you can imagine the faces of the established Competition Altered drivers, when they realized what an opposition we were.  The best drivers at the time, like Anders Lantz, were running low 10 seconds so even I with my school boy maths could see we had a winning formula.
The two downsides to our 1600 cc giant killer were firstly, all the disappointed fans who wanted to see the 'real' motor - a V8 - always win, and secondly the cost in transmissions that our 4CV destroyed.  We got through a new transmission every meeting.  We finished 4th in 1976 but the car just couldn't cope with the sticky tracks.  We tried to stage outside the 'blackest' parts of the start line, but if we could've staged on the other side of the timing equipment in the grass, we would have preferred that!  I think this was the revenge of the guy upstairs, he obviously preferred the noise from a V8!

AA: And when did you bring the 4CV over to England?

PL: Our first race abroad was at Snetterton in 1975 and it was Gunnar's turn to drive.  We were placed in Junior Competition Altered and with no handicap (the UK, unlike Sweden, was still racing 'heads up' with six different classes for dragsters and altereds) we fell short against the army of strange vehicles with Jag engines, where the likes of Barry Sheavills in 'Stagecoach' was one.
We managed to get to the eliminations but were beaten in the first round.
It was still a close race as the small block engined car in the other lane had obviously dropped a few cylinders.
But it wasn't all bad news - the prize money at that race was £3 but we received a fiver because the cashier didn't have any smaller change - time to celebrate!
The most memorable moment at that meeting was the Funny Car final between Priddle and Skilton and all the arguments afterwards. (There was controversy over a foul start and demands for a re-run, but eventually Dennis was declared the winner).

© Andy Barrack 2005

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