By Tikkis

After the organizer for the International Saab club- meeting inquired if I would bring the original Works 96 to Spa together with Simo Lampinen I was a little bit nervous how I would manage it due to a leakage in the engine gaskets. My more realistic choice was 900 T16 Aero M84. As I wrote before, it was a lot of work; one and half week waking up 4:00 am and making AEU ready for the trip until 10:00pm every single day. I understood that the whole happening is about Saab Rallying/Racing and therefore they really wished for the original pair to be present – Simo and AEU.

2000km is now behind, and AEU worked well the whole trip. Ok, fuel consumption was around 10 litres more per100km than my Aero, so my extra cost was round 340€ to make the organizer happy. Yes, you read it right, I didn’t pick up the car with a trailer. Ferry tickets were so expensive that it was impossible to bring the car with a trailer. Our trip went like this: Lappeenranta-Travemünde-Lybeck-Bryssel-Outenaarde-Bryssel-Spa-Francorschamp-Spa-Hamburg-Travemynde-Lappeenranta. Oil consumption was 6 litres in this trip, mostly due to some rust damages in cylinders as I wrote in my previous article. But as the most important thing, the car worked perfectly- just as a Really Saab should do.

Some highlights I noticed during this week in Belgium were:

  • Weather was good
  • Nice hilly roads thru Ardennies countryside
  • Beautiful rural landscapes
  • Wonderful event place in SPA
  • Meeting new Saab friends
  • AEU exceeded expectations
  • Meeting & having discussions with Simo is always super
  • Also children have their own activities in Spa; that was great!

We (I and Co-driver Salla) took part in so called Pre-meeting which consisted of a roundtrip thru villages and some other places to visit. Here is a list of places of interest we visited:

    1. Braeckman spirit distillery
    2. Mahymobiles Museum in Leuze-en-Hainaut
    3. Ber brewery Dubuisson
    4. Atonium in Bryssel
    5. Autoworld Museum Bryssel
    6. Spa Francorschamp Racetrack
    7. Jacques shocolad museum and Factory&shop
    8. Imperia car museum in Nessonvaux

The organizer had chose great places to visit. Thank you for that!

Park in the downtown Spa was excellent for such an event. Market place also looked very nice with old architecture & steel structure and therefore ideal for Saab enthusiasts’ swap meeting. Absolutely one of the best places to hold Car meetings. One nice thing was that also children had their own activities, such as: painting old Saab 900, pony riding etc. That was super. There were also many hotels located in the nearby neighbourhood, so it was practically just walking cross the street and you were there. It would be a fantastic place also in the future.

The swap meeting was practically from Friday to Sunday. I got a feeling that there are no worries driving a Saab in the future. People and companies were selling parts practically for every Saab model from two stroker to last 9-5. Here are some example:

  • Onno Kempink from Netherlands has a lot of new production to two stroke and V4 Saab. So called “hard to find” screws, clips, rubber parts etc. Just look his websites for more info. http://www.onnokempink.nl/
  • As a rally crazy, it was nice to meet such a professional V4 engine developer like Frank from Sweedspeed. The company is located in Netherlands also, and offer tailormade solutions for V4 tuning. The company was also the main sponsor for IntSaab2012. http://www.sweedspeed.com/
  • Frederik&Dimitri from Schwitzerland has a company called Dimini which sells modelcars. They had an honour to sell two tiny blue and white rallySaab96 to the rally hero himself, Simo Lampinen. Nice guys with good enthusiastic attitude. http://www.dimini.ch/

On Sunday afternoon it was time to start heading back home. My friend Tero had problems with his V6 Custom Kayak so we decided to drive behind him. That was a good solution, just 12km after Spa, V6 sylinder head gasket blew up totally. For a half an hour Tero tried to make some tricks under a highway bridge, but nothing helped- the game was over. During the first aid Tommi, his father and Simo arrived at the scene with his rental Fiat. As an experienced organizer Simo made several phone calls to his friends for help.  At the same time we made a decision with Tero to drive slowly to the next village and parked the car there at a gas station. I found the owners of the block back the station- elderly Italians- who spoke only Italian and French. No problem, we had Simo with us who had driven several years in Lancia/Fiat worksteam, and therefore speaks good Italian. The man was a little bit surprised when suddenly guests from far north arrive and one of them knows famous personalities, for example Lancia’s worksteam boss Cesare Fiorio as well Ferrari boss Luga di Montezemelo. It was nice to hear those three speak and shake hands like people usually do in Southern Europe during a normal conversation. So, Tero´s car has found a nice temporary parking place, and Tero with his wife got a ride in Tommi´s 900i. I also took some luggage in my rally car 96, and our journey continued. At the same time Simo organised Tero´s car to be towed back home.

Next stop was Motel Hamburg- absolutely one of the best for car/bike enthusiastic. Price level was correct 87€/night/2person with breakfast/own garage. What is special about this place is that it is located near downtown Hamburg and every room has its own tiny garage. You can’t ask for more! Your hobby vehicle has its own safe locked garage under you room!

Rest of our journey was safe cruising to Travemünde ferry terminal, and from Helsinki to Lappeenranta. It was a nice trip, and I hope that at least some of you enjoyed seeing the original Works 96.


Written by Saabworks.fi



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2 Responses so far.

  1. simo lampinen
    reply

    Just Great as normally with Tikkis alias Tomi Tikanmäki.

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