“The Master of the Wheel”: How Saab Turned Rally Driving Into Engineering Philosophy

When Marcus from Marcus & Manuela’s Saab Channel quietly re-uploaded Rattens mästare (The Master of the Wheel) in November 2025, it did not look like a viral moment in the making. The film is old. It is in Swedish. It carries the calm, confident narration of a different era. And yet, within weeks, the combined Part 1 & 2 edit passed 30,000 views, spreading organically through Saab forums, club pages, and enthusiast circles.

That reaction says a lot – not just about nostalgia, but about relevance. This is not a marketing film in the modern sense. It is a factory-produced documentary that Saab once used to explain itself: to engineers, drivers, journalists, and insiders who already understood cars. Thanks to YouTube’s CC subtitles, the language barrier is no longer an obstacle. What remains is a rare, uninterrupted view into how Saab thought about rallying, drivers, and mechanical limits.

A Cold Start: Monte Carlo, 1951, and the Birth of Saab’s Rally Logic

The film opens outside KAK in Stockholm, winter 1951. Minus five degrees Celsius. Fifty-nine crews preparing for the Monte Carlo Rally. The framing is deliberate: Saab enters rallying not with spectacle, but with context – cold, distance, endurance.

Early Saab entries like the Saab 92 were underpowered even by the standards of the time. A 25-horsepower two-stroke does not sound like a competitive foundation, and Saab never pretended otherwise. Instead, the film establishes its core idea early: rallying is not about peak output, but about control, judgment, and consistency.

Drivers like Greta Molander, who won her class in 1952, are not portrayed as exceptions or novelties. They are presented as proof that Saab’s cars rewarded methodical driving and mechanical sympathy. This theme runs through the entire documentary: the wheel matters more than the dyno sheet.

Erik Carlsson and the Art of Winning Without Breaking

No figure embodies this philosophy more clearly than Erik “On the Roof” Carlsson. The film treats him neither as a celebrity nor as a myth, but as a working professional whose success came from restraint as much as bravery.

In the Rikspokalen, where competitors overestimated conditions and paid with damaged bodywork, Carlsson’s Saab finished without a single dent. While others relied on studded chains and brute force, Carlsson trusted winter tires, balance, and reading the road. The result was victory – not through speed alone, but through survival.

The documentary is remarkably candid here. It openly criticizes reckless factory driving, noting that when drivers do not pay for repairs themselves, risks increase. Saab responds not by encouraging aggression, but by introducing penalties for vehicle damage. It is an unusually honest admission – and one that reveals how deeply rallying was integrated into Saab’s engineering ethics.

From Saab 92 to 93: Incremental Progress, Not Reinvention

When the Saab 93 replaces the 92, the gain is modest: five additional horsepower. The film makes no attempt to dramatize this. Instead, it shows how incremental improvements, combined with accumulated experience, transformed Saab into a serious rally contender in Sweden and beyond.

International appearances follow, especially in Finland, where drivers like Carl-Otto Bremer become central figures. Saab’s presence grows not because the cars dominate on paper, but because they finish – again and again – under conditions that defeat more powerful rivals.

This period sets a pattern Saab would follow for decades: develop slowly, test relentlessly, and trust drivers who understand the limits of the machine.

Circuits, Endurance, and the Myth That Saab Couldn’t Race

One of the more surprising sections of The Master of the Wheel is its coverage of circuit racing. Events at Gelleråsen, Skarpnäck, and 12-hour endurance races show Saabs competing – and winning – against nearly every major European brand.

These were not purpose-built race cars. They were standard-based vehicles, lightly modified, competing in events designed to reward durability. Saab excelled precisely because its cars were engineered to withstand sustained punishment.

The film briefly touches on Saab’s Formula Junior experiments, where understeer becomes a limiting factor. Rather than hiding this, the narration treats it as a lesson learned. Saab acknowledges where its philosophy does not translate directly – and moves on.

Saab 96: The Rally Benchmark of Its Time

If one model earns near-universal respect in the film, it is the Saab 96. The documentary refers to it, without exaggeration, as possibly the most successful rally car of its era.

From the Acropolis Rally to the Marathon de la Route, where crews drove 84 hours without stopping, the 96 demonstrated what Saab valued most: structural integrity, predictable handling, and serviceability under extreme conditions.

These were rallies that destroyed cars. Saab did not always win – but it finished often enough, and high enough, to justify its approach.

Monte Carlo Glory – and the Cost of Pushing Too Far

The Monte Carlo Rally sequences form the emotional core of the film. 1962 and 1963 show Carlsson at his peak, navigating second-by-second battles against Citroëns, Falcons, and works teams with vastly superior resources.

The documentary does not romanticize failure. When Carlsson’s 1963 East African Safari ends after a collision with wildlife, the narration is factual, almost understated. This is rallying as it was: unpredictable, unforgiving, and deeply physical.

And yet, even here, Saab’s reputation grows. The brand is associated not with excuses, but with resilience.

A New Generation, a New Reality

As the 1960s turn into the 1970s, the film introduces Ove Andersson, Simo Lampinen, Per Eklund, and Stig Blomqvist. With them comes a shift: professionalism increases, regulations tighten, and power outputs escalate rapidly.

Saab responds with the V4 engine, extracting up to 145 horsepower in rally trim – an impressive figure given its origins. But the film is brutally honest about the limits. Against Escorts, Stratoses, and Fiats with 200–275 horsepower, Saab is fighting physics as much as competitors.

The Scandinavian rallies remain Saab territory: snow, ice, and long stages play to the car’s strengths. Elsewhere, the gap grows.

Saab 99 and the 16-Valve Gamble

The move to the Saab 99 EMS marks Saab’s most ambitious attempt to stay competitive. With a specially developed 16-valve DOHC cylinder head, power climbs to 220 horsepower – finally matching international rivals.

The results are immediate. Victories follow. But reliability suffers, and regulatory changes loom. The film captures this tension perfectly: triumph followed by constraint, progress checked by external forces.

When the 16-valve engine is effectively banned from international competition, Saab faces a crossroads.

Turbo: Breaking the Pattern, Briefly

The most historically significant moment arrives almost quietly. Swedish Rally 1979. A turbocharged Saab produces 250 horsepower and wins outright.

It is the first time a turbocharged car wins a World Championship rally.

The film does not shout this fact. It simply presents it. In typical Saab fashion, the breakthrough is framed as an outcome of methodical development, not a revolution for its own sake.

Yet the timing is cruel. Group B is approaching. Costs are exploding. Saab’s entire rally budget is dwarfed by competitors spending ten to twenty times more.

Why Saab Walked Away – and What It Took With It

By 1980, Saab withdraws from World Championship rallying. The reason is not defeat, but incompatibility. Rallying has shifted toward purpose-built machines with little connection to production cars.

For Saab, competition was never marketing alone. It was development.

The epilogue makes this point unmistakably clear. In 1986, three production Saab 9000 Turbos set 21 international records at Talladega, averaging over 213 km/h for 21 consecutive days, including stops.

That achievement, the film argues, was impossible without decades of rally-derived knowledge.

Where the Film Fits Today – and Why You Should Watch It

The Master of the Wheel is not a highlight reel. It is a philosophy lesson, captured on film, from a manufacturer that believed driving skill mattered more than spectacle.

Marcus & Manuela’s decision to republish it – unchanged, unpolished, and respectfully subtitled – has given Saab enthusiasts something rare: primary source material, free of reinterpretation.

(The full restored video from Marcus & Manuela’s Saab Channel)

For readers of SaabPlanet, this film does not explain why Saab was different. It shows it, stage by stage, driver by driver, mistake by mistake. And that is why it still resonates.