Martin Schanche (born 1 January 1945), nicknamed ''"Mister Rallycross"'', is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

former racing driver and politician.

Biography

Schanche was born in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

, as the son of a German WW2 airplane pilot, who lost his life in a plane crash only three months later, and a Norwegian mother. The little boy grew up as an adopted child of a Norwegian couple at the tiny village of Leirpollskogen in

Tana Tana may refer to: Places Africa * Lake Tana, a lake in Ethiopia (and a source of the Nile River) * Tana Qirqos, an island in the eastern part of Lake Tana in Ethiopia, near the mouth of the Gumara River * Tana River County, a county of Coast P ...

, the most northern part of Norway. Today he lives in

Drøbak Drøbak is a town and the centre of the municipality of Frogn, in Viken county, Norway. The city is located along the Oslofjord, and has 13,409 inhabitants. History Drøbak and Frogn was established as a parish on its own through a royal decre ...

, together with his German-born wife Birgit and their daughter Melissa, a Norwegian

Weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various types of competition; promo ...

Champion of the categories for females. Martin Schanche has also two other children from a former marriage, a daughter by the name of Elisabeth, and a son named Martin junior, well known in the Norwegian rallying scene. He started his racing career rather late, only in 1972 when he was already 27 years old. Due to his attacking driving style he was quickly nicknamed ''"Villmannen fra Tana" ("The Wild Man from Tana")'' by his fellow Norwegian competitors. In 1975 he won a silver medal in the Norwegian Ice Racing Championships. Between 1976 and 2001 he competed in Rallycross, and became the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

European champion of 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1991 and 1995, as well as the vice-champion for another eight years. With his 74 main category wins Schanche is still yet the undisputed record holder concerning the amount of overall victories in rounds counting towards the

FIA European Championships for Rallycross Drivers FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English language, English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: Peo ...

. Beside his rallycross campaigns and four World Sports Car seasons he was a starter of the 1980

Rally Sweden The Rally Sweden ( sv, Svenska rallyt), formerly the International Swedish Rally, and later the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, is an automobile rally competition held in February in Värmland, Sweden and relocated to Umeå in 2022. First held in 1950, ...

, the 1982 Rally of Great Britain, and failed to set a new track record in the 1984

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, USA. The track measures and has over 156 turns, climbing from the sta ...

(PPIHC), due to a flat right front tyre. Since retiring from motorsport he has embarked on a second career as a municipality politician in

Frogn Frogn is a municipality in former Akershus now Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Drøbak. Frogn was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 ...

for the Progress Party. In 2003 he was the subject of a lot of nationwide attention after he slapped the chin of his political opponent Torgeir Micaelsen of the Labour Party at the end of a school debate in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such as Konne ...

because Micaelsen, during the debate and in front of the public, had called him a coward. That attention made him an often imitated character in Norwegian radio. As of 2006, he also has been working as a consultant for

Prodrive Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advanced technolo ...

on the work of Subarus WRC-cars. While active in rallycross, Schanche himself engineered transmissions and differentials for his cars. His company later on manufactured parts and modified parts for rally- and rallycross-cars. Nowadays Schanche is working on projects with concepts for new combustion-engines (see ''External links'' section below). Schanche is holder of a helicopter license and has operated his own helicopters. In 2000 he was involved in a crash in which his daughter was slightly injured.

Racing record

Key: DSQ = excluded from whole event; DNS = did not start; NC = not classified for points; SUS = suspended; ( ) = dropped score, due to championship rules

Complete FIA European Rallycross Cup results

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

TC Division

Division 2

Division 1^*

^* ''Division 2 was rebranded as Division 1 in 1997''.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Publications

* ''Martin Schanche'', by Sverre Amundsen, Racing Revyen 1979, 126 pages, Norwegian language, . * ''Martin Schanche – i fyr og flamme'', by Rolf Nordberg, Cappelens Forlag 1981, 136 pages, Norwegian language, . * ''Martin – så glad, så sint, så fort…'', by Sverre Inge Apenes, Godbok 1986, 158 pages, Norwegian language, . * ''Martin – Historien han aldri har fortalt'', by Asle T. Johansen, Fri Flyt AS 2016, 240 pages, Norwegian language, .

References

External links

*
Schanche working on revolutionary combustion-engine (in Norwegian)

Schanche working on unique engine (in Swedish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schanche, Martin 1945 births Living people Sportspeople from Trondheim People from Tana, Norway People from Frogn Norwegian racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Progress Party (Norway) politicians Akershus politicians World Sportscar Championship drivers European Rallycross Championship drivers