Bjorn Waldegard

This week sees the conclusion of the Rallye MonteCarlo Historique – on the same roads where Swedish racer, Björn ‘ Walle’ Waldegård, won five decades ago

The cars behind his career

The Monte Carlo Rally has been considered one most demanding tests of skill and endurance any rally driver could hope to face for over a century. Björn Waldegård, alias ‘Walle’, is one of ten drivers, including fellow Swede, Erik Carlsson, who can count himself as a multiple Monte Carlo winner, giving you some measure of his ability. But it was his sheer longevity that made him so popular among fans. With a career in both modern and historic rallying spanning some 50 years, it’s fair to say that rallying was his life.

Waldegård’s rallying career began in 1962 in a Volkswagen 1500 and 1600 Type 3s, before a move to Porsches in 1967. In 1968, 24 year-old Waldegård won the first of his five Rally Sweden titles driving a Porsche 911T, a feat he repeated the following year in a 911L, and then again in 1970. But it was his first international win on the 1969 Monte Carlo Rally, over four minutes ahead of Gérard Larrousse in a sister Porsche 911S, that rocketed Waldegård to stardom. Proving that it was no fluke, he won the Monte again in 1970.

Waldegård netted 16 WRC wins during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The inaugural WRC Championship may have taken place in 1973, but a Driver’s Championship wasn't introduced until 1979 – and Waldegård won. He achieved his final WRC win in 1990 on the Safari Rally, then went on to win the Classic Safari in 2007, aged 63. Incredibly, he won it again four years later.

Sadly, cancer robbed Waldegård of any further victories – he passed away in August 2014.

Here are some of the moments – and cars – that contributed to his illustrious career.