Photos by Motegi Racing & Jordan Lenssen
Tanner Foust is now as recognizable for his work behind the wheel of a rallycross car as he is for the television hosting, drifting and stunt work that started his career. That鈥檚 thanks, in large part, to Andreas Eriksson and the Olsbergs MSE squad 鈥� a team on the leading edge of a rallycross revolution that is reimagining motorsport 鈥� and has helped make international racing stars out of drivers like Foust, Brian Deegan and Ken Block.
鈥淎ndreas is definitely Mr. Rallycross,鈥� says Foust, who has competed around the world with the team since debuting in a Ford Fiesta at the 2009 X Games. 鈥淓ven when we go to France to race with 120 cars competing, the OMSE team is known as one of the best in the world.鈥�
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Olsbergs MSE was officially created as a focused motorsport company in 2009 when historic Swedish industrial company Olsbergs merged together with Eriksson鈥檚 Motor Sport Evolution (MSE). Before that, the industrial giant Olsbergs was a frequent racing sponsor whose business holdings concentrated on foundry works, hydraulics and electronics, while Eriksson鈥檚 MSE operation was the fun sideline in a portfolio of diverse companies and real estate holdings. Together, with Eriksson as CEO, they have become a force in motorsport, competing internationally in the European Rallycross Championship and the Global Rallycross Championship 鈥� in the U.S. and with X Games around the world. The company now has dual headquarters with operations in both Sweden and the United States, a tidy shop in Huntington Beach, Calif., that opened just last year.
The team runs six top-spec, 600 horsepower, all-wheel drive cars in the 2013 GRC Supercars field, which was out at 18-strong at X Games Los Angeles this season. Four of them are in the top five of the points standings, including Foust, Deegan, championship leader Toomas 鈥淭opi鈥� Heikkinen, and Swedish rally star Patrik Sandell. (The other is Block, a former Olsbergs MSE driver whose own Hoonigan Racing Team built and operates his Ford Fiesta).
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On top of that, Olsbergs MSE has developed, and runs every one of the 10 purpose-built GRC Lites racers 鈥� a spec class that debuted at the start of the U.S. competition season this year as a development series. There are technicians and mechanics from all over the world on the team but a quick walk through the paddock on race weekend shows no shortage of Swedish talent imported from the homeland.
Even when the Global Rallycross Championship is racing in the heart of America鈥檚 NASCAR country, the paddock has a decidedly international feel. It鈥檚 more than Euro-style skinny jeans and fancy trainers 鈥� though there鈥檚 some of that. It has become something of an insider鈥檚 joke to note how many blondes there are: young men, lanky and blue-eyed, with tousled hair and rosy cheeks. And the language they鈥檙e speaking isn鈥檛 the clipped British lilt of Formula One, the wide Aussie vowels of V8 Supercars or the German of DTM. It鈥檚 Swedish: the unlikely language of rallycross. 鈥淚 understood about two words less when I started with OMSE four years ago than I do now,鈥� says Foust. 鈥淭he mechanics taught me all the dirty words right off the bat and that鈥檚 still what I remember.鈥�
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On race weekends, Eriksson is omnipresent, somehow managing to be everywhere at once. At the start line, he鈥檚 checking in with his drivers. In the spotter鈥檚 stand on the roof of the grandstands, he鈥檚 shouting out instructions on the radio. In the pits, he鈥檚 flat on his back under a Ford Fiesta or GRC Lites racer. 鈥淎ndreas has always been very passionate about winning, which is a very contagious thing,鈥� observes Foust. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a necessity for a team owner.鈥�
A former championship rally driver, Eriksson鈥檚 first trip to the United States came in 2009 when he drove a Ford Fiesta as part of a factory backed two-car effort on the famed Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Two-time World Rally Champion Marcus Gr枚nholm drove the other car. 鈥淲e did it because we could. Marcus was second (to Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima). I crashed twice,鈥� says Eriksson, adding: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 an achievement in itself.鈥�
The nickname Eriksson brought to America on that first trip 鈥� 鈥淭he Swedish Cowboy,鈥� an allusion to his quick-draw temperament and don鈥檛-give-a-damn swagger, is all but forgotten now that he鈥檚 become such a fixture in the U.S. scene. But it remains apt because it describes what it takes to assume the kind of risks necessary to transform a personal passion project into a global force in motorsport. On an ESPN television broadcast recently, a NASCAR commentator likened Eriksson the Roger Penske or Rick Hendrick of rallycross.
Foust has been a steadfast partner as Olsbergs MSE and the sport of rallycross have grown together both in Europe and the United States. He and his agent first met with Eriksson and Ford during the lead-up to the 2009 Race to the Clouds campaign, proposing that the high-horsepower AWD Fiestas originally built for rallycross in Europe 鈥� a sport that didn鈥檛 yet exist in the United States 鈥� would be the perfect vehicle for X Games. 鈥淲e started pushing to let us use them at X Games and everybody said 鈥楴o,鈥欌�� Foust recalls now.
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But Ford was faced with a problem to which the X Games offered an interesting solution.
With the Fiesta set for the U.S. launch in 2010, Ford needed to figure out how to make the vehicle attractive in a country where bigger has always been better; and where small cars have a serious image problem as insipid little grocery getters. And so Ford eventually allowed the X Games run, as long as it didn鈥檛 hurt the Pikes Peak effort 鈥� then seen as the primary marketing tool for proving the small car鈥檚 mettle.
Rockstar stepped up to the plate to back driver Foust and Olsbergs saw enough potential in the action sport-meets-motorsport event to field the second car for longtime sponsored driver Kenny Br盲ck, the Swedish open wheel pro and Indy 500 champion. Br盲ck won. Foust finished third, breaking Subaru鈥檚 four-year stranglehold on the X Games podium and introducing the manufacturer to a new competition venue for small cars. 鈥淭hey used the crap out of it for the Fiesta launch and all of that marketing,鈥� says Eriksson now. 鈥淚 plan a lot of things I do, but that I didn鈥檛 plan. It just happened.鈥�
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It was a 鈥渉ot hatch鈥� breakthrough in the States and a game changer in action motorsport. In the three years between the sport鈥檚 introduction to X Games in 2006 and that 2009 race, Subaru had scored every single rally podium 鈥� a total of 10. Travis Pastrana brought his Subaru home in second place that year, between the two Fords, marking the end of the era. Since then, and even with the addition of more races and medal-scoring opportunities, Subaru has scored only two more podiums. Ford has chalked up 21. 鈥淎ndreas really is a visionary,鈥� says Foust. 鈥淎s soon as he saw X Games, he said: 鈥楾his will be like a videogame with cars, the way you Americans want it.鈥欌��
The sport is unrecognizable from what it was just a few years ago, and is growing into the potential that Eriksson described after that first trip to the X Games. The original, modified rally special stage format is now gone, replaced by a made-in-the-USA riff on the sport of rallycross as it has been known in Europe since the late 1960s.
This year鈥檚 Global Rallycross Championship has featured a potent mix of highly-modified and powerful cars from Ford, Dodge, Volkswagen and Subaru racing in packs on mixed-surface tracks, and characterized by outrageous sliding, door-to-door contact and big jumps. It鈥檚 a nine-round affair with contests held around the world, from Foz do Iguacu, Brazil to Los Angeles. 鈥淚 think Olsbergs MSE showing the level of commitment and fearless investment into the sport has allowed others to be a little more comfortable doing the same,鈥� says Foust.
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In addition to the new manufacturers 鈥� with more to come 鈥� GRC races have featured WRC giants like Gr枚nholm and S茅bastien Loeb, action sports stars Pastrana, Block, Bucky Lasek, Dave Mirra, and rallycrossers like Britain鈥檚 Liam Doran and Finland鈥檚 Heikkinen. At NASCAR, IndyCar and sports car races, the drivers and team owners are talking about the new sport of rallycross. At X Games this year, a pair of IndyCar teams 鈥� KV Racing and SH Racing 鈥損artnered to field a car. Even the European Rallycross Championship has benefited from the excitement, undergoing an ownership change and rebranding intended to attract a younger demographic.
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鈥淚 see what will be the future, and five years earlier than everyone else,鈥� Eriksson says, in his rapid-fire, Swedish-inflected staccato. 鈥淪ometimes I move too early, but you don鈥檛 need to be a rocket science guy to understand what鈥檚 happening. You need only look at the kids, your friends鈥� kids. And you can see what is there 鈥� what will be the future.鈥�
And whatever that future might hold, Eriksson and Olsbergs MSE are ready to lead the way.
ESSENTIALS
Vehicle: 2013 Ford Fiesta ST
Class: GRC Lites
Built by: Mountune/Olsbergs
Engine: 2.4L Duratech
Horsepower: 310 hp
Torque: 220 lb-ft
ENGINE MODIFICATIONS
Forged steel crankshaft
Forged Pistons
Mountune/Olsbergs design and manufacture camshaft
AEM Infinity engine management
DRIVETRAIN
Sadev (BV5 4x4 Central Transaxle sequential transmissions, driveshaft, propshaft)
ALCON two-plate carbon clutch
WHEELS / TIRES / BRAKES
Motegi Racing forged lightweight rallycross - 17x8 (f/r)
COOPER molded rallycross tires
Alcon four-piston calipers with 330 mm ventilated discs (f/r)
Sadev WRC version handbrake
EXTERIOR
OMSE designed (Kevlar body panels, carbon fiber rear spoiler)
CDS roll-cage
Tubular Spaceframe Structure combined with high-performance composite plastic exterior and interior body
INTERIOR
AIM digital instruments
Sparco (steering wheel, race seat, harness)
CHASSIS / SUSPENSION
Hlins TTX44 twin-tube with Progressive Damping System
Vehicle: 2013 Ford Fiesta ST
Class: GRC Supercars
Driver: Tanner Foust
Team: Rockstar Energy Drink / Olsbergs MSE (OMSE)
Built by: Olsbergs MSE
Engine: 2.0L Duratec
Horsepower: 550+ hp
Torque: 590 lb-ft
ENGINE MODIFICATIONS
OMSE (cylinder head, inlet)
Garrett turbocharger
PWR intercooler
Pectel engine management
Eneos motor oil
Odyssey battery
Manaflow exhaust
DRIVETRAIN
OMSE gearbox with custom gear ratios
CHASSIS / SUSPENSION
脰hlins TTX four-way adjustable
Eibach custom springs
OMSE adjustable chromoly anti-roll bar
WHEELS / TIRES / BRAKES
Motegi Racing custom Rallycross rims - 17x8 (f/r)
Michelin Tires - 24/64 - 17
Alcon (365 mm ventilated discs with six-piston calipers (f), 315 mm ventilated discs with four-piston calipers (r))
Hydraulic handbrake
EXTERIOR
OMSE designed (Kevlar body panels, carbon fiber rear spoiler)
INTERIOR
OMSE (gearshift and hydraulic handbrake)
AIM digital instruments
Sparco (Steering wheel, race seat, harness) 
SPONSORS
Ford Racing, Rockstar Energy, Eneos Motor Oil, Odyssey Battery, Motegi Racing, Illest Clothing
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