Martin Schanche (born 1 January 1945), nicknamed "Mr. Rallycross", is a Norwegian former racing driver and politician.

Biography Schanche was born in Trondheim, 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 Municipality, the most northern part of Norway. Today he lives in Drøbak, together with his German-born wife Birgit and their daughter Melissa, a Norwegian Weightlifting Champion of the categories for females. 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.

Schanche 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 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. Beside his rallycross campaigns and four World Sports Car seasons he was a starter of the 1980 Rally Sweden, the 1982 Rally of Great Britain, and failed to set a new track record in the 1984 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), due to a flat right front tyre.

Since retiring from motorsport, Schanche has embarked on a second career as a politician in Frogn Municipality 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 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 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 Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ERC Points 1977 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 AUT1DNS NED1DNS ITADSQ SWE1DNS FINNC BEL1NC SWE2DNS NED2DNS BEL2DNS GER3 AUT2DNS18th12 1978 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 AUT6 ITA2 SWE2 FINNC BEL1 NED1 FRA1 GBR1 GER2 1st 131

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

TC Division

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ERX Points 1979 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 AUT2 ITA3 FIN4 SWE5 FRA1 BEL1 NED4 GBR1 GER2 1st 130 1980 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 AUT16ITA1 SWE1 FIN3 DEN5 BEL3 NED1 NOR5 GBR3 FRA6 GER1 2nd 138 1981 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 Turbo AUTNC SWE2 FIN1 DEN2 BEL11 NED1 FRA1 NOR4 GBR1 GER10 1st 121

Division 2 Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ERX Points 1982 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 Turbo AUT7 SWE6 FIN3 FRA9 BEL6 NED1 NOR1GBR1 GER3 2nd 102 1983 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS 1800 Turbo AUT10 SWE1 FINNC FRA5 BEL3 NED1 NOR5 GBRNC 4th69 1984 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort XR3 Turbo AUT5 SWE2 FIN1 FRA1 BEL1 NED1 GBRNC GER1 NOR1 1st 149 1985 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort XR3 Turbo AUT6 FIN6 SWE6 FRA2 BEL2NOR1 GBR1 GER1 NED6 2nd 138 1986 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort XR3 Turbo AUT7 FIN1 FRA1 BEL4 NED1NOR1GBRNC GERDNS SWE6 2nd 114 1987 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 AUTNC SWEDNS FINNCESPNC FRA12 IREDNS BEL1 NED1 NOR22 GBR1 GER46th78 1988 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 ESP5 AUT2 SWE(DSQ) FIN(7) IRE2 FRA6 BEL1 NED(10) NOR(6) GBR1 GER5 2nd 109 1989 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 ESP(3) AUT1 SWE(6) FiN2 IRE2 FRA1 BEL2 NED2 NOR(6) GBR(9) GER2 2nd 125 1990 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 AUT(6) SWE4 FIN2 IRE3 FRA(6) BEL1 NED1 NOR(11) GER1 GBR1 2nd 125 1991 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 POR1AUT1 FIN1 FRA(2) IRE(DSQ) SWE(6) BEL(6) NED1 NOR1 GBR1 GER1 1st 140 1992 Martin Schanche Racing Ford RS200 E2 GBR1 AUTDNS POR1 FINDSQ SWESUS FRASUS IRESUSBELNC NED5 NOR1 GER14th92 1993 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT3 POR6 FRA(NC) IRE5 SWE(NC) FINDNS BEL1 NED6 NOR4 GER35th90 1994 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT(16) POR2 FRA2 IRE3 GBR1 SWE(5) FIN1 BEL4 NED1 NOR(6) GER(5) 2nd 122 1995 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT(DSQ) POR(6) FRA1 SWE2 GBR2 IRE(3) BEL1 NED1 NOR1 FIN1 CZE1 GER(6) 1st 154 1996 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT7 POR7 FRA15 SWEDNS IREDNS GBR(NC) BEL9 NED(NC) NOR4 CZE1 GER49th76

Division 1*

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ERX Points 1997 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT1 FRA1 POR5 GBRDSQSWE(6) FIN1 BEL(NC) NOR1 CZE(6) GER3 3rd 107 1998 Martin Schanche Racing Ford Escort RS2000 T16 AUT4 POR(6) FRA3 SWE3 GBRDNS FIN1 BEL2 NOR(5) GER1 CZE4 3rd 113 1999 Martin Schanche Racing Opel Astra G T16 CZEDNS FRA(NC) POR7 SWE15 FIN11 BEL12 NED10 NOR9 GERNC 11th38 2000 Martin Schanche Racing Opel Astra G T16 POR5 FRA5 CZE(NC) SWE7 BEL(NC) NED6 NOR1 POL4 GER5 5th90 2001 Martin Schanche Racing Opel Astra G T16 FRA(5) POR2 AUT(6) CZE1 SWE4 BEL2 NED5 NOR3 POL(7) GER(10)4th94 * Division 2 was rebranded as Division 1 in 1997.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Class No Tyres Car Team Co-Drivers Laps Pos. ClassPos. 1985 C2 97 Strandell 85Porsche Type-934 3.3 L Turbo Flat-6 Strandell Porsche Stanley Dickens - DNS DNS 1986 C2 89 Argo JM19Zakspeed 1.8L Turbo I4 Team Lucky Strike Schanche Racing Martin Birrane Torgjer Kleppe 1 DNF DNF 1987 C2 117 Argo JM19BZakspeed 1.8L Turbo I4 Team Lucky Strike Schanche Racing Will Hoy Robin Smith 5 DNF DNF 1988 C1 117 Argo JM19CFord Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8 Team Lucky Strike Schanche Racing Robin Smith Robin Donovan 278 25 16

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)