– Words: Ryan Lewis. Photos: Oskar Bakke for Jon Olsson. Video: Team Betsafe.
Hardcore adrenaline junkies are a constant source of fascination for us mere mortals. YouTube is littered with clips of these daredevils jumping off buildings, backflipping motorcycles, or in Jon Olsson’s case, launching into the air with a couple of skis for feet. Jon is an Olympian and one of the world’s best freestyle skiers, but also a massive petrol head. After circuit racing in his spare time for over seven years, he wanted to prepare something special for the Gumball 3000 Rally in Europe. Partnering with former Koenigsegg chief engineer, Leif Tufvesson, the two created this one off monster: Rebellion R2K.
Rebellion R2K is based on an Ultima GTR, but a little more extraordinary. Your standard turnkey Ultima is a car which, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, “has broken just about every single speed record there is to break.” Jon saw one at the track and said, “I need one of those, that is way more extreme than anything I’ve ever seen.”
True to form he could never be happy with a ‘normal’ Ultima, so development started with Leif Tufvesson to build an Ultima unlike any other. Over a year the two of them worked together on the design details until Rebellion R2K was born.
Standard Ultima GTRs come with a small block Chevy V8 engine strapped in the back providing enough power to lap Top Gear’s test track almost a second quicker than Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari FXX. “But I am never, ever satisfied,” said Jon, so he took it up a couple of notches. Rebellion R2K now runs a Lamborghini Gallardo V10 making over 500hp.
Somehow this car was able to compete on all public roads from Copenhagen to Monaco but it makes everything ever called ‘a racecar for the road’ look tame. Centrelock ADV.1 wheels yell motorsport. “I know that the law enforcement will be out watching for us,” Jon said before the rally, especially with all of that livery.
“We did spend a lot of time on the interior as we knew that we will pretty much live in it during Gumball.” Having said that, creature comforts were kept to a minimum, with a pair of carbon fibre seats to sit in and all 3000 miles of the rally done without air conditioning.
“The focus has been to really make the car work and be drivable. This time around nothing has been spared and the car ran perfect,” said Jon. Along with his girlfriend Janni, Jon made it through all kinds of weather conditions with no safety systems to finish the Gumball 3000 in style.
“Seeing this car roll out of the garage I couldn’t believe what we created together,” Jon says. “This is truly a dream come true.”