Today marks the 20th anniversary of me running XRAY cars. I first became a direct factory driver in 2005, and that’s when I signed my first contract. And, I became a professional driver for XRAY in 2011. But it all started back in the winter of 2003, when me and my father got our first XRAY kit. Since then, I haven’t run any other touring car brand! I will tell you the story as I vividly remember it:

We had been racing electric TC on carpet locally for years, and for some time, I had been running the Schumacher Mission touring car. Andreas Myrberg - RC was my big idol – he was the top Swedish racer at the time, and had become known for some very prominent international success. Andreas had just returned from living in Japan for a year, and joined XRAY in 2003. I met both at Andreas and his brother Joel that year, and was in awe of their speed on the track, and their strong racing program. They came to practice for a big international TC event which was held in Sweden every November, called Jens Minne. The race was held at my most local track. During the practice, Andreas let me drive his XRAY T1 Evo2 car for a few laps. I was impressed by how responsive the steering felt, and that I had to turn down the dual rate, as in fact, the car had too much steering compared to what I was used to. This was of course, rubber tires on carpet with 12T brushed motors, with a ball diff in the rear, and a one-way in the front.

My father, being the supportive racing dad that he always was and still is, obviously saw the possible advantage of running such as well handling car and being able to access the valuable expertise and guidance of the Myrberg brothers. After the Jens Minne event, where I finished at the back of the A-main with my Schumacher car, we decided to switch to XRAY.

With some help from Andreas and Joel’s father, Anders, we were able to get a discount deal from Minicars Hobby Distribution AB , the former, and long-time XRAY and HUDY distributor in Sweden. To this day, I am very thankful for the opportunity given to me by Per Gustafsson, the owner of Minicars, at the time. We went to pickup our XRAY T1 Evo2 “Freedom of Choice” kit, which came with both a pivot ball as well as C-hub suspension!

Another big carpet race in Sweden was coming up, called the “Luciarace” which was held every December at a track in Borås. The race was run on a Saturday, and we had picked up the T1 kit on the Thursday afternoon. My dad, who built my cars at the time, had stayed up all night trying to finish up the kit in time for our trip to Borås, which we did on the Friday afternoon.

Before going to the race, we were invited to the Myrberg family home in Gothenburg. Once there, we were kindly greeted by Anders, Andreas and Joel. Andreas sat down with my father to basically rebuild my newly built T1 kit entirely, to make sure that everything was up to his standard. He put his setup on it, perfectly wired the electronics, and got it ready to race for Saturday’s race. After another late night, we were anxiously awaiting the race day.

I remember that I couldn’t get used to the car’s handling early on, I simply wasn’t used to the amount of steering. I only qualified 10th for the A-main final. But after some good mains, and after getting hang of the car’s aggressive steering, I was able to finish 3rd overall! Joel Myrberg won the race with his T1 Evo2, and another very familiar name – Viktor Wilck RC  – was the 2nd place finisher at the race!

On a side note, to kind of give you an idea of mine and my father’s commitment to racing from the early days of my career. On the Sunday following the Luciarace, we drove to the club of AMF Årsunda RB for another local race, which I also ended up winning.

The picture of the podium as seen above to me marks how my journey with XRAY started. To this day, I am still racing and even working for this brand which I started with back in 2003. I am extremely thankful to the entire Hudy family for all their support, and for the on-going support that they are providing me. Hopefully this successful co-operation can continue for years to come! Thank you, and I hope that you have enjoyed reading this story!