One of the teams taking part in the race was the Swedish duo of driver Carl Börje Dahlin and riding mechanic Erik Lafrenz. Enticed by the prospect of a win aboard his 7-liter Mercedes-Benz, Dahlin starting from the pole in the village of Norra Vram, launched the car at full speed during the first lap of the race. Dahlin led the rest of the field on the approach to an S-bend round some houses, but apparently he drove into the bend too quickly, and lost control of the car. The Mercedes-Benz went into a ditch, and Lafrenz was thrown onto the road being then hit by the oncoming Olle Bennström's Ford. It was reported that Lafrenz died instantly.
Bennström's wrecked car caught fire, leaking petrol ignited a nearby house that burned down to the ground. Several racing cars were involved in the accident, John Forsberg braked hard and his Ford was run over by Asser Wallenius in another Ford, who hit a telegraph pole and crashed into a tree, while Louis Chiron's and Per-Viktor Widengren's Alfa Romeos and Oscar Wickberg' Bugatti being also involved. Bennström was taken to hospital with a concussion, he had cracked his skull in an motorcycle accident a couple of years before and quit racing after Vram accident. Also Forsberg and Wallenius were hospitalized, Forsberg with concussion and shock.
During practice for the same event, Gosta Askergren and his riding mechanic had been hurt in an accident.
Erik Lorenz Lafrenz was an accomplished driver himself, but his car wasn't suited to participate the first (and only) edition of the 12-lap Vrams Sveriges Sommer Grand Prix. The venue was a 29.7-kilometer (18.5-mile) public roads course in Southern Sweden, from Norra Vram to Södra Vram, through Kågeröd (beside the Ring Knutstorp), Stenestad and back. Great European teams entered the race, including the Scuderia Ferrari with Louis Chiron and Antonio Brivio in two Alfa Romeo 8C-2300, Finnish ace Karl Ebbs in his Mercedes-Benz SSK and Whitney Straight from the United States and Swedish Per-Viktor Widengren in two other Alfa Romeos. After the accident the race continued and Brivio eventually was the winner, at 121,450 km/h (75.4 mi/h) average speed, from the Anglo-American Straight, second and Eugen Bjørnstad third, both driving Alfa-Romeo 8C-2300 cars.
R.I.P
