The Jon Olsson Invitational (JOI) just wrapped up in Are, Sweden, and to no ones surprise the winning trick was a triple cork. While checking out results and video from the big air contest, I noticed that Italian sports car manufacturer, Lamborghini, was branded at the event, and this prompted me to delve a little deeper into just who is Jon Olsson, and how the hell did he get sponsored by Lamborghini.
After conducting a very thorough search of the Interweb, I descovered Jon Olsson is not actually sponsored by Lamborghini. The Swedish skier, and Italian auto-maker have reached a mutually beneficial partnership though. Jon Olsson walks into a car dealership with boat loads of his money, hands it over, and the car dealer presents him with the keys to a new Lamborghini. Both parties come out of the transaction very happy.
First, a little background info on Jon for those of you not familiar with him already. I’ll keep it short, as this article is about cars, not skiing. Originally from Mora, Sweden, Jon grew up ski racing and attended an academy where he eventually made the switch to freeskiing. Specializing in Big Air, Slope Style and Half Pipe, Jon rose to the top of the sport as one of the most progressive and decorated athletes freeskiing has ever seen (competition history). Olsson is known for his invention of several new double flips, including a D-spin 720 into a flatspin 540 (DJ Flip), a switch double rodeo 1080 (Hexo Flip), a double flatspin 900 (Kangaroo Flip), and a switch cork 720 to flatspin 540 (The Tornado)
In 2008, Olsson began training alpine events again, with the hopes of eventually representing Sweden in the Winter Olympics. This past December he made his debut on the World Cup in a giant slalom in Val d’Isere, FR. Little did he know back in ’08 when he returned to racing, that skiing half pipe, and possibly slope style, will be include in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Jon has always been a high profile athlete in Europe, especially in his home country of Sweden. This has brought him large, non endemic endorsement contracts, and the pay checks associated with them. The kind of money that American skiers can only dream of. What do high profile athletes in their twenties who have heaps of disposable income do? They buy exotic cars.
Gallardo
Jon’s first Lamborghini was a Gallardo. “I walked in to Lamborghini in Monaco and bought it. It was a little hard to get their attention when I first walked in, but when I asked if they could have it ready by lunch that changed. It now has a new paint job in winter camo and a ski box.” The reason that the Lamborghini salesmen initially laughed was because Jon was only in his early twenties at the time, but so began his love affair with super-cars.
LP670-4 SV
A few years, and a shit load of money later, it was time for his next Lamborghini, which led Jon to purchase a Murciélago LP64o, which he then quickly upgrading it to a LP670-4 Super Veloce (the 4 is for four wheel drive). With a price tag of $450,000, the LP 670-4 SV is powered by a V-12, packing 670 hp, and boosting this car 0-60 in a lightning quick 3.2 seconds, with a top speed of 212 mph!
Like his Murciélago LP640, the 670-4 SV was painted matte black and once again fitted with a roof-mounted cargo box for his skis. This time however, a conventional roof rack couldn’t be used so one had to be custom made to fit over the engine bay. The Audi-derived four wheel drive system is good in the snow, but Olsson went a step further, having studded tires specially made for the monster 335/30 tires that transfer all that power to the road, enabling Jon to use his Lambo as his daily driver between ski races on various Alpine routes throughout Europe. The reliability of Jon’s Lamborghini was also put to the test in last year’s Gumball 3000, where the car was emblazoned in various sponsor stickers to offset the massive fuel consumption in this 3000 mile race.
Jon’s latest acquisition is a new Nissan GT-R. Now you may think that Jon is getting a little soft buying a Nissan, but the GT-R is perfect for the thousands of miles that need to be covered in a given season and is apparently the ‘perfect touring car’.
“I might be used to cars that are really fast but I have to say that this thing exceeded my expectations! In first and second gear it even feels faster then the LP 670! Then you let go of the gas and you have a normal chill car again! It sure is one sweet Japanese piece of engineering!”
R35 GT-R
According to Olsson, the work on his R35 GT-R included the addition of a roof box similar to the one on his Gallardo and Murci’s, and golden sponsor decals to contrast against Godzilla’s black exterior. In addition to the aesthetic additions, Olsson also added a custom Eisenmann Exhaust to the GT-R to give it the sound of a ‘jet fighter. Olsson calls this particular version the ‘NR 1’ and says that, while some modifications have already been made, his work on it is far from finished.
If you’ve ever been to Monaco, you may recognize Jon’s Ultima GTR. Jon has had the road-legal racer for years and has re-built it many times. The chassis is capable of handling a whopping 1000hp, and Jon has used plenty of lightweight materials, laminated glass, and even added a massive carbon fiber wing on the back. It used to have a Chevrolet 6.3 litre V8 engine producing 534hp and 528ft-lbs of torque, stock. Then he turbocharged it. The total weight of the vehicle is only 990kg.
Ultima GTR
Jon being Jon, doesn’t like things to stay normal for long, so he has totally dismantled his JUN bodykitted Ultima, and rebuilt it into its latest form for Gumball 2011.The new Ultima has a turbo charged Lexus V8. Aesthetically, it was inspired by the Japanese wide body Super GT series and sits on the new Adv1 5.0 wheels, as seen below.
So what is in the future for this super car loving Swede? Well he is just about to pick up his Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4. So if you see a matte black Aventador with a ski box attached you can guess who owns it.
*** While the vast majority of text in this article is original, and my own words, I did take a few excerpts and quotes directly from motomorph.com, where I found a great deal of information and a few of the photos.***