Because the early Saabs in which he competed were seriously underpowered and with the tuned two-strokers it was necessary to keep the revs up, he had to maintain a high speed while cornering and practiced left-foot braking to perfection.

In 1965 Pat Moss and Erik Carlsson wrote a book: The Art and Technique of Driving (published by Heinemann, London, selling for 25 shillings).

During one rally in the United Kingdom, he needed a spare part and happened to find a brand new Saab 96 in a car park.

After the finishing festivities, Carlsson looked out the window from his hotel room and saw the support car parked outside: clean, but with a dirty door and fender, still with the starting number visible in the dust.

As the event passed through Spain, the blue Saab Carlsson was sharing with British Rally Champion John Sprinzel began suffering from a grabbing front brake.

Cresting the brow of a hill in the gathering dusk at over 70 mph (110 km/h), the crew spotted a closed railway level crossing only yards in front of them.

Heavy braking caused the car to spin and roll over into the barrier, where they narrowly avoided being hit by the passing train.

In the 1961 German Rally the DKW team started a rumour that he was using an illicit four-speed gearbox in his Saab 96 (the standard car only had three gears).

[3][failed verification] In 2010, Carlsson was among the first four inductees into the Rally Hall of Fame, along with Rauno Aaltonen, Paddy Hopkirk and Timo Mäkinen.