1978 – The 53rd edition is of the ISDT races was held in Sweden in High Chapparral, a sort of theme park, with a Western setting, cowboy genre, about 70 km from the Husqvarna factory but providing few services given that it was in the middle of a desert area with many logistical problems.
Except for the luckiest, most teams stayed up to 100 km away, breaking up the usual picturesque circus, characterized by intense multi-cultural post-race socialising.
From September 4th to 9th, 333 riders representing 18 nations fought with determination and enthusiasm, no holds barred.
For the first time a rider from Bostwana took part, Pavel Kroupa of KTM, who retired shortly after his departure, as well as some Australians.
Contrary to what one may think, Sweden had banned off-roading for about a couple of years so the route was run mostly along dirt roads with a few stretches of true off-road, accentuating the tendency to have to pass the special stages to bring a definitive result.
KTM Italy were absent after the controversial withdrawal of the previous year. 
Italy’s official riders were on SWM and Sachs for the Trophy and a mixed team of small high performance displacements in the Silver Vase.
The innovative choice proved successful also because the moist soil, as is known, favors the smaller low horsepower engines.
The rain, and with it the mud continued making the route an interminable fording of endless trails of mud, well above the knee, through which, in some places, the commissioners tried to place wooden walkways and that led to the cancellation of the last motocross race, which took place in mud more likened to quicksand.
Zündapp, who could not count on new models, placed its faith entirely in its best hopes lined up in the less demanding class.
Four of its riders, in fact, Eduard Hau, Erwin Schmider, Eberhard Weber and Rainer Grisse were enrolled in the 100cc class, while Klaus-Jürgen Berndt Grisse and Kreutz, respectively, participated in riding a 125 and a 175cc.
After years at Zündapp, Peter Neumann came riding a KTM 75 with original water-cooled Sachs engine.

On Day 2, during the special, Weber broke his chain and lost more than half an hour, piling up such a serious delay as to affect the outcome for the entire team.
The same day, the Czechoslovak Joseph Steff lost one of his two suspension dampers which fortunately were the latest gas Sachs  models.
He managed to complete the race, even making good time, among the best in the 250cc class by simply hardening up the surviving damper, underlining the efficiency which Sachs could be proud of.
The hand of misfortune struck Pietro Gagni on the next (third) day – he recorded a delay of 45 minutes because of serious ignition problems with his SWM 175, repaired it with difficulty and created with it a nasty trail of controversy.
One after the other all the major teams suffered unexpected halts, apart from the Czechs on their Jawas who were awarded the coveted prize, thanks to an overall consistent performance and good level, despite being beaten in all classes, except the 500 cc, won by Stanislaw Zloch.
Behind the winners were Josef Frantisek Mrazek Chovancic on Jawa 250, Jiri Květoslav Masita Posik on 350, and Jiri Stanislav Zloch Stodulka on the 500. the East Germans were classified with their excellent MZ, followed by England, Holland 4th, 5th USA, Poland 6th, 7th Italy (Guglielmo Andreini SWM 350, SWM 250 Brissoni Walter, Pietro Gagni SWM 175, 175 Sachs Franco Gualdi, Andrea Marinoni SWM 175 and Augusto Taiocchi Sachs 350), Germany 8th, 9th Australia, Switzerland 10th, 11th France, Belgium 12th, 13th Sweden, Austria 14th, Finland 15th and 16th Canada.
The Silver Vase was won instead by the Italian team consisting of Luigi Medardo 75 Puch, Sachs Gino Perego on 50cc, Osvaldo Scaburri Puch 75, and Joseph Signorelli, Fantic 125, which dominated the scene, leading from the first to the last day of the race.
In second place stood Poland, followed by Czechoslovakia, Holland 4th, 5th Germany, England, 6th, 7th Spain, Canada 8th, 9th Sweden, Belgium 10th, Australia 11th, Finland 12th, Switzerland 13th, DDR 14th, USA 15th and16th France.
The 50cc class was won by Angelo Signorelli, Fantic, the 75cc class by Osvaldo Scaburri Puch, 100cc class by Zündapp Eduard Hau, Harald Strossenreuther (125cc class) on a KTM, the 175 class by Klaus-Berndt Kreutz on Zündapp, the 250 cc class by Gualtiero Brissoni of SWM, the 350cc class by Guglielmo Andreini on SWM , the 500 class by Stanislaw Zloch of Jawa and the class of over 500 by Manfred Jager MZ.
From 1st January 1978, the now "old" unit of engine power measure, the HP (literally Horse Power or in Italy CV – Cavalli Vapore) introduced by the Scottish physicist and engineer James Watt was substituted in all the EU countries by the Kilowatt, equal to 1.3596 of the old horse power.A partire dal 1° gennaio 1978, l’ormai “vecchia” unità di misura della potenza dei motori introdotta dal fisico ed ingegnere scozzese James Watt, alla fine del ‘700, l’HP (letteralmente Horse Power, in Italia Cavalli Vapore con la sigla cv), fu sostituita in tutti i paesi della Comunità Europea con il Kilowatt, pari a 1,3596 “vecchi” HP.