Rally Finland
Rally Finland is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The rally is driven on wide and smooth gravel roads, featuring blind crests and big jumps. It is the fastest event in the World Rally Championship and has been dubbed the "Grand Prix of Rallying" and the "Grand Prix on Gravel". Rally Finland is among the largest annually organised public events in the Nordic countries, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators each year. The rally has been known to be very difficult for non-Nordic drivers; only seven drivers from countries other than Finland or Sweden have won the event- in the 1980s and before, the field was made up almost entirely of Finnish and Swedish drivers.
The city of Jyväskylä in the Central Finland region has often served as the main venue for Finnish rally competitions, because Rally Finland was first held under the name Jyväskylän Suurajot in 1951. Originally an endurance event that stretched to Lapland in Northern Finland, the rally was at the forefront of the adoption of the modern rally format, splitting the route into a number of special stages in the mid-1950s. With increasing international attention, it became part of the European Rally Championship programme in 1959. After the start of the World Rally Championship in 1973, the event became the Finnish round in the series. Rally Finland is now among the most popular and prestigious rallies in the championship.
History
This rally began to gain importance in the 1970s, and local heroes such as Hannu Mikkola, Markku Alén, Timo Salonen, Tommi Mäkinen and Marcus Grönholm are the most successful names at this rally, and Swedish drivers such as Stig Blomqvist also found success at this rally. The difficulty of this rally for non-Nordic drivers made notable competitors such as Walter Röhrl and Miki Biasion make rare or no appearances at this rally.1950s
Rally Finland was started as a quickly improvised qualifier event for the Monte Carlo Rally; thirty Finnish drivers wanted to take part in Monte Carlo, but only 14 were able to fit within the quotas on Finns and Swedes. Previously, the entries had been decided in the Hanko Run in Southern Finland. The regulations in this race were not close to those of the Monte Carlo Rally, leading to a demand for a Monte Carlo type of rally in Finland. In July 1951, Pentti Barck's proposal for an annual competition in Jyväskylä was accepted. The first-ever rally began on 1 September 1951 as Jyväskylän Suurajot. 26 entrants tackled the 1,700 kilometre route that stretched to Rovaniemi in Lapland, through Kokkola and Oulu, and back to the rally headquarters in Jyväskylä. The winner Arvo Karlsson, driving an Austin Atlantic, had accumulated the least penalty points and had been the closest to the target times throughout the route and the special tests involving hillclimbing and acceleration.The 1952 event included Helsinki as an alternative starting point and the field expanded to 48 entries. Eino Elo was the only driver to finish the route and the acceleration and braking tests without penalty points. In 1953, Oulu was added as a third starting point, and 66 crews started the 2,200 kilometre course in two-minute intervals. The 1954 running of the rally saw the introduction of the international name "The Rally of the Thousand Lakes". There were now eleven starting cities, one of which was Sundsvall in neighbouring Sweden. In 1955, the event became increasingly closer to the format of a modern rally competition; the number of special stages was increased to eleven, marking the highest amount in any European rally. Elo and Peugeot became the first two-time winners of the event. The 1956 rally featured 19 stages totaling.
In 1957, the rally had a record number of entries from foreign countries and the organisers developed a sign language that marshals could use to communicate with drivers. The event also started the Finland-Sweden international in rallying, comparable to the traditional Finland-Sweden athletics international. Sweden's Erik Carlsson drove his Saab 93 to victory as the first non-Finn. In the 1958 1000 Lakes, documented by a 20th Century Fox film crew, seven drivers crashed out on the same curve on a foggy night. Brothers Osmo and Eino Kalpala took a record third win in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta TI, which marked the first victory for an Italian car. In 1959, the 1000 Lakes Rally was included in the European Rally Championship calendar. It was also one of the four rallies that counted towards the first-ever Finnish Rally Championship.
1960s
At the 1960 1000 Lakes Rally, nearly half of the 85 entries were from foreign countries. A deaf-mute road worker was hit by Germany's future European champion Eugen Böhringer in what was the event's first fatal accident. Although the rally ended with Finland's Carl-Otto Bremer leading home a Saab triple win, the best Finn had been only tenth after the opening Harju hill stage. Later in the 1960s, the 1000 Lakes was dominated by the first generation of "Flying Finns" of rallying. Rauno Aaltonen beat Pauli Toivonen to the win in 1961, while Toivonen took the honours in 1962. Esko Keinänen and Rainer Eklund finished second in a Škoda Felicia. A record 104 drivers started the 1962 event. Simo Lampinen, barely twenty years old, became the first driver to take consecutive wins, finishing ahead of Sweden's Tom Trana in 1963 and 1964.File:Timo Mäkinen - 1965 Rally Finland.jpg|thumb|Timo Mäkinen drives a Mini in 1965.
Interest in the 1000 Lakes Rally continued to grow. It became known as the best organised rally competition after the Monte Carlo Rally, and as Finland's biggest sporting event by audience count. As practice had been allowed for 1965, speeds became higher than ever. These factors brought several challenges to the organisers. Spectators lined up the edge of the course and sometimes even blocked the road. One spectator was killed in a crash in 1965. 1,200 officials were appointed for the 1965 event, over 2,000 for 1967 and over 3,000 for 1968. As the organisers and the gravel roads could not handle fields close to 200 cars, only 130 of the 173 entries qualified for the start in 1965. In 1966, entries were only accepted from drivers who had finished in at least three rallies.
Along with the number of entrants, the percentage of retirements grew steadily throughout the decade, and 1966 saw nearly half of the 115 drivers fail to finish the 26 stages. Timo Mäkinen, who had already won in Monte Carlo, drove his Mini Cooper S to victory in 1965 and continued the success in 1966. In 1967, he beat Lampinen to the win by eight seconds despite driving the high-speed Ouninpohja stage with his bonnet open. His hat-trick of wins was followed by Hannu Mikkola's successes in a Ford Escort TC. In 1968, Castrol produced a film titled Flying Finns, documenting the duel between Mäkinen and Mikkola. The 1969 rally saw the circuit and street stages, which favoured faster sports cars and factory team drivers, dropped from the programme.
1970s
The 1970 1000 Lakes had a record 52 stages, which totaled 460 competitive kilometres. An estimated audience of 350,000–500,000 spectators watched Mikkola match Mäkinen's feat of three wins in a row. However, the event suffered a drop in the number of foreign entries, which the international press attributed to the difficulty of defeating the Finns on their own roads. In 1971, the rally was won by a Swedish driver for the third time; Stig Blomqvist finished well ahead of Tapio Rainio and Markku Alén. The 1972 event increased the length of special stages to almost 700 km. The traditional Harju hill stage was left out of the route as Jyväskylä had banned racing in the city area.File:Ari Vatanen - 1978 Rally Finland.jpg|thumb|Ari Vatanen with a Ford Escort RS1800 in 1978
The 1000 Lakes was not among the five European rallies guaranteed a spot in the inaugural World Rally Championship calendar. It competed for the remaining three Europe-based entries with the Coupe des Alpes, Österreichische Alpenfahrt, Rally Poland and Rallye de Portugal. The number of rallies in the 1973 season was eventually expanded to 13 and only Coupe des Alpes was dropped. The 1973 1000 Lakes Rally ended with Ford's Timo Mäkinen becoming the first driver to win the event four times, and the first Finn to win a WRC round. Alén finished second in a Volvo and future Formula One driver Leo Kinnunen third in a Porsche. The world championship status had brought back a strong international field of about 50 teams from 13 different countries. The 1974 event was marred by the first fatal accident for a competitor in the World Rally Championship, after co-driver Seppo Jämsä died of injuries sustained in a crash in Ouninpohja.
The rally route became a secret again in 1975, and pre-event practice was heavily limited. Mikkola drove to a record fifth victory and Toyota became the first Japanese manufacturer to win the event. The 1977 and 1978 rallies were, in addition to the WRC, part of the FIA Cup for Rally Drivers, the predecessor to the drivers' world championship. In 1978, the course stretched to Kuopio and as a result 25 of the 45 special stages were new. The 1979 1000 Lakes raised the highest number of accepted entries to 150, and all 134 competitors could start the rally. World championship points were now awarded for drivers as well as for manufacturers. Fiat's Alén collected most by taking his third win in the event, ahead of Ari Vatanen and eventual champion Björn Waldegård.
1980s
For the 1980 season, the 1000 Lakes Rally lost its status as a world championship event for manufacturers, running for the first and last time only as a world drivers' championship event. The rally saw the return of the short Harju asphalt stage held in the center of Jyväskylä. Although the rally became the first in the world to issue action and safety instructions in 1980, several serious accidents marred the event in the early 1980s. At the 1981 rally, Austrian driver Franz Wittmann lost control of his Audi Quattro after the finish line of the fourth stage and crashed into five end-of-stage officials. Raul Falin, the chairman of AKK-Motorsport, died of his injuries soon after reaching the hospital. In 1983, Pekka Mällinen slid off the road on a fast curve, rolled twice and crashed into a thick pine tree. The accident killed his co-driver Reijo Nygren. At the 1984 rally, British driver Julian Roderick lost control of his car on a popular spectator area in the Humalamäki jumpers. He rolled his car several times and hit a wall of people who had been spectating in a forbidden area. Along with Roderick and his co-driver, nine spectators suffered non-critical injuries.File:1985 Audi Sport Quattro S1.jpg|thumb|The Audi Quattro S1 used by Hannu Mikkola during tests for the 1985 rally
Although the 1000 Lakes continued to be dominated by Nordic drivers, David Richards became the third British co-driver to celebrate the win in 1981. In 1982, the pre-rally scrutineering was moved to the newly built Jyväskylän jäähalli. All over 150 contestants passed the inspection. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden arrived to follow the event and a record 450 reporters were present. Dominant Audi took a one-two with its factory drivers Hannu Mikkola and Stig Blomqvist, with team orders keeping them in their positions for the last half of the race. The 1983 rally featured a field of 180 cars, over a hundred of which failed to make it to the finish. Mikkola edged out Blomqvist to extend the event record to a still-standing seven wins. Mikkola's time on the Ouninpohja stage was 11:56; 52 seconds faster than his time just four years ago. In 1984, over half a million spectators were expected and about 5,000 marshals were appointed. Vatanen won the event and Peugeot continued their success in the last two Group B years, as Timo Salonen drove to victory in 1985 and 1986.
The 1985 event marked the first time the drivers' world championship had been decided in Finland; Salonen captured the title with three rallies to go. In 1986, the route was modified to bring the average speeds closer to the FISA limit of 110 km/h. The top drivers exceeded the limit almost regularly, but FISA had given the organisers a 10 percent flexibility. Combined with their dislike for the slower Group A cars, drivers were highly critical of the organisers for artificially slowing the rally in 1987. A record 214 drivers signed up for the 1988 event and 200 were qualified to start by the organisers. Albert II, Prince of Monaco arrived to follow the event and was scheduled to drive a few stages in an ex-Alén Lancia. In one of the tightest duels in the event's history, Toyota's Juha Kankkunen led Lancia's Markku Alén by just two seconds after 33 of the 39 stages. Kankkunen's engine failed on the next stage, and Alén became the first driver to win the same WRC round six times. As a taste of what was to come, only two Finnish drivers made it into top ten. In 1989, Mikael Ericsson of Sweden drove to victory as the first non-Finn in 18 years.