Post by Lee on May 6, 2017 9:19:49 GMT
Very sad to hear that Timo Makinen, one of the original flying Finns has died.
Timo came from a different time, the pre-World Championship era. He was the archetypal Finn who would set the stages alight during the event and then head to the bar to conduct his post-event debrief.
He started competing with his brother in a Triumph TR3. His first international event outside of his native Finland was on the 1962 RAC Rally in a works Mini Cooper in which he achieved class win. He was signed up immediately for a programme which mixed Minis with Austin Healey 3000s through 1963. The first big win came on the Tulip Rally in 1964 followed by a Monte Carlo victory.
Makinen scored back-to-back wins on the Monte in 1966 but was stripped of the win on trumped-up charges based on the dipping ability of his Mini’s headlights. The victory was handed to Citroen driver Pauli Toivonen, something Toivonen was never comfortable with.
He was a pioneer of left-foot braking and sideways Minis became something of a trademark, with a mere 100bhp under his right foot, he rarely saw the need to lift it from the floor once he’d mastered the art of steering the car from the rear.
When BMC closed its doors in 1968 Makinen moved to Ford, the move to an RS1600 Escort giving Makinen a car with the power and potential to deliver on his undoubted, world-class ability and it was in the Escort that Makinen ruled the RAC from 1973 to 1975.
After he Lost his seat to Bjorn Waldegaard in 1977, Makinen turned from sprinter to a classic long-distance racer. Joined by co-driver Jean Todt, the pair were regulars for Peugeot in a V6 504 Coupe on the African marathons.
A hero of rallying, the world is a lesser place without him.
Timo came from a different time, the pre-World Championship era. He was the archetypal Finn who would set the stages alight during the event and then head to the bar to conduct his post-event debrief.
He started competing with his brother in a Triumph TR3. His first international event outside of his native Finland was on the 1962 RAC Rally in a works Mini Cooper in which he achieved class win. He was signed up immediately for a programme which mixed Minis with Austin Healey 3000s through 1963. The first big win came on the Tulip Rally in 1964 followed by a Monte Carlo victory.
Makinen scored back-to-back wins on the Monte in 1966 but was stripped of the win on trumped-up charges based on the dipping ability of his Mini’s headlights. The victory was handed to Citroen driver Pauli Toivonen, something Toivonen was never comfortable with.
He was a pioneer of left-foot braking and sideways Minis became something of a trademark, with a mere 100bhp under his right foot, he rarely saw the need to lift it from the floor once he’d mastered the art of steering the car from the rear.
When BMC closed its doors in 1968 Makinen moved to Ford, the move to an RS1600 Escort giving Makinen a car with the power and potential to deliver on his undoubted, world-class ability and it was in the Escort that Makinen ruled the RAC from 1973 to 1975.
After he Lost his seat to Bjorn Waldegaard in 1977, Makinen turned from sprinter to a classic long-distance racer. Joined by co-driver Jean Todt, the pair were regulars for Peugeot in a V6 504 Coupe on the African marathons.
A hero of rallying, the world is a lesser place without him.
