Our Tours - Rally Finland 2010 - Report

Once again we came from everywhere and assembled in Helsinki prior to the 60th running of Neste Oil Rally Finland - previously known as the Rally of the Thousand Lakes or the Jyväskylän Suurajot.

This year we had a very cohesive group as most of Rallytours customers were directly connected with Hayden Paddon and John Kennard in some way. In addition we were joined by returning customers from previous Rally Australia and Rally New Zealand trips so a great “team” spirit was quickly established. Most of our Rallytours group had the opportunity to visit Helsinki on our local tour with host Jussi before joining the larger group of Rallytravel passengers for our evening transfer to Keruu where our ralli hotelli was located. We also travelled with two groups of New Caledonians on our bus, and they fitted in immediately! So after a very comfortable coach journey we found ourselves at the Keruuselka which is about an hour outside Jyväskylä.

During our Helsinki tour Jussi had warned we were likely to experience the hottest day in Finnish history since records began, and so it was on shakedown day 37.2°C!

For the shakedown at Rannankylä we were at an interesting mid stage point with a fast sweeping entry, into a tighter sweeping R, into an uphill hairpin L which cut up considerably over the morning. We met our first Finns who had their own designated driver for the event (and needed one). The vuvuzela has nothing on a gas powered air horn!

Departing shakedown after four hours of cars we went back to Jyväskylä and the service park until the driver forum at the Scandic Hotel which was hosted by Julian Porter of WRC TV and Colin Clarke of WRC Radio. This year the special guest speakers for our tour group were WRC Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala and our own Pirelli Star driver Hayden Paddon.

We returned to the service park/rallyshow/merchandising extravaganza at the pavilionki before boarding our bus for stage 1, which is like the Laajarvuori of old, but with a new sealed section at the bottom of the ski slope. That hill is not to be dismissed lightly at any time, but in 37°C it is silly! Awesome views out over Lake Paijanne though. After ss1 we were away home to the Keruuselka for a well deserved rest.

DAY ONE: Part 2
Jukojärvi, the third special stage was only 20 minutes from our hotelli. We were to stay here for a full pass of the field and through until Hayden had passed on the second run. Then our plan was to go to Myhnpää, the furthest distant stage, however the farmer wanted an extortionate sum for parking buses so we went to Sirkkamäki. Along the road we encountered various queues of traffic and it was looking increasingly like we may miss out, but we made it just before the first cars arrived ! Again there was a choice of viewing but I thought it best at the last corner of the stage, between the warning and flying finish boards. We got to see the whole field once here and most of the filed through the second running.

Leaving on a highly congested small road we headed back to the service park, where the group were due to attend a Ford service. We made quite an entrance all dressed in Hayden's team shirts and following a New Zealand Flag. Cries of “Go the Kiwi” could be heard from the crowd. Apart from the WRC service which is a magnificent thing to watch, this year was special as many old drivers had been invited for the 60th running, and many were found in the Ford tent. Included were Marcus Gronholm, Juha Kankunnen (driving his last WRC on this event), Markko Martin,Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala, Malcolm Wilson to name but a few. Then we managed a quick meeting with Hayden before jumping back on the bus again.

DAY TWO
We get to spectate three very popular stages today, with the associated big crowds: First was Surkee. where we viewed at an impressive junction 90 L. This is the best organised rally corner I have ever seen – a place for everything. Huge VIP areas, parking for helicopters, buses, motorbikes and cars and massive video screens allowed the huge crowd to watch the footage from the helicopter chasing the first car all through the stage, until it appeared at the junction, and then flashed past and away behind us. Crowd as excellent, PA was audible, as well as the big screens and the commentator knew rallying. All other events please note! There were fine food and coffee stalls, and merchandise for those who had not managed to find it up until then. Arrival access was smooth and departure equally painless. The announcer even noticed the New Zealand Flag waving for Hayden and commented on how far his supporters had come. Great spot – not that attractive on the map but awesome in reality.

Second we viewed at the very end of Himos where the cars came down off a hill at very high speed into a complex series of slow corners. The last stage of the rally for us was Leustu where there was a fast approach to a 90 R and an open view of the cars continuing up the hill.

Then we headed back to Jyväskylä and the finish ceremony – I have never seen a crowd as big!Congratulations to Jari-Matti Latvala on a great win – continuing the tradition of guest speakers at the “driver Forum” winning the event, and even greater congratulations to Hayden for a fine 21st o/all and third in PWRC on his first ever Rally Finland.

Following the event itself we arranged a group dinner which Hayden and John were able to attend, along with their engineer Mike. The fireworks went from 2330 till after midnight when the last bus went back to the hotel, but the celebrating continued long into the night, with the whole pedestrian precinct thronging with people. Sunday morning saw us coach back to Helsinki, where we dispersed, although a small group of us enjoyed a day trip to the medieval town of Tallinn in Estonia, where the Michael Park memorial is situated.

I'd like to give special thanks to all our guests for making this such a fun tour, (ALAN!, ALAN!) and also to mention our coach driver Mirkko for his excellent work.

JK

Mikko's retirement : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2bWWAAtjWI

Hayden's Rally Finland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np2zxCSUI0o