Rally Hero Timo Makinen, One of the First Flying Fins, Has Died

He is one of the first flying Finns of world rallying, and he departed our world at the age of 79. While the name may remind you of Tommi Mäkinen, the two racing drivers are not related. Instead, their surname is common in Finland, which is why this is a frequent confusion.

Timo Makinen is renowned his success in the 1960s, when rallying was far from what the WRC is today. His first event was the 1000 Lakes Rally, which is also his home event, and he and his brother completed the race in the third place of their class.

The first ever win for Timo Mäkinen was accomplished in a Triumph TR3, and he was surpassed by two other drivers, Erik Carlsson and Rauno Aaltonen, who drove Saab models at that event.

Timo’s first rally outside of his native country was the 1962 RAC Rally, where he was entrusted to drive a works Mini Cooper by the BMC team manager after a call from a Morris dealer in Finland.

He managed to win his class at that event, and was then signed by the works team. A few years after that moment, he drove a Group 3 Mini 1275S to victory in the 1964 Tulip Rally, where he finished with a total difference of 20 minutes ahead of the second driver, Eugen Bohringer, who drove a Porsche 904.

Makinen also scored several wins in the Monte Carlo Rally. However, the Finnish driver was stripped of the 1966 win in Monaco on charges regarding his Mini’s headlights.

Pauli Toivonen was declared the winner, but he never considered it an accomplishment. From the 1966 Monte Carlo event, Mini began installing additional lights on the front grills of its models, in honor of Makinen’s lost win.

Makinen was the first racer to score a hat-trick at the 1000 Lakes Rally, which is currently known as the Neste Oil Rally Finland. The top picture of this story, taken at the 1967 1000 Lakes Rally on the Ouninpohja stage, was taken during Makinen’s heroic drive.

With an overheating engine, he and his co-driver opened the hood to keep it cool. It was tied with leather straps, but they failed mid-drive. The Finn decided to continue driving, and he slid the car through turns to see the road ahead. After driving half of the stage with the hood up, he came in third fastest.

Along with Rauno Aaltonen, Makinen is one of the Finnish icons of rallying, especially for their pioneering work with left-foot braking. He also won the inaugural round of Great Britain’s powerboat race in 1969, after he convinced the builder who was supporting him to stick a third V8 engine in the back, because “two were not enough.”