Famously known as the “Rally Professor,” Rauno Aaltonen is the Finnish driver who settled the case in terms of motorsport fame in a classic British car way back in 1967. He was one of “the three musketeers,” alongside Paddy Hopkirk and Timo Mäkinen, and a feisty advocate for both the classic Mini and the modern MINI reincarnation ever since.
According to the British automaker, this year has been entirely atypical for an 82-year-old. Instead of taking advantage of his “astonishing level of fitness” allowing for happy instances of flooring the pedal on the roads surrounding his personal residence in Rovaniemi, he was forced by the current global health crisis to stay at home.
Because of the situation, he spent the most time away from driving a car in his entire life. “Over a period of nearly 60 years, Rauno has given us so many magic moments. Now is the perfect moment to give something back,” explains MINI’s big boss, Bernd Körber.
Thus, the advent present idea was born, and the company decided to create its own motorized sleigh, which was sent from the headquarters in Munich northwards, to Rovaniemi. By the way, if the name rings a bell, it's because we're talking about the main city in the Lapland region, which is renowned around the world for being the “official residence of Santa Claus.”
We checked the photos in the gallery and the Cooper S Countryman ALL4 with a trailer depicting a classic red Mini doesn’t look the same as the official images of Santa’s sleigh. Still, we’re pretty sure the “Rally Professor” wasn’t too offended by the change.
He even smiled at the sight of the present that was wrapped in the customary red box – a stuffed scale model of the MINI. That’s probably because he knew he was getting the chance to play in the Finish winter wonderland with the classic Mini that was hidden inside the trailer.
In the end, we have just one question – did he get to keep all three cars, or just the smallest of them all?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News