Henri Toivonen

[rx-guru]

btw. Kankku will drive in next years 1000 Lakes.

Are U certain? Some time ago he also promised to do the SRC final in Marko Jokinen's Pug...

[A.F.F.]

Are U certain? Some time ago he also promised to do the SRC final in Marko Jokinen's Pug...

Yep. Kankkunen has plans to continue tradition Mikkola, Alen, Salonen and Vatanen already did. To drive NORF at the age of 50. It's Juha's turn next year.

[FAL]

I took my first pics of "Kankku" during the 1982 RAC (a blue German reg Opel Manta GT/E)

Did you take any photos with his mentor Timo Makinen in them? As I recall he was wearing a flat cap and only needed a whippet on a lead to look the complete professional Yorkshireman! I only saw TM once with JK and the Manta on the 82 RAC, as I was taking part myself.

[rx-guru]

Did you take any photos with his mentor Timo Makinen in them? As I recall he was wearing a flat cap and only needed a whippet on a lead to look the complete professional Yorkshireman! I only saw TM once with JK and the Manta on the 82 RAC, as I was taking part myself.

No, sorry, I got just two slides taken in special stages. Starting number 103 and co driver was Rolf Mesterton.

The linked pic was taken during the 1983 Boucles de Spa, at the snowy SS Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

© by rx-guru

[BDunnell]

I guess seeing is believing. AFF, Noel, RX-Guru and yourself have seen him and I respect your opinions. I certainly agree with BDunnell that he is the greatest lost talent that the WRC has had.

Reading this again reminds me of another MotorSport feature, in fact, namely a piece on the 100 greatest drives of all time in all forms of motor sport. Two were Toivonen's — his RAC wins in 1980 and '85. This just goes to show that we shouldn't always go with the received opinion about a driver or an event, because I feel that his Monte win of '86 far surpassed either of those. In both cases, Toivonen won the RAC after others had problems — Kullang and Waldegard in '80, Alen (and to some extent Pond) in '85. And I think that his aforementioned drive to fourth on the 1985 1000 Lakes was just as good as any of these!

[driveace]

I had the pleasure of working with Henri in the 79 Total Escort ,for the whole season.What a lot of people DONT KNOW is that Henri did not want to go into rallying at all.He was brought up in go cart racing with Keke Rosberg,and they were both sponsered by Pauli Toivonen,Henri,s father.When Keke went into racing,Henri wanted to do that too.BUT at that time there were lots of fatal accidents in F1 and Pauli told Henri,that when he got to 60 he wanted to still have two sons,SO he wanted Henri to go to rallying which Pauli thought was safer at that time.When Henri won the RAC in 1980 it was Hannu that he was challenging,for the lead .Pauli had helped Hannu immensly in Hannu,s early years in rallying,so Hannu was VERY happy that Henri won that year(1980) as a pay back to Pauli for all his help.What a lot dont know either is that Hannu used to go out with Henri to teach him driving "blind roads" in Finland,again as thanks to Pauli.When I last saw Pauli at Silverstone years later when he was there with Harri ,who at that time was doing some testing of an Aston Martin,Pauli looked like a broken man ,which was so very sad.

[wotaguy]

thanks driveacre, for that i found that intresting, i too managed to watch henri, live on the lombards of the early 80,s, i also met him, and found him to be a genuine chap, i believe he would have won the title , he had charisma, style , and speed, monte 86 was a great drive

[BDunnell]

When Henri won the RAC in 1980 it was Hannu that he was challenging,for the lead .

I thought it was a case of Hannu trying in vain to challenge Henri for the lead! After all, Mikkola was some way behind him after a couple of offs, and was not helped by his generally unsuitable Dunlop tyres.

Pauli had helped Hannu immensly in Hannu,s early years in rallying,so Hannu was VERY happy that Henri won that year(1980) as a pay back to Pauli for all his help.

There is a great bit of footage at the end of the ITV report of that 1980 RAC, showing Mikkola looking on with obvious pleasure at Toivonen enjoying the winner's limelight.

[tmx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkLH56Jx6qI

Can someone tell if this is Toivonen's onboard driving at Corsica? Too bad they disabled the audio for the video.

[Helstar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkLH56Jx6qI

Can someone tell if this is Toivonen's onboard driving at Corsica? Too bad they disabled the audio for the video.

This video is clearly a fake, and it's not even new... I wonder how you could believe it was the real thing ^^ ?