The Roaring Season

Tapani - no doubt you were delighted to see 'son of Keke' win at Monaco - a great story 30 years after his dad's win there. It was a great drive by Keke in 83 - greasy conditions and more than once I thought he'd bite a wall but the car control was superb. I wonder where Keke rates that amongst all his wins in F1/F2/Atlantic etc

Best wishes for the book

Thanks, yes it was exciting to see the final outcome - and when some of our family and colleagues saw the book, the first comments were "...it is a real book!" :)
...Keke and Mikko K have received a copy each - thanks again everybody. I'll keep following this forum, and maybe I'll get a chance to travel again in the years to come...

Hey Tapani, congratulations! This is really exciting, and I hope the sales go very well. Its always a great feeling getting to hold that first copy for the first time.

Hi again,
finally, the book is out!
I.e. we've managed to produce the first ever "Finnish Formula History, from Midgets into Modern Times 1947-1989" and it became a 463 page / 1100+ photo / 370+ person / 300+ car model -book, hardcover and text in English and Finnish. And as we've noticed some minor errors, found out that some stories should be there but are not etc, we've decided to keep producing new content and error corrections on-line at our web site:[url=http://www.scuderianaftalin.com/suomalainen-formulahistoria]http://www.scuderianaftalin.com/suomalainen-formulahistoria[/url]
Additions will look like this : [url=http://files.kotisivukone.com/scuderianaftalin.palvelee.fi/tiedostot/cart__indy_500_1988-89.pdf]http://files.kotisivukone.com/scuderianaftalin.palvelee.fi/tiedostot/cart__indy_500_1988-89.pdf[/url]

Most of the information at our web site is still in Finnish but soon in English too - if interested, check out or email me - price of the book is 49 euros and unfortunately shipping one copy to NZ cost 32 euro....so if you want to order a book, try to persuade some of your friends to share the mailing cost in a joint order :-) as sending 2-3 books will be 42,00 and up to six books 65,00 - and for a larger order, I will offer a special price :-)
- classes covered: Midgets (F3 / 500cc, 1947-62), Formula Junior, F3 1000cc screamers 1964-70, Formula Vee, Super Vee, VW1600, Formula Ford, F1, F2, F3 - cars built in Finland, most important domestic drivers and races -and the over seas adventures of the internationally know Finns (+ "world stars" who have visited Finland and a brief international background regarding the start of each class) - and some of the photos seen here are included, thanks again for your contribution!
[attachment=0]kansi_formulahistoria_pieni_191x.jpg[/attachment]

Awesome thread, and I've really enjoyed the photos. Thanks to everyone who posted on here, and thanks also Tapani for sharing some of your beautiful photos. Good luck with the book!

So right - to get into F1 without a lot of money requires a lot of luck. And that's what Keke had, on top of his talent. Two retirements, no other drivers "hanging around" so late in the season, possibly a modest salary request...right place, right time...and the determination to reach his goals!

....regarding the other photo of Howden, it's from Keimola as well, date is May 4, 1967....

I guess a lot of wondered about these little cars after F5000 - Keke was almost solely responsible for helping many people accept Atlantics.

It still amazes me that it took the top end of F1 so long to discover what we all knew. Atlantic was not the natural path to the top but Ferrari selected Gilles after McLaren decided Patrick Tambay was the better bet while Keke was struggling with ATS and the privateer Wolf. Sure money helped Hector Rebaque to the second Brabham seat while Rosberg was pissing about Fittipaldi but what a waste of talent!

Had both Reutemann and Jones not retired simultaneously, Rosberg may have never so much as slid into a top F1 car!

[quote="Michael Clark"].

As for Keke - I can remember like it was yesterday the 1977 NZIGP at Pukekohe. [/quote]

Vivid memeory for me too Michael. Then at Wigram I sauntered out from the pits to stand with David McKinney who was taking photos as they exited the hairpin at the end of the straight. Keke came down in 5th gear flat then hard on the brakes, a Scandinavian rally flick to eliminate the understeer that the Chevron had to turning into the corner then drop it straight into 1st gear and he was gone like a cork out of a bottle. David and I watched for a number of laps until we both agreed that this man was going to be a world motorsport champion and that it could be either racing, rallying or perhaps both. Simply stunning to watch and admire.

He got it!

I'm now forwarding him the other photo as well.

As for Keke - I can remember like it was yesterday the 1977 NZIGP at Pukekohe. I'd been aware of this Finnish guy driving a Toj in F2 but he came here and was extraordinary! A year later in the red B39 he seemed, if it were possible, even more spectacular and I am sure I was not the only Kiwi wondering why he hadn't been snapped up by a top Formula 1 team.

[quote="Carlo"]If my memeory is correct this has to be reasonably early in practice or in testing as Keke only got a few laps in during official practise before striking issues. Mikko ended up with pole and Keke 2nd. From the race start Keke took the lead and was never headed. It was the first time any of us had seen Keke drive and I was up on the hill by the chicane and 1st time though there Keke just about backed the car in rally style and the field dropped back expecting a spin but he gathered it up and then did the same next time around and again the field backed off. By the third lap he had a gap on the field and took a proper race line and that was the last the field saw of him until the race was over and he was back in the pits having a smoke[/quote]

You are right - I was talking in general terms...Mikko was the European Super Vee Champion in 1975, Keke 4th, in NZ 1977, Keke was the Champ, Mikko 4th....just to mention some events/series

Seems that Keke's driving style is still remembered...that's the Finnish Way, derived from ice races and rallies - too bad the new cars in F1 and other modern classes have so advanced electronic systems, better tyres and suspension,too much downforce etc so real racing is gone....now races are won by engineers :) (Keke's son Nico was quite fast earlier today in Melbourne in rain - that's also something Keke was fond of, snow or torrent....)

Michael,
that's great - and quite funny - here are the exact details: venue: Finland, Keimola Circuit, Helsinki; date: June 9, 1968
#10 Howden Ganley (NZ), Brabham BT-21
I'd like to send the original photo to him so if you can drop me a line (private message or email, details are shown above...somewhere), that would be nice.
Thanks!

Naftalin - I have forwarded the photo of Brabham #10 to Howden whith the questions - where and what date?

The first guess was wrong - but he's hughly competitive so it won't take long!

[quote="Carlo"] I was up on the hill by the chicane and 1st time though there Keke just about backed the car in rally style and the field dropped back expecting a spin...[/quote]


He also developed an army of enthusiastic followers among the armchair brigade watching the GP on television from his jawdropping attack on Champion Curve lap after lap !

[quote="Naftalin"]...Mikko ahead of Keke - they were quite even in those days. Great photos!!!!![/quote]

If my memeory is correct this has to be reasonably early in practice or in testing as Keke only got a few laps in during official practise before striking issues. Mikko ended up with pole and Keke 2nd. From the race start Keke took the lead and was never headed. It was the first time any of us had seen Keke drive and I was up on the hill by the chicane and 1st time though there Keke just about backed the car in rally style and the field dropped back expecting a spin but he gathered it up and then did the same next time around and again the field backed off. By the third lap he had a gap on the field and took a proper race line and that was the last the field saw of him until the race was over and he was back in the pits having a smoke

...Mikko ahead of Keke - they were quite even in those days. Great photos!!!!!

I somehow managed to find one of Mikko and Keke in the same shot

[attachment=4]Finns Puke 1977.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=3]Mikko Manfield 1977.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=2]Mikko K Baypark 1977.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=1]Mikko Ko Manfield 1977.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=0]Mikko Pukekohe 1977.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=4]Mikko.jpg[/attachment][attachment=3]6156_keke1972.jpg[/attachment][attachment=2]7144_Hulme1966.jpg[/attachment][attachment=1]Ganley_1967.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]Ganley_1968.jpg[/attachment]

I might have managed to add the photos now - Mikko Kozarowitzky sitting in his Veemax Mk V Super Vee in 1972, Keke at the Keimola circuit pits the same year.
And some Kiwis - Denny Hulme in Keimola 1966, in a F2 + two photos of Howden Ganley driving F3 in 1967 & 1968, same Keimola Circuit in Finland. A track that doesn't exist any more.

[url=http://scudnaftalin.kuvat.fi/]http://scudnaftalin.kuvat.fi/[/url]
That's where we are going to publish our photos - unfortunately this site is currently in Finnish only, but if you click "Kuvat" (photos), then "Ratakuvia" - that's the one with the blue Rosberg Veemax photo - and then finally click at the one starting with "Ulkomaalaisia..." and you'll see some kiwis. More photos will be added, when we've finalised this current book project....

...will be uploaded when I stop getting error messsages. And I've got some of Howden Ganley and Denny Hulme, racing in Finland 1966-68, will try to post those as well.

[attachment=1]Dia10221_Koza1972.jpg[/attachment][attachment=0]Dia10220_Keke1972.jpg[/attachment]

These are from Keimola Circuit in Helsinki (in use 1966-78) - Keke's first year in "big" formulas after Karting, Mikko had already been in this class since 1968, had F3 -experience from 1970-71, Super Vee since 1971 but no Karting experience.
Keke's car looks the same today - hasn't even been repainted. He sold the car after the season but it was never raced by the new owner(s) after him.