Timo Mäkinen

Born: 18 March 1938
Hometown: Helsinki

Timo Mäkinen began rallying in Finland in 1959 in a Triumph TR3, and was hired by a Finnish BMC dealer to drive Minis beginning in 1962. BMC Rally Manager Stuart Turner hired Mäkinen in 1963 to drive for the factory team on International rallies. Because he gained his fame aboard the Mini-Coopers and the Big Healeys he is most often associated with those cars, though he later drove successfully for Ford and Peugeot as well. Mäkinen is one of only three men to win the RAC Rally of Great Britain three times in a row (1973-1975), the others being Erik Carlsson (1960-62) and Richard Burns (1998-2000).

He continues to be active in rallying today, competing in Historic and Vintage Rallies.

Timo is no relation to Tommi Mäkinen, who has also become a famous Flying Finn, winning four World Championships driving for Mitsubishi in the 1990's.

"Timo Makinen has an incredible 'feel' for road surface adhesion and he has made such a study of tyre design that he is regarded as a leading authority on the subject, particularly on matters concerning studs for ice and snow. Timo applied this sort of dedication to his power boating activites -- a sport which demands a lot more skill than one would think."

"Makinen has a frozen lake on his very doorstep and there are so many brows between his town residence and his summer house that 'yumping' has become second nature to him."

from Castrol Rally Manual 2, Chapter 10, "They're not people - they're Finns" by Gerry Phillips of Motoring News.

"If you want to go really fast in a big Healey, a drop of whisky always helped."

Timo Makinen
Classic and Sportscar magazine, October 1993, p79.

(from Castrol Rally Manual, edited by Peter Browning, © 1971)