James May in Finland

[TeroV]

James May was here in Finland last weekend filming for next season. There should be about 10 minute Finnish section in some of the episodes, including Mika Häkkinen teaching May how to drive in Ahvenisto racetrack and some footage of finnish national motorsport "Jokamiesluokka" (don't know the english name for that, but very cheap cars on dirt track) and of course some rallying. May was here to find out why Finns are so good at motorsport and I think he did find out the reason..

[LindenChase]

Sounds great. Thanks for posting. I wonder why they sent James to do this. Sounds more like a Richard kind of subject to me with the racing and the dirt track.

And do you think James (and the other two) are allowed to keep the vast amount of airmiles they must be collecting?

[Brother Michael]

!!!!!!!!!

Way cool !!

Forget all the supercars and challenges....THIS is what I'll be looking forward to during the next season

[Hazardous]

That's excellent! I cannot wait to see this one on telly

[NooDle]

cool.

I think this isnt a TG thing, rather one of May's own (and excellent) BBC specials.

[jo-jo-action]

Sounds great. Thanks for posting. I wonder why they sent James to do this. Sounds more like a Richard kind of subject to me with the racing and the dirt track.

Maybe he was bussy in day time television

[MattD1zzl3]

!!!!!!!!!

Way cool !!

Forget all the supercars and challenges....THIS is what I'll be looking forward to during the next season

5 bucks its cut out for the new lambo 540-4

i dont know if thats the real name, the new gallardo

[vanderwater]

thanks for the info. Sounds cool

[TeroV]

I think this isnt a TG thing, rather one of May's own (and excellent) BBC specials.

Nope, this footage is for Top Gear.

And do you think James (and the other two) are allowed to keep their the vast amount of airmiles they must be collecting?

James told that next he's flying to USA to film something..

[Viper007Bond]

James told that next he's flying to USA to film something..

[sifu]

Here is a link for Finnish readers of FG.

http://www.lansi-savo.fi/Urheilu/8443428.html

[speedometer]

wov, i cant wait when they show this in TV. should be interesting..

[Posmo]

The article mentions that it was indeed for Top Gear
("Kaikkien aikojen suosituimman autoiluohjelman Top Gear’n tekijät tietävät nyt, miksi maailman nopeimmat ja parhaimmat ralli- ja ratakuljettajat tulevat Suomesta.")

Not going to bother translating, but it says Top Gear, and that's good enough for me.

The motorsport race he attended was Jokamiehen luokka ( roughly translated "everyman's league") Often referred to as "Jokkis". It involves cars that can cost up to ~1100€, not including rollbars, seats, seatbelts or the steering wheel. Basically, people just buy Beetle and Fiat bodyshells and spend all the remaining money on the engine. There are races on gravel and on tarmac. Its immensly popular among teenagers, since you can attend races before you have a drivers licence, and its not that expensive.

A few pics:






Oh, and it also mentions that the part about Finland will be "longer than normal"(bits for the show), and in the end there are mentions of country roads etc. Hopefully we will see some bashing on public gravel roads, because that's what is enjoyable.

This is what I will be most looking forward to in the next series!

[ahpadt]

5 bucks its cut out for the new lambo 540-4 (Aston Martin number #23522)

Fixed.

[Ilpav]

5 bucks its cut out for the new lambo 540-4

i dont know if thats the real name, the new gallardo

It's called the Gallardo LP 560-4.

[h-p]

Forget all the supercars and challenges....THIS is what I'll be looking forward to during the next season

(funny thing about us finns, always wanting to know what the rest of the world thinks about us)

edit: Have you noticed this: "[Top Gear] tekee tavallista pidemmän osuuden suomalaisista."
In english: "[Top Gear] makes longer than usual section about finns."

Wonder how long it is.

[airmenair]

Cool! I've wanted them to do rally driving for a long while!

[D-Fence]

"According to an internal source he wanted to shoot more material but was late to the shoot because he and his film crew were stuck in a traffic jam caused by a broken down black Porsche 944"

/me eyes MXM

[Khaki]

Haha wow James might actually do well at this years Britcar 24, with lessons from Jackie Stewart and now Mika Häkkinen! He might start doing sub 1:45 laps of the test track in the Lacetti soon

[Hazardous]

The motorsport race he attended was Jokamiehen luokka ( roughly translated "everyman's league") Often referred to as "Jokkis". It involves cars that can cost up to ~1100€, not including rollbars, seats, seatbelts or the steering wheel. Basically, people just buy Beetle and Fiat bodyshells and spend all the remaining money on the engine. There are races on gravel and on tarmac. Its immensly popular among teenagers, since you can attend races before you have a drivers licence, and its not that expensive.

I've seen the term 'Folkrace' used for Jokkis in international forums. Think of it as very cheap form of Rallycross / Autocross.