Article by Antti Kalhola
First held in 1951, Rally Finland is one of the highlights of the Finnish summer. Headquartered in the capital of Central Finland, Jyväskylä, the event has been part of the World Rally Championship every year since its inception in 1973. It has been consistently regarded as one of the best-organised events in the World Rally Championship and has received an iconic status in the sport. If you have never attended Rally Finland and would be interested to do so, here are some potentially valuable tips for you.
How to get there?
If you have a driving license or someone in your crew has one, either going with your own car or renting one for the duration of the rally is strongly recommended. As the stages are held in various, often rather remote locations around Central Finland, having an own car in use will allow the flexibility of making your own timetables as well as getting to whatever stage or location on the stage you wish. However while recommended, it is still not a necessity. In previous years Pohjolan Matka has offered bus transportations to select stages from Jyväskylä.
What to take?
As most of Rally Finland takes place in the middle of Central Finnish forests, there are not many grandstands around for the spectators, except for a few of the most popular spots on the route. Taking camping chairs with you is really useful, as they will allow you set up camp pretty much wherever you wish. Another important thing to take with you is plenty of snacks and water. The rally spectating days can stretch quite long and you don’t want to run out of fuel! In some spectating spots organisers can provide their own snacks like rally sausages, refreshments and coffee, but they are not something to rely on.
Where to go?
Another vital piece of equipment especially for a first timer spectator is the official rally guide. It will provide you with the rally maps, parking locations around the stages as well as organiser’s tips for the best spectating spots. Listen to the instructions of the rally marshalls on the stages. They will direct you to safe and approved spectating spots on the stages. However, it is also good to use your own common sense when choosing spectating spots and to avoid standing on the outside of corners unless your spectating position is highly elevated from the road. Apart from the risk of getting run over by an out of control rally car, you can be showered by the gravel and stones that the rally cars pick up as they drive by. Do not walk on the road while the stage is taking place, and only cross the road at the marked crossing spots.
When choosing which stages to attend it is good to give yourself plenty of time to move around between the stages. Make sure to arrive on the stages early and a good rule of thumb is to attempt to be at your desired spectating spot 30 minutes before the stage goes live, at the very minimum. Don’t try to fit too many stages into one day as that will only result in unnecessary stress and hurry. Traffic jams happen often around some of the highly popular stages, which will throw your time estimations off anyway. Many of the stages are run twice, so it’s worth taking advantage of this and watch both passes of the same stage. You will be still free to change your spectating spot on the stage between the two runs and this will eliminate the stress of hurrying from one location to another. Unless you are only planning to spectate on one or two stages, do buy the Rally Passes. At 75 €, these will allow you access to all of the stages as well as the service area in Jyväskylä, where you can watch the cars being worked on and perhaps even sneak a peek at some of the drivers!
Hopefully, these tips serve to get you started and on your way to enjoy one of the crown jewels of Finnish sporting events. Happy spectating!