# 1968 RALLY OF 1000 LAKES FINLAND EUROPEAN AUTOMOBILE RACE 53744

The rally competition now known as Rally Finland, an annual race held in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland, is the focus of this 1968 color documentary produced by Castrol. Titled “The Flying Finns,” it features the 1968 1000 Lakes Rally and is concentrated on documenting the duel between Timo Makinen and Hannu Mikkola. The film opens with race crews, including those for rally driver Timo Salonen, expecting their vehicles and interviews with drivers describing the wide and smooth gravel roads on which they travel (mark 00:30 ). Mark 01:34 offers the viewer a look from within a race car to see the rally from a driver’s point of view as seven-time winner Mikkola skillfully makes speeds down the road, followed by a similar demonstration by fellow driver Makinen (mark 03:30 ) who explains his various maneuvers. The opening of the 1968 competition is captured beginning at mark 05:50 as night begins to close in by mark 08:20 . The narrator rattles off the names of various racers as they speed past and offers race commentary along the way. As the rain begins to fall at mark 10:25 , the race goes on while the narrator explains how it has turned “the loose dust into a quagmire of greasy ball bearings.” A rainy morning dawns at mark 11:45 and the race rolls on as cars splash through puddles “with mud up to their armatures.” Rain falls and the race continues, reaching what the narrator describes as one of the most challenging portions of the contest by mark 16:45 as the cars fly…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/53744FordCarRoadTesting)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/53744FordCarRoadTesting?play=1)