For those of us predisposed to view the world through the lens of old-school Fords, Finland will forever be associated with rallying. To us, Finland is shorthand for dense pine forests, off-camber, semi-blind crests, and, of course, yumps — tricky, give-no-quarter gravel launchpads of the sort found nowhere else on earth.
Factor an Escort into the mix — preferably an arched, Group 4 Escort being hurled between the pines by a softly-spoken local raised on a diet of oversteer and sisu, seemingly unconstrained by the laws of physics — and you really do have peak Finland as far as most of us are concerned.
Yet to define Finland as a land of gravel-chucking sideways merchants alone would be to do the country a disservice. Yes, it is all those things, but it’s also a state populated with petrolheads and car fanatics of the best kind, folk who’re only truly happy when tinkering, building, and perfecting. If there’s one throughline with Finnish car folk, then it’s an intense appreciation for fast cars of all sorts, preferably fast cars built to an impeccable standard at home using modest means and methods. Sounds good, no?
One such Finn is Henri Nokkala,
