RallySport Magazine April 2017

INTERVIEW: HANNU MIKKOLA
at that time and we have been friends
since.
THE FORD YEARS
Two years later, in 1970, you did the World
Cup Rally and won for Ford. Is that still one of
the biggest wins of your career?
That was a very good win, you know.
That was a hard rally. It had very long
stages – the longest took 12 hours 21
minutes to drive. I think on that stage
I had one boiled egg and one Coke on
the way!
But it was not only one long stage,
it was three or four of them: it was
280 kays and 400 kays and 450 kays, a
971km long stage.
How much did that win do for your career
in the future?
It did a lot. Of course I’d already won
‘68, ‘69 and ‘70 1000 Lakes Rally and
Austrian Alpine Rally. I made a lot of
mistakes too, but I was able to win
those rallies.
But you weren’t expected to win the
World Cup Rally – from London to Mexico
– because you were more of a sprint rally
driver.
That’s right. I had a meeting with
Ford boss Stuart Turner one morning
when he came to my hotel room and
offered me the drive. I don’t know why,
because I was a young driver who was
driving too fast and wouldn’t have done
that rally otherwise, but in any case it
worked out well.
Did the World Cup Rally win help you later
when you became the first non-African driver
to win the Safari Rally?
I don’t know if it helped. In ’71 we
were there the first time with the
Ford, but we had engine problems. It
just happened, but I did have a lot of
help from Gunnar Palm, my co-driver,
because he had a lot of experience and
was always trying to calm me down – he
was like a broken record by the end of
the rally!
Interestingly, you split up with Gunnar
because, you said at the time, your
personalities were quite different.
Yes, Gunnar is very much a PR
oriented person and at that time I was
very shy and I hated it.
To win the Safari back in 1972 was a much
more important result then as the event lost
some of its toughness over the years.
That was fantastic, and you know,
London Mexico I didn’t really realise
what I had done – I was happy that
I’d won, but much later I realised the
importance of that win. But then when
I won Safari in ’72 I knew I’d done
something very good.
You were a heavy drinker in your early days,
but gave alcohol away as your career took off
and your professionalism increased. Was that
a major decision in your career?
In rallying in those days it was a sort
of life where you do your job, and then
when that’s over you had maybe three
or four weeks until the next event.
When you came home you had all your
friends wanting to go out and celebrate
and it was really getting out of hand.
I had to decide if I was planning to
become a full time drunk, or a good
rally driver! It was a hard decision, not
only for myself, but to convince my
friends that I’m not drinking any more. I
must say the first 10 years are hell, and
it’s okay after that!
You don’t drink alcohol to this day?
No, some people get a nice feeling
from drinking it, and some don’t. Walter
Rohrl didn’t drink either, but he’s been
quite a fanatic on everything he’s done:
skiing, driving, biking…
You first came to New Zealand to compete
in 1973. Was that a strange invitation to come
to the other side of the world to compete?
It was. It was Stuart Turner’s idea
because he was always sending his
drivers around the world, and in 1973
I didn’t have a big program so I was
happy that he was asking me to drive.
Jim Porter was my co-driver at that
time, but for a while it looked like Tony
Mason would be coming with me.
Drivers and co-drivers seemed to swap
around a lot more in those days though.
It wasn’t such a busy program. You
didn’t have 12 or 13 rallies that you had
to do. We did maybe four or five a year.
They were not World Championship
events back then, but they were the
Mikkola was part of a
4-car Ford factory team
on the 1979 RAC Rally.
56 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - APRIL 2017