Rally legend Ari Vatanen was greeted by hundreds of Australian fans – including 28 children named Ari in his honour - almost 34 years after he drove in an epic contest that remains one of the sport’s most remembered events Down Under.
The 1981 World Rally Champion, four-time Dakar Rally winner and star of the awarded short film ‘Climb Dance’ visited the national capital Canberra as guest of honour at the annual Australian Rally Hall of Fame induction ceremony and opening round of the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship (ARC) last weekend.
Ari Vatanen slides the Masport Escort RS1800 in the 1980 Castrol International Rally in Canberra. (Photo courtesy Michael Bramble)He also took the wheel of an Audi Quattro S1 Group B car – for the first time – on the ARC’s shakedown stage on Friday morning.
Hall of Fame organiser and four-time Australian champion co-driver, Coral Taylor, said Vatanen, now 61, was “just unbelievable” as he signed autographs and posed for photographs with fans young and old.
“He went everywhere, on the stages, to the starts, the finishes, spectator points, corporate areas – everywhere. He went to the scrutineering area and spoke to every person there,” Taylor said.
“And we counted 28 kids with the name Ari who were brought to meet him. He had so much time for everyone.”
Vatanen contested Rally Australia with Subaru in Perth in 1992 and 1993, but is best remembered for his drive in a Ford Escort RS1800 in the Castrol International Rally in Canberra in 1980.
In one of his first overseas rallies, he waged a furious battle with local heroes Greg Carr and Colin Bond in similar works Escorts in front of an estimated 60,000 spectators.
A photographer described the Finn’s impact on fans beside a special stage on an un-developed housing estate:
“Over the crest Vatanen, with co-driver Dave Richards, arrived in fifth gear on the rev-limiter, a perfect Scandinavian flick to the left, then right, then left as he slid on the lock-stops to the turn-left-at-T-junction, then an immediate turn right down the hill, never straight, an unbelievable display of driving not seen by anyone before.
“The crowd went mad. The police on duty were gobsmacked - they had never seen anything like it and demanded everyone stand a further 50 metres back!”
The contest continued until the final stages, when Vatanen rolled the Escort. Carr’s winning margin provided the name for a television documentary, “40 Split Seconds”.
At the Hall of Fame dinner on Thursday night, Vatanen welcomed new inductees from the ranks of Australian drivers, co-drivers, officials and administrators, including his 1980 rival Colin Bond.
Other inductees were Barry Ferguson, Evan Green, Fred Gocentas, Graham Hoinville, Frank Kilfoyle, David Officer, Kate Officer, Ed Ordynski and Jim Reddiex.
Story: Chris Nixon
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