Goodbye Sir John and Timo

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Last week wasn’t a particularly good week for classic motorsports heroes. Firstly, Sir John Whitmore (bottom of picture) passed away at the age of 79. Whitmore, a well educated Essex farmer, drove a wide variety of cars throughout the 1960s after having started in the late 1950s with a privately entered Lotus. It lead to an entry in a works Lotus Elite at Le Mans in 1959. When he took a basic Mini to the track – reputedly bought for 400 pounds – he was soon to secure the British Saloon Car Championship with that very car in ’61. More Minis followed, up until the infamous twin engined and soon to be banned ‘Twini’ at the Targa Florio. After the Minis a wide variety of Fords followed, topped up by Cobras and GT40s in 1966.

In some ways Timo Mäkinen, one of the original Flying Finns of rallying, followed a similar path. He, too, died at the age of 79 last week. And Mäkinen, too, had a career in which Minis and Fords formed the main marques. Makinen, however, made his name at the World Rally Championships stage. His first rally was in his native Finland, when he entered the 1000 lakes rally in a Triumph TR3, navigated by his brother. International success followed after a win on the 1962 RAC Rally, also in a works Mini Cooper after BMC works boss Stuart Turner had been tipped off about the young driver by a Helsinki based BMC Dealer. He famously won the Monte Carlo Rallye in 1965, with a Porsche 904 coming second - 20 minutes behind. 1966 was of course the infamous year in which Minis came 1, 2 and 3, but were disqualified over a headlight issue. After the Mini, Mäkinen carried on at Ford’s, ruling the rally scene in Escorts until the mid-1970s.

(Words Jeroen Booij)

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