"The Flying Finn" is a nickname given to several Finnish athletes who were noted for their speed. Originally, it was given to several Finnish middle and long-distance runners. The term was later extended to notable Finnish racing drivers.
Henri Pauli Toivonen was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri, became a professional circuit racer.
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which were both once records in the series. Both Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier have since collected more world titles, but no driver was able to repeat Kankkunen's feat of becoming a world champion with three different manufacturers until Ogier matched this achievement in 2020.
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times. In addition, he won the 1997 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.
Tommi Antero Mäkinen is a Finnish racing executive and former rally driver.
Erik Hilding Carlsson was a Swedish rally driver for Saab. He was nicknamed "Carlsson på taket" as well as Mr. Saab.
Rally Finland is a rally competition in the Finnish Lakeland in Central Finland. The rally is driven on wide and smooth gravel roads, featuring blind crests and big jumps. It is the fastest event in the World Rally Championship and has been dubbed the "Grand Prix of Rallying" and the "Grand Prix on Gravel". Rally Finland is among the largest annually organised public events in the Nordic countries, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators each year. The rally has been known to be very difficult for non-Nordic drivers; only seven drivers from countries other than Finland or Sweden have won the event- in the 1980s and before, the field was made up almost entirely of Finnish and Swedish drivers.
Leo Juhani "Leksa" Kinnunen was a Finnish racing driver, and the first Formula One driver from Finland.
Lucien Bianchi, born Luciano Bianchi, was an Italian-born Belgian racing driver who raced for the Cooper, ENB, UDT Laystall and Scuderia Centro Sud teams in Formula One. He entered a total of 19 Formula One World Championship races, scoring six points and had a best finish of third at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix.
Markku Allan Alén is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru and Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the record for most stage wins (801) in the series, until Sébastien Loeb overtook it at the 2011 Rally Catalunya. Alén's phrase "now maximum attack" became well-known.
Stig Lennart Blomqvist is a retired Swedish rally driver. He made his international breakthrough in 1971. Driving an Audi Quattro for the Audi factory team, Blomqvist won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1984 and finished runner-up in 1985. He won his home event, the Swedish Rally, seven times.
Hannu Olavi Mikkola was a Finnish champion world rally driver. He was a seven-time winner of the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland and won the RAC Rally in Great Britain four times.
Timo Mäkinen was a Finnish race car driver and one of the original "Flying Finns" of motor rallying. He is best remembered for his hat-trick of wins in the RAC Rally and the 1000 Lakes Rally.
Pauli Toivonen was a Finnish rally car driver. He drove for Citroën, Lancia and Porsche and had many successes to his credit. Toivonen had two sons, Harri and Henri, both also rally drivers.
Patrick Barron Hopkirk was a rally driver from Northern Ireland, he was considered to be one of the finest rally drivers that the United Kingdom ever produced. Following his retirement from competing he became well known for his charity work and for running his successful automotive accessories business and driving school.
The Southern Cross Rally was a major international rally mainly held in the Port Macquarie region of New South Wales, Australia, between 1966 and 1980. The rally attracted many of the world's leading rally drivers and factory teams.
Richard Anthony Fall was a British rally driver. He was born in Bradford. He began his rallying career as a club rally driver in a Mini. He was considerably better than his peers, however, and was soon spotted by the BMC team; this led to a drive in their works team alongside Paddy Hopkirk, Timo Mäkinen and Rauno Aaltonen. His first major international victory in the Mini was the 1966 Circuit of Ireland, where his co-driver was Henry Liddon.
Robin John "Bob" Holden is an Australian racing driver. Holden raced small-engined touring cars throughout his career, racing Peugeots in the early 1960s, establishing a reputation for himself which saw him become a regular part of BMC Australia racing program for Minis which culminated with a victory in the 1966 Bathurst 500 co-driving with Rauno Aaltonen. Into the 1970s Holden moved on to race Ford Escorts in various guises, moving into Toyota Corollas in the 1980s, winning the 1.6-litre class at the Bathurst round of the 1987 World Touring Car Championship. In the mid-1990s Holden moved into BMW M3s and later a BMW 318i Super Touring car in which he raced his final Bathurst in 1998, at the time setting the record for most Bathurst appearances.
The Rally Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for famous rally drivers and other persons who have had a great influence on rallying. The exhibition is part of the automobile and road museum Mobilia located at Kangasala, near the city of Tampere, in central Finland.
The Alpine Rally, also known by its official name Coupe des Alpes, was a rally competition based in Marseille and held from 1932 to 1971. In the 1950s and the 1960s, it was among the most prestigious rallies in the world and featured an international route, consisting of famous mountain passes in Europe.
Finnish 
Paul Easter
Wolfgang Stiller
Claes Billstam
Lofty Drews 
