Rauno Aaltonen

Aaltonen in the 1970s

Rauno Aaltonen (2008)

Rauno August Aaltonen [ ˈrɑu̯nɔ ˈɑːltɔnɛn ] (born January 7, 1938 in Turku ) is a former Finnish motorboat , motorcycle and automobile racer who was mainly active in rallying .

He is also known by the nickname "the rally professor" because he always dealt meticulously with the technology of rallying.

Career

Aaltonen has won national and international championships in his long motorsport career. Before starting his career as a rally driver, he was also successful in other motor sports (for example on a motorcycle and in a racing boat ). Rauno Aaltonen was one of the most successful rally drivers of the 1960s, and his victories with the Mini Cooper are legendary . In the Rallye Safari , which is considered to be one of the toughest rallies, he came second six times.

During his professional rally career, Aaltonen worked as an instructor for driver safety training and as a vehicle tester and author for specialist magazines. He was jointly responsible for the BMW driver training on snow and ice.

The business graduate is a holder of the " Order of the Lion of Finland Knight 1st Class".

statistics

Highlights of his rally career

• Finnish rally champion 1961
• European Rally Champion 1965
• Winner of the 1965 RAC rally
• Winner of the 1967 Monte Carlo Rally
• Winner of the 1977 Southern Cross Rally in Australia

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1965	Donald Healey Motor Co.	Austin Healey Sebring Sprite	Clive Baker	failure	Gearbox damage

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1965	Donald Healey Motor Co.	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	Clive Baker	Rank 15
1966	Donald Healey Motor Co.	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	Clive Baker	Rank 28
1967	Donald Healey Motor Co.	Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite	Clive Baker	Rank 13

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1963	BMC	Morris Mini Cooper	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
																							DNF
1964	BMC	Morris Mini Cooper	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
																			DNF
1965	Donald Healey Motor Co. BMC	Austin-Healey Sprite MG Midget	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
				15th					15th					DNF							6th
1966	Donald Healey Motor Co.	Austin-Healey Sprite	DAY	SEB	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	MUG	CCE	HOK	SIM	ONLY	ZEL
				28		20th			DNF
1967	Donald Healey Motor Co.	Austin-Healey Sprite	DAY	SEB	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	HOK	MUG	BRH	CCE	ZEL	OVI	ONLY
				13			DNF
1968	Donald Healey Motor Co.	Austin-Healey Sprite	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	ONLY	SPA	WAT	ZEL	LEM
							53
1969	Lancia	Lancia Fulvia F&M Special	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
							9		27

Web links

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