[petrolhead]

Me and some of the Caterham/Westfield tourers had an organised trip to Finland. I was a two day trip, the first watching a National event and the second was driving old and new rally cars on a frozen lake (pics to following another thread).
The weather was coldish (-11 deg C) and we went to two stages. The scenery was fantastic with a good covering of snow. We met up with our host Aki, who has driven in the WRP class of the WRC, at the service area where we were invited into the hospitality truck of none other Tommi Makinen who runs a team over there. They were testing the new Subaru Impreza STI.
Unfortunately I did not take my 1D or 300 f/2.8 as I wanted to travel light so the photo are taken with a 350D and either kit lens or 70-200 f/4.

New STI

And look who was there watching. Unfortuneatly it broke down after the first stage

The first course car was a mint MKI Escort BDG. All the cars ran on very narrow studded tyres (http://petrolhead.fotopic.net/p48527104.html)

And I mean MINT. The guy who owns the car only ever uses it when there is snow on the groud

Here is one for the Skoda enthusiasts

This hairpin was a good place to watch as it caught out a few of the drivers

And this is how the Finns go and watch a rally. They always have a bag of firewood and a good supply of beer and sausages

More photos can be seen here - http://petrolhead.fotopic.net/c1461600.html. Not my best but gives you an idea

[onefivenine]

Excellent shots.
Like the way you framed the yellow subaru with the snow it has churned up - very well shot!

[julian_fraser]

Yep, the yellow Scooby is my fav, cracking action shots. And that Ford Escort.......niiiiice!!!

[markyb555]

Very good shots mate..

One rally we *me and my mate* would love to go and photgraph if not that sweden. Last 2 i have done are rally germany 2005 and Rally Catalunya at loret de mar, 2004 and the shots i came away with are oar inspiring.. And probably the best shots i have taken in my life.
I guess we are abit chicken about the cold weather etc,

Lad at work also got chance to go to the Rally Sweden with the rep * as we deal alot with Uddeholm for there tooling steel metal for the bend dies (exhaust benders)* Id would have killed for that hospitality weekend All vip We just had some redundancys so thats the reason he didnt go.. The company said it wasnt morally right.. dont think i would have cared about morals with a rally like that!!

[skinnymalinky]

Wow they look great, i recently got a 350D and have been a bit dissapointed with the images not being sharp, its my first SLR and i'm a complete novice but seeing your pics has given me a real kick in the right direction to get on a coarse and learn more about what the camera is capable of.

[petrolhead]

The 350D is an ok camera but to be honest not fast enough for motor sport. I also found it very frustrating when viewing the photos in the evening. Just seemed to take ages to quickly flip through them all

I usually use a 1D MKIIn and 300mm f/2.8 IS Lens

This is what you can get with that kit - Historic Rally at Croft

[lloydy53]

That old Escort is just fabulous, the pic's are good as well.

[paulc1]

superb images, absolutely spot on.