Juha Kankkunen is one of the best rally drivers ever, he mastered both group B and A and he still was fast when he retired in his early 40s, truly a legend
According to many he is the Greatest rally driver ever. He won in many different teams and in different era's. Had it not been for that one lousy engineer that refused to accept his car was slower than the previous years car, Juha would have a lot more titles to his name. In case you are wondering, it was 1 engineer who decided to CHEAT because the car he Designed and made was slower than the previous car. Toyota got caught cheating and was DQ from the rally season and Juha went over to Ford that sucked big time. Juha and Nicky Grist talks about it on Nickys youtube channel. Worth watching if you like Juha.
@@adpop750 Yes, he won the Dakar in 88 and on a Peugeot 205 T16. For me, Kankkunen is on par with Sainz and only behind Loeb, and Röhrl, on the all time best rally drivers list. But, although the footage is very impressive, I would like to see the host's reaction to this one from Robert Kubica, a driver with only one fully functioning arm: ruclips.net/video/SS4-XrRdArs/видео.htmlsi=ChsFNmweQlMJaUEs&t=202
@@jone8626 The ST205 was as beautiful as a crap of a rally car, if they were not cheating in 95 probably the whole team would have scored much more less points, the car was just not right for rallying. And in adition, Kankkunen is my favourite rally driver ever, but he lacked a lot in tarmac, he hated it.
I was lucky enough to sit in the navigators seat of the Subaru WRC car at the 2000 Perth rally for a demo stage with Juha. He was just so cool, calm and collected, and FAST!
Some news about Juha.....Juha Kankkunen has just been appointed deputy team principal at Toyota's WRC team for the 2025 season. A story that began in 1983, and featured a world title with 1993, the four-time world champion has another new chapter to write.
Kankkunen is a 4 times WRC world champion; definitely one of the best. He is also the guy that said 'WRC (aka Group A) is for boys, Group B was for men'. And you just watched Group A, please let that sink in for a minute ... It also reminds me of the 'Dear God' video from Ari Vatanen (another legend), if you haven't watched that yet, its an absolute must-watch classic too !
@@lellugamer9468 yes, cause walter wasnt in the game. for he, Gr.a was Kidsgameplay! And he dont want the media crowd arround of him. He always just want to show he is the best, and he did! If he want, he could drive for ever in Rally or even F1 and where winning. but he dont want this! He is the best driver of all time!
Kankkunen is The Goat even some have more championships. He won rallyes in rwd group B championships in group B Peugeot, Group A Lancia and Toyota and lastly won rally in WRC Subaru. He has done speed records on ice 130,165 km/h (81mph) in a tracktor and 330,695 km/h (205,48 mph) in a Bentley. And he has won Paris-Dakar rally at first try.
He has the best answers to those who interviewed him after the stage... The question was. What tires do you use? "Black Round Pirelli" The best answer ever!!!!
This video gives you a demonstration of Juha's skills..
Месяц назад+11
That's some of the best rallying there is to watch. Period. Thanks very much for sharing. Juha Kankkunen is one of the GOATs. Nicky Grist, his co in the first clip, one of the very best in his own right. Now, in addition to all the impossible challenges while flying through that forest you already rightfully mentioned, Kannkunen is given the notes in a language that isn't his first. Four corners ahead, apparently, as @sannmarc pointed out. Incredible!
I grew up just 10km from one of the stages in the Swedish rally,,, and i was there with my father just around 10 years old,, and saw Kankkunen, Blomqist,,with there groub B quattros,, a memory for life,, 😊😊 Greatings from Sweden.
@@DavidCharpentierBuzano I had to take early retirement and it just meant that it was no longer practical. Changed it for an Aygo, but that was no fun after driving the Celica, so changed again to a Yaris GRMN. Still not practical but when able to get out in it so much fun to drive. Especially as fairly close to me is a private road, open to the public for a fee, that used to be part of the old WRC RAC Rally GB.
Juha is still the master of driving, i’ve had the pleasure of being in the car while he is driving twice, nothing compares to it, okay propably any rally driver can do the same but for me he is always the greatest rally driver in the world. And a great person as well.
The plate is Cologne (K for Köln), Germany. That's where they built the Toyota WRC and also their LeMans cars. Iirc, the ill-fated Formula 1 racers by Toyota were done by Gazoo Racing Europe (the company had different names in the past) as well.
During the 24h race of the Nürburgring (the track is close to Cologne) I sat next to an older japanese guy in a shuttle car. I was wondering who he was because everyone from the Gazoo racing team showed a lot of respect to him. Later I found out that he was one of the higher ups of Toyota who participated in the race.
Yeah old German plate before EU-plates. Between K and AM over the dash is the yearly colored DMV mandatory TÜV - i.e. Technical Inspection Authority - certificate sticker and the below the dash is the grey state and city seal (effectively the actual DMV licence) sticker. No O's and B's allowed because the 0 and 8 looked to similar in that font (exception if it was the City name - B = Berlin, OL = Oldenburg)
Juha is definitely one the finnish rally goats with 4 championships. Another one you probaly want to look up is Tommi Mäkinen with also 4 championships. Also the legendary Ari Vatanen belongs to that list of finnish rally legends✌️ Almost forgot Marcus Grönholm is a 2 time championship holder also.
So you drop a video about Juha Kankkunen on the day they announce he's coming back to rally (in a leading role at Toyota) in 2025? That's some perfect timing Ian.
World fastest drivers coming here from Finland.Hannu,Ari,Juha,Markku,Tommi,Marcus and Kalle is coming back next year Hyvä Suomi.Rally of thousads lakes,been there every year since 1983.
It was announced that during WRC season 2025 mr. Kankkunen will be an deputy team principal of Toyota WRC team on some of the WRC events when current team principal Jari-Matti Latvala will be rallying himself with Celica ST on historic series (and possible on WRC event). 9:49 He is one of the great ones, 4 time champion; Peugeot 205 T16 (1986, last group B season), Lancia Delta HF (1987, first season after Group B), Lancia Delta Integrale (1991), Toyota Celica (1993)
That voice you're hearing reading the pace notes for Juha is from none other than Nicky Grist. He was the co-pilot for Colin McRae, one of the most legendary drivers in the history of WRC. A true people's champion and one of his most known sayings was "When in doubt, flat out." so that gives you an idea of how he was as a driver. On a side note: IIRC, that Toyota Celica had one of the most ingenious cheating devices ever put inside a race car. FIA mandated the use of an airflow restrictor on the intake to limit horsepower, but Toyota modified the restrictor so that it had a moveable center section moved by vacuum pressure on the manifold, essentially pushing it aside and allowing the engine to produce power well above what the regulations allowed. When the driver stopped accelerating, the restrictor went back into its original position and you couldn't tell it was made of two pieces on visual inspection. Toyota's engineers had used what's called EDM machining, a revolutionary and cutting edge process at the time, where two different pieces of metal can be machined to fit against each other with tolerances so small, they look like a single billet when combined. It's fascinating stuff, you should check it out.
I watched Kankkunen in person in the 90's. Incredible driver with equally incredible support from his fellow countrymen. They were mad and loved a beer but great banter.
Juha was a beast...! What impresses me and this is something you can get some sort of appreciation for by playing the rally games is the capacity to interpret and process the information from the pace notes whilst going 100 miles an hour and preparing for what's coming up in 12 and three turns time and positioning your vehicle it's just wicked such a skill
Just driving back in group B makes you one of the rally greats. He was also a winner of multiple world titles which elevates him to a legend. He is up there in the pantheon of driving gods.
Juha is now the new Toyota WRC boss and Nicky Grist (Co Driver) went on to be Colin McRae's co driver. Nicky actually owns one of these Group A Celicas in the Castrol colours.
About the jumps. Back in 83 when Lancia took the last RWD championship, Walter Rohrl refused to go to finland because of the jumps, he said if i wanted to fly i would be a pilot. Now that i think about it this is a good search ... that years rally was epic. Rohrl lost the championship for 2 points, despite the fact he only showed up in 6 of the 12 races. a great story that. A very eccentric man.
A Finn here. Juha Kankkunen is indeed a legend in the sport. We're very proud of all our rally drivers - and there have been plenty - but even to us he's revered. Kankkunen is the first driver to win three world titles, first to win four titles, and first to win titles for three different manufacturers, a feat managed since only by Sebastien Ogier. You really have to be a special kind of talent to be able to win championships with multiple different cars. Walter Röhrl won a title with Fiat and another one with Opel, and that's it: The entire list of drivers who have won world titles with cars by different manufacturers. The shot where you're wondering about the warning text and registration plate is from Japan. Japan has left-hand traffic, so a car with driver on the left is an anomaly, hence the warning that the driver might step out of the car from unexpected position. Registration plate looks German to me, which makes sense since Toyota rally team's HQ was in Germany, so naturally the car would be registered there. And yes, registered. Rally stages are usually driven on different roads and transition between them is done by driving through public traffic. That means all cars have to be street legal and under registration. Often it's the co-driver who drives between stages so the driver can rest. Because they're driving among public traffic, naturally they have to abide by local traffic laws. There are multiple instances where drivers have been fined during transitions - you guessed it, for speeding. And finally, I absolutely must give you a recommendation. "Climb Dance" is to my money the most beautiful rally film ever made. It features another Finnish rally legend Ari Vatanen, driving a Peugeot 405 through Pikes Peak climb to a then-record time. You can of course find it in RUclips.
Juha had three different codrivers that year. Juha Piironen got career ending stroke during rally Argentina. Denis Giraudet was codriver in Finland and rest of the season with Nicky. Giraudet stopped giving notes and Juha kept pushing. Juha Tapped on the knee and was comforting panicking Denis. That was a great fight with Vatanen on Subaru Impreza.
This footage really demonstrates something that's widely held about Kankkunen - he's probably the smoothest driver in WRC history. He makes the absolute minimum input needed on the steering, presses the pedals only to the point needed and no further in a single progressive motion. Truly driving on instinct in the moment, while thinking 100 yards up the road.
Both Juha and the ST185 are legends in their own right. Juha was the first 4 time WRC champion. he won rallies in GRP B GRP A and in 2.0 WRC. The Celica won the Driver title 3 years on the trot with Sainz 92, Kankunen 93 and Auriol 94.
High there Ian, my uncle was also a rally driver for Renault alpine and later Seat, crazy as a barnyard rat but what a thrill sitting in any car with him fast driving with him going through the Welsh forests,he later worked as an advanced driving instructor for the southern English police departments, teaching officers how to handle fast pursuit situations in all weather and terrain, the skill set he had was on a totally different level,he could make even the Renault Fuego fly, great video dude,brings back very fond memories, many thanks dude, kicked right out of the stadium,sir mager thumbs up dude please, never stop making these types of videos, so cool dude, high to the family,chau for now
Used to have a Celica of that Vintage and you're right, it's such a solid, balanced, yet light and nimble car....they last forever. It's actually not that small....just really well proportioned.
Toyota rally cars at the time were prepared by Toyota Motorsports Europe in Germany (which also later became the Toyota F1 team factory. So the rally cars carried German Plates (and were left-hand drive, instead of being Right-Hand Drive like in Japanese, UK and Aussie markets)
Enjoyed you moving backwards when the car got out of shape at the start of the video. I had an 88 Gt4 and you had to work at it to get it sliding. The gooseneck on TT circuit was fun when the bikers sat on the edge with the road open 😂😂
My absolute favourite car of all time, driven by one of my favourite drivers. I was lucky enough to own a uk spec st185 Carlos sainz a few years ago and lived my dream.
Kankkunen is in my opinion the best rally driver. 1000 Lakes Rally 1994, he rolled in his "home stage" (he lived along that road), had to drive that and next stage with 3 wheels until got to service. On 2 next stages he still had only FWD and engine was cutting. Then those got finally fixed in next service so he had a "functioning" car, frame probably twisted frame and some other issues but those didn't matter anymore. I was there that year with few friends, on one of the first stages after Kankkunen got 4wd back on service. Other top factory drivers came first, very fast as usual, then some slower cars before slightly longer gap and we knew that he had been given a little bit extra space in front of him which was of course very reasonable, everyone knew that he would be fast. But no one of us guessed even close how fast... Banging was the first sign he was coming, still took almost 2 minutes before he was there. We had a good spot where we could see a long part of stage and we were going to take some pictures. We forgot cameras completely when we saw how incredibly fast he was coming from previous corners and what lines he took over ditch edges, those were just so... unbelievable. There was one curve where the ditch bank on forest side rose way above road. He didn't lift at all when he got to that corner (others had braked) and we really thought that there is not a slightest chance even him could keep that car on the road through that curve with that speed, this would be the end of his rally as he would roll very, very far away from the road. Others had kept front wheel slightly on that ditch but not even close to what Kankkunen did. He just forced the car sideways well before the curve (somehow it seemed so easy), left a veeeery long line to that opposite bank with his front bumper, his other front wheel almost on that ditch too, still flat out and the exit speed from that curve was on totally another level compared to others, seemed like one gear higher. It took us some time to fully realize what we had seen. Rally driving on a level that most likely none of us would never see again. And never did. We couldn't understand how he could keep the car on the road at the speeds he was going compared to others even though we were already "veterans" in rally spectating. The speed difference to other factory drivers through those corners was like WRC/national class type of difference. None of us was much disappointed about the fact we didn't get any pictures because those wouldn't have been able to tell the real story of what happened. If only we have had a video camera then and managed to record that... Would have been that "once in a lifetime" clip. For me and my friends Kankkunen will always be the greatest rally driver ever no matter how many titles others get. He was just.. phenomenal when he got into that complete attack mode. Search "WRC Classics - Juha Kankkunen driving like a maniac @ 1000 Lakes Rally Finland 1994" in case the link I try to add in separate comment doesn't get published (happened too often here...). No english subtitles sadly but I think you still get something out of it ;)
You have to check more videos of him! There is sick video of him wrecki.g the car ob second stage of rally finland and literally on his home road, however he dropped to the last ones but rised up to 7th place with a point. I think the video was named "when juha kankkunen drove like maniac" or something
I sincerely hope you give us your reaction video about Kris Meeke doing Ouninpohja stage in Rally Finland 2016. You can find it from RUclips. Probably the best onboard footage of rallying I've ever witnessed as being a rally fan since 1997. That speed and going almost off the limits in every single second for 15 minutes is pure enjoyment.
A couple of minutes aboard that car as a passenger are sufficient to pooping on myself!! FANTASTIC DRIVER AND A VERY GOOD VIDEO! I also enjoyed a lot your comments ... thanks!
One of my favourite drivers from the golden era of rallying. From Group B in a 205 T16 through to the Celica and the Escort WRC. Have seen him live at the RAC rally a few times over the years but unfortunately he's never driven in my home country of Ireland
Kankkunen won rally world championship with that Toyota in 1993. He won a total of four times. He is Finnish. There is another Finn called Tommi Mäkinen who also won four times.
I love watching your Rally videos. You might want to check out Colim Mcrae, a multi time world champion from Scotland. He drove the classic livery Subaru Impreza.
Ah, man... Happy days watching that. Following tje RAC Rally around the UK for a week watching those legends... bliss! The first clip could well be from the UK.
That reminds me on the wild Paris-Dakkar Times in the early 80s. Ari Vatanen did 200 kph on a flat part of dessert and was overtaken by an truck doing 240 kph, legendary DAf Truck with 1000 hp.
You should totally watch "UNIBET RIDE #1: WRC with Kalle Rovanperä, Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard" Kalle Rovanperä WRC world champion (only 24 years old) and Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard F1 legends.
3:10 was actually codrivers error, you can hear him immediately apologizing. Kankkunen almost hit the wall for wrong note and still corrected, in those conditions.
The best rally driver of all, was a Frenchman called Sebastein Ogier ( 9 consecutive world championships 2004-2012)-- see him set the Pikes Peak record 11/12 years ago-truely the best.
13:53 min This is an old German plate, and the show to the end it's Best Motoring what inspired Gran Turismo. The driver next to him is Takashi Ohi, one of the drivers who will help design the Gran Turismo.
13:50 Old style German plate for the City of Cologne (Köln). A few Toyota Rally cars have been built in Germany by the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) Headquarters there. As far as I know ST165, ST185 (the car in the video) and the ST205.
The nice thing about Group A cars is that they had to build 5000 of them, as opposed to the 200 they had to build for Group B, which means your chances of ever becoming the owner of the street version of a Group A car are way better than your chances of even driving a Group B road car.
13:47 That's a German plate from the city of Cologne, I believe either this very car or a similar year rally Celica is on display in their museum in Cologne.
A neighbor of mine (literally next block) has that exact Celica from the Bulgarian WRC circuit. And I mean even white with the same vinyls. Will try to take a shot when he opens his garage. 😅
Long time sub first comment .. I owned a gt4 wrc st205 with the video subject being a st185 my celica was nuts I had the homologation wrc variant which was 1 of 2500 road going variants to be sold before the rally car st205 could be used in group A (preceded wrc) competition .. I had the JDM version which boasted 259bhp over the Europe supplied 239hp version .. with a little work and unlocking my celica boasted 460hp and was an insane beast on the road with anti lag and water injection .. the homologation st205 also boasted twin cooling .. split through a water charge cooler and front mounted inercooler with the spray bar system cooling the intercooler by spraying mist at the fins and displacing the heat with vapour .. I would say that tyre choice needs to be specific with this car to obtain the monster grip it has .. thanks for the vid rocker
What is so cool about his driving, even though there were many good drivers over the times, is that only he made his car looking perfectly balanced (although it wasn't). If you watch closely, you will see most other driver's steering with a vertical axis at the front right after the windshield, while he has the vertical axis right in the middle of the car. You rarely get to see this. He handles the car nearly perfect.
Hi Ian, watching this, I thought you should love it: "French Sophistication: 1949 Citroën Traction Avant - Jay Leno’s Garage", and "1971 Citroën DS - Jay Leno's Garage" Enjoy!
The RAC 93 had like 35 stages and very tough but during group B they had like 80 stages during 4-5 days. My dad did the RAC 2 times. They drove through the night the first day, had 6 hours sleep the next day, 3 hours the day after and so on. It was alot tougher than what it is now. My dad was the co-driver and on one stage they rolled up to the start line and during the countdown from 5 sec they both fell asleep and woke up when the marshall banged on their roof.
![OnBoard Tommi Mäkinen SS1 Rallye Monte-Carlo 1999 [Passats de canto] (Telesport)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/NQ_i5GHZN14/mqdefault.jpg)
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Juha Kankkunen is one of the reasons behind the term ' If you want to win, employ a Finn '.
The first 4 times WRC champion. This guy was so cool with his moustache and smockinh cigarillos between stages, a true character!
Good ol' clutch pedal and h-pattern gearbox. The drivers really earned their pay back then.
Juha Kankkunen is one of the best rally drivers ever, he mastered both group B and A and he still was fast when he retired in his early 40s, truly a legend
I believe Juha Kankkunen also won Paris - Dakar, if I am correct.
According to many he is the Greatest rally driver ever.
He won in many different teams and in different era's.
Had it not been for that one lousy engineer that refused to accept his car was slower than the previous years car, Juha would have a lot more titles to his name.
In case you are wondering, it was 1 engineer who decided to CHEAT because the car he Designed and made was slower than the previous car.
Toyota got caught cheating and was DQ from the rally season and Juha went over to Ford that sucked big time.
Juha and Nicky Grist talks about it on Nickys youtube channel.
Worth watching if you like Juha.
@@adpop750
Yes, he won the Dakar in 88 and on a Peugeot 205 T16.
For me, Kankkunen is on par with Sainz and only behind Loeb, and Röhrl, on the all time best rally drivers list.
But, although the footage is very impressive, I would like to see the host's reaction to this one from Robert Kubica, a driver with only one fully functioning arm:
ruclips.net/video/SS4-XrRdArs/видео.htmlsi=ChsFNmweQlMJaUEs&t=202
@@jone8626 The ST205 was as beautiful as a crap of a rally car, if they were not cheating in 95 probably the whole team would have scored much more less points, the car was just not right for rallying. And in adition, Kankkunen is my favourite rally driver ever, but he lacked a lot in tarmac, he hated it.
I was lucky enough to sit in the navigators seat of the Subaru WRC car at the 2000 Perth rally for a demo stage with Juha. He was just so cool, calm and collected, and FAST!
black round pirelli... if you know, you know 😆
And, roundabout straight 😆
kankkunen also means hangover in finnish
Absolutely crucial information to internalize the essence of his legendaryness
Some news about Juha.....Juha Kankkunen has just been appointed deputy team principal at Toyota's WRC team for the 2025 season. A story that began in 1983, and featured a world title with 1993, the four-time world champion has another new chapter to write.
Even this old Markku Alen fan is happy about that! Juha's going back to work.
All manual input, no electronic driver aids, just talent and huge balls.
Kankkunen is a 4 times WRC world champion; definitely one of the best. He is also the guy that said 'WRC (aka Group A) is for boys, Group B was for men'. And you just watched Group A, please let that sink in for a minute ...
It also reminds me of the 'Dear God' video from Ari Vatanen (another legend), if you haven't watched that yet, its an absolute must-watch classic too !
Oh Ari Vatanen, another favourite from the past..he was awesome and i love the pikes peak video with the Peugot
@@Olwynrules all of these where eaten by Walter
@@DaEVOthefreakjuha has more world championships
@@DaEVOthefreakhenri toivonen and markku alén were also better drivers
@@lellugamer9468 yes, cause walter wasnt in the game. for he, Gr.a was Kidsgameplay! And he dont want the media crowd arround of him. He always just want to show he is the best, and he did! If he want, he could drive for ever in Rally or even F1 and where winning. but he dont want this! He is the best driver of all time!
Kankkunen is The Goat even some have more championships. He won rallyes in rwd group B championships in group B Peugeot, Group A Lancia and Toyota and lastly won rally in WRC Subaru. He has done speed records on ice 130,165 km/h (81mph) in a tracktor and 330,695 km/h (205,48 mph) in a Bentley.
And he has won Paris-Dakar rally at first try.
Moustache blowing in the wind, cigarello in his hand doing 120mph down an ice covered forest lane! Juha Kannkunen was the goat! 😂
Yes, Juha Kankkunen is from Finland. As allmost all rally winners! 🇫🇮
Yes, family name ending ...nen (like mine as well) and first name being Juha, couldn't be more Finnish, I'd say. 🇫🇮😂
When preparing for university exchange, I was told that if you want to get the Finnish chatting(!), everyone likes rallye...
Not in the last 20 years...
Belgium just got their first rally champ!🎉🎉
@@Zufinn2 And for 15 years in a row, all WRC champions were french...
He has the best answers to those who interviewed him after the stage... The question was. What tires do you use? "Black Round Pirelli" The best answer ever!!!!
4 time champion, who just became Toyotas new WRC principal
You just need to see this: Juha Kankkunen driving like a maniac @ 1000 Lakes Rally Finland 1994
This video gives you a demonstration of Juha's skills..
That's some of the best rallying there is to watch. Period. Thanks very much for sharing. Juha Kankkunen is one of the GOATs. Nicky Grist, his co in the first clip, one of the very best in his own right. Now, in addition to all the impossible challenges while flying through that forest you already rightfully mentioned, Kannkunen is given the notes in a language that isn't his first. Four corners ahead, apparently, as @sannmarc pointed out. Incredible!
I grew up just 10km from one of the stages in the Swedish rally,,, and i was there with my father just around 10 years old,, and saw Kankkunen, Blomqist,,with there groub B quattros,, a memory for life,, 😊😊
Greatings from Sweden.
I owned one of the Celica Carlos Sainz limited editions for nearly 20 years, before selling, and I have to say it was the best car I have ever owned.
Why you sold it? 😢 My 93 celica gt is still my daily driver.
@@DavidCharpentierBuzano I had to take early retirement and it just meant that it was no longer practical. Changed it for an Aygo, but that was no fun after driving the Celica, so changed again to a Yaris GRMN. Still not practical but when able to get out in it so much fun to drive. Especially as fairly close to me is a private road, open to the public for a fee, that used to be part of the old WRC RAC Rally GB.
@me38443 nice, I'm thinking to move to a 4 door myself , like a GR Corolla
Juha is still the master of driving, i’ve had the pleasure of being in the car while he is driving twice, nothing compares to it, okay propably any rally driver can do the same but for me he is always the greatest rally driver in the world. And a great person as well.
This is a demonstration of serious car control........I take my hat off to jim
a little tip: if the person's last name ends with "nen", the person is 100% a Finn or has Finnish roots.
also many letters "k" or "n" in one row.
The plate is Cologne (K for Köln), Germany. That's where they built the Toyota WRC and also their LeMans cars. Iirc, the ill-fated Formula 1 racers by Toyota were done by Gazoo Racing Europe (the company had different names in the past) as well.
KAM=Köln Andersson Motorsport
Toytota Gazoo has nothing to do with Anderssons team. Toyota bought TMR Tommi Mäkinen Racing for its operations in WRC.
During the 24h race of the Nürburgring (the track is close to Cologne) I sat next to an older japanese guy in a shuttle car. I was wondering who he was because everyone from the Gazoo racing team showed a lot of respect to him. Later I found out that he was one of the higher ups of Toyota who participated in the race.
Yeah old German plate before EU-plates. Between K and AM over the dash is the yearly colored DMV mandatory TÜV - i.e. Technical Inspection Authority - certificate sticker and the below the dash is the grey state and city seal (effectively the actual DMV licence) sticker.
No O's and B's allowed because the 0 and 8 looked to similar in that font (exception if it was the City name - B = Berlin, OL = Oldenburg)
@@mhh7544 Have a look at the wikipedia entry for Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, please.
Rally Drivers of his quality are just a different breed. We normal humans can not really understand how he did this insane drive
These guys are artists . It's amazing how talented they are.
Juha is definitely one the finnish rally goats with 4 championships. Another one you probaly want to look up is Tommi Mäkinen with also 4 championships. Also the legendary Ari Vatanen belongs to that list of finnish rally legends✌️
Almost forgot Marcus Grönholm is a 2 time championship holder also.
Aries pikes peak run in the 405 is legendary
Not to forget Grönholm has won most rallies of them all...🙂
@@kena658 He also made a rock go up in the ass of Timo ( co-driver ), his words... Not mine.
Or the best driver whitout a championship Jari-Matti Latvala
Black round Pirelli.
So you drop a video about Juha Kankkunen on the day they announce he's coming back to rally (in a leading role at Toyota) in 2025? That's some perfect timing Ian.
World fastest drivers coming here from Finland.Hannu,Ari,Juha,Markku,Tommi,Marcus and Kalle is coming back next year Hyvä Suomi.Rally of thousads lakes,been there every year since 1983.
It was announced that during WRC season 2025 mr. Kankkunen will be an deputy team principal of Toyota WRC team on some of the WRC events when current team principal Jari-Matti Latvala will be rallying himself with Celica ST on historic series (and possible on WRC event).
9:49 He is one of the great ones, 4 time champion; Peugeot 205 T16 (1986, last group B season), Lancia Delta HF (1987, first season after Group B), Lancia Delta Integrale (1991), Toyota Celica (1993)
That voice you're hearing reading the pace notes for Juha is from none other than Nicky Grist. He was the co-pilot for Colin McRae, one of the most legendary drivers in the history of WRC. A true people's champion and one of his most known sayings was "When in doubt, flat out." so that gives you an idea of how he was as a driver.
On a side note: IIRC, that Toyota Celica had one of the most ingenious cheating devices ever put inside a race car. FIA mandated the use of an airflow restrictor on the intake to limit horsepower, but Toyota modified the restrictor so that it had a moveable center section moved by vacuum pressure on the manifold, essentially pushing it aside and allowing the engine to produce power well above what the regulations allowed. When the driver stopped accelerating, the restrictor went back into its original position and you couldn't tell it was made of two pieces on visual inspection.
Toyota's engineers had used what's called EDM machining, a revolutionary and cutting edge process at the time, where two different pieces of metal can be machined to fit against each other with tolerances so small, they look like a single billet when combined. It's fascinating stuff, you should check it out.
Creo que era el ST205 el del dispositivo... este es el ST185...
I watched Kankkunen in person in the 90's. Incredible driver with equally incredible support from his fellow countrymen. They were mad and loved a beer but great banter.
Juha was a beast...! What impresses me and this is something you can get some sort of appreciation for by playing the rally games is the capacity to interpret and process the information from the pace notes whilst going 100 miles an hour and preparing for what's coming up in 12 and three turns time and positioning your vehicle it's just wicked such a skill
Look up "Dear God"!! Ari Vatanen.
Juha remains a legend in rally.
Juha is a rally GOD, four time world rally champion at that era is not an easy task, he was THE TALENT
K MA is for Köln Anderson Motorsports. Ove Anderson ran Toyota Europe, it was a sattelite team, not straight worx.
Just driving back in group B makes you one of the rally greats. He was also a winner of multiple world titles which elevates him to a legend. He is up there in the pantheon of driving gods.
Juha is now the new Toyota WRC boss and Nicky Grist (Co Driver) went on to be Colin McRae's co driver. Nicky actually owns one of these Group A Celicas in the Castrol colours.
Kankkunen has only just today been appointed 'Deputy Team Principle' for the current Toyota WRC Team.
I like driving in snow thats no snow that is fucking ICE.
About the jumps. Back in 83 when Lancia took the last RWD championship, Walter Rohrl refused to go to finland because of the jumps, he said if i wanted to fly i would be a pilot.
Now that i think about it this is a good search ... that years rally was epic. Rohrl lost the championship for 2 points, despite the fact he only showed up in 6 of the 12 races. a great story that. A very eccentric man.
he had his principles. He was the best (not only rally) driver ever on the planet, without a doubt!
11:25 - I attended Rally Australia several times in the mid 1990's - I might be one of the spectators in that clip!
A Finn here.
Juha Kankkunen is indeed a legend in the sport. We're very proud of all our rally drivers - and there have been plenty - but even to us he's revered. Kankkunen is the first driver to win three world titles, first to win four titles, and first to win titles for three different manufacturers, a feat managed since only by Sebastien Ogier. You really have to be a special kind of talent to be able to win championships with multiple different cars. Walter Röhrl won a title with Fiat and another one with Opel, and that's it: The entire list of drivers who have won world titles with cars by different manufacturers.
The shot where you're wondering about the warning text and registration plate is from Japan. Japan has left-hand traffic, so a car with driver on the left is an anomaly, hence the warning that the driver might step out of the car from unexpected position. Registration plate looks German to me, which makes sense since Toyota rally team's HQ was in Germany, so naturally the car would be registered there.
And yes, registered. Rally stages are usually driven on different roads and transition between them is done by driving through public traffic. That means all cars have to be street legal and under registration. Often it's the co-driver who drives between stages so the driver can rest. Because they're driving among public traffic, naturally they have to abide by local traffic laws. There are multiple instances where drivers have been fined during transitions - you guessed it, for speeding.
And finally, I absolutely must give you a recommendation. "Climb Dance" is to my money the most beautiful rally film ever made. It features another Finnish rally legend Ari Vatanen, driving a Peugeot 405 through Pikes Peak climb to a then-record time. You can of course find it in RUclips.
I used to love playing 'Sega Rally' which featured the celica in this livery :-)
It is a german number plate and the car is left hand drive, other than the cars in Japan. So this is why it has this warning on the back.
Co-driver is obviously cold blooded & a real pro. 🎉
8:33 It's on purpose, he had a button on the wheel for the wipers.
Co driver is legendary Nicky Grist......this is the year he won the worldchampionship with juha
Juha had three different codrivers that year. Juha Piironen got career ending stroke during rally Argentina. Denis Giraudet was codriver in Finland and rest of the season with Nicky. Giraudet stopped giving notes and Juha kept pushing. Juha Tapped on the knee and was comforting panicking Denis. That was a great fight with Vatanen on Subaru Impreza.
I see that Audi Quattro poster in the background.
I did that drawing myself.
I'm really surprised to find it in the wild! Thanks!
It has German plates, Toyota's Sports division was/is based there.
Testing on the Autobahn and Nürburgring 😊
13:50: That’s a German DIN plate (the plates before we also introduced the EU plates).
This footage really demonstrates something that's widely held about Kankkunen - he's probably the smoothest driver in WRC history.
He makes the absolute minimum input needed on the steering, presses the pedals only to the point needed and no further in a single progressive motion.
Truly driving on instinct in the moment, while thinking 100 yards up the road.
I saw Juha on the gravel in Western Australia in the 90s. Absolutely brilliant.... As at 11:25
Both Juha and the ST185 are legends in their own right. Juha was the first 4 time WRC champion. he won rallies in GRP B GRP A and in 2.0 WRC. The Celica won the Driver title 3 years on the trot with Sainz 92, Kankunen 93 and Auriol 94.
Toyota also caught cheating.
@XtreeM_FaiL with ST205 in 1995. Not this one
and Lancia won the car titel without cheating
@DaEVOthefreak this car wasn't cheating. The ST205 was
High there Ian, my uncle was also a rally driver for Renault alpine and later Seat, crazy as a barnyard rat but what a thrill sitting in any car with him fast driving with him going through the Welsh forests,he later worked as an advanced driving instructor for the southern English police departments, teaching officers how to handle fast pursuit situations in all weather and terrain, the skill set he had was on a totally different level,he could make even the Renault Fuego fly, great video dude,brings back very fond memories, many thanks dude, kicked right out of the stadium,sir mager thumbs up dude please, never stop making these types of videos, so cool dude, high to the family,chau for now
Rally of Poland is my one favorite so much happen there ! Jumps, speed, dangerous driving just perfect to watch
My boss had the road version of this car. It was never a hardship to drop him off at the train station and drive the car home. 😁
Used to have a Celica of that Vintage and you're right, it's such a solid, balanced, yet light and nimble car....they last forever. It's actually not that small....just really well proportioned.
One of the true greats. If not even greatest. And unbelieveably humble guy. Been lucky to have seen him drive live when i was a kid.
You need to check juha's Finland 1998 onboard.
Stick shift, right foot braking and scandinavian flick instead of handbrake almost every time. Skill level is amazing.
Toyota rally cars at the time were prepared by Toyota Motorsports Europe in Germany (which also later became the Toyota F1 team factory. So the rally cars carried German Plates (and were left-hand drive, instead of being Right-Hand Drive like in Japanese, UK and Aussie markets)
He is a 4 time world champion.
Enjoyed you moving backwards when the car got out of shape at the start of the video. I had an 88 Gt4 and you had to work at it to get it sliding. The gooseneck on TT circuit was fun when the bikers sat on the edge with the road open 😂😂
Owned the st185 20 years ago or so. A fantastic car that will live with me forever.
My absolute favourite car of all time, driven by one of my favourite drivers. I was lucky enough to own a uk spec st185 Carlos sainz a few years ago and lived my dream.
Ps. Let's not forget that he's changing gears with one hand & steering with the other one! That's a good chunk of time one-handed! Awesome 🏁🏁🏁🏁
Kankkunen is in my opinion the best rally driver. 1000 Lakes Rally 1994, he rolled in his "home stage" (he lived along that road), had to drive that and next stage with 3 wheels until got to service. On 2 next stages he still had only FWD and engine was cutting. Then those got finally fixed in next service so he had a "functioning" car, frame probably twisted frame and some other issues but those didn't matter anymore.
I was there that year with few friends, on one of the first stages after Kankkunen got 4wd back on service. Other top factory drivers came first, very fast as usual, then some slower cars before slightly longer gap and we knew that he had been given a little bit extra space in front of him which was of course very reasonable, everyone knew that he would be fast. But no one of us guessed even close how fast...
Banging was the first sign he was coming, still took almost 2 minutes before he was there. We had a good spot where we could see a long part of stage and we were going to take some pictures. We forgot cameras completely when we saw how incredibly fast he was coming from previous corners and what lines he took over ditch edges, those were just so... unbelievable.
There was one curve where the ditch bank on forest side rose way above road. He didn't lift at all when he got to that corner (others had braked) and we really thought that there is not a slightest chance even him could keep that car on the road through that curve with that speed, this would be the end of his rally as he would roll very, very far away from the road.
Others had kept front wheel slightly on that ditch but not even close to what Kankkunen did. He just forced the car sideways well before the curve (somehow it seemed so easy), left a veeeery long line to that opposite bank with his front bumper, his other front wheel almost on that ditch too, still flat out and the exit speed from that curve was on totally another level compared to others, seemed like one gear higher.
It took us some time to fully realize what we had seen. Rally driving on a level that most likely none of us would never see again. And never did. We couldn't understand how he could keep the car on the road at the speeds he was going compared to others even though we were already "veterans" in rally spectating. The speed difference to other factory drivers through those corners was like WRC/national class type of difference.
None of us was much disappointed about the fact we didn't get any pictures because those wouldn't have been able to tell the real story of what happened. If only we have had a video camera then and managed to record that... Would have been that "once in a lifetime" clip.
For me and my friends Kankkunen will always be the greatest rally driver ever no matter how many titles others get. He was just.. phenomenal when he got into that complete attack mode.
Search "WRC Classics - Juha Kankkunen driving like a maniac @ 1000 Lakes Rally Finland 1994" in case the link I try to add in separate comment doesn't get published (happened too often here...). No english subtitles sadly but I think you still get something out of it ;)
You have to check more videos of him! There is sick video of him wrecki.g the car ob second stage of rally finland and literally on his home road, however he dropped to the last ones but rised up to 7th place with a point. I think the video was named "when juha kankkunen drove like maniac" or something
I sincerely hope you give us your reaction video about Kris Meeke doing Ouninpohja stage in Rally Finland 2016. You can find it from RUclips. Probably the best onboard footage of rallying I've ever witnessed as being a rally fan since 1997. That speed and going almost off the limits in every single second for 15 minutes is pure enjoyment.
Thanks Ian, because of your reactions I discover topics, people and videos I never knew about! Awesome driver!
A couple of minutes aboard that car as a passenger are sufficient to pooping on myself!! FANTASTIC DRIVER AND A VERY GOOD VIDEO! I also enjoyed a lot your comments ... thanks!
One of my favourite drivers from the golden era of rallying. From Group B in a 205 T16 through to the Celica and the Escort WRC. Have seen him live at the RAC rally a few times over the years but unfortunately he's never driven in my home country of Ireland
Kankkunen won rally world championship with that Toyota in 1993. He won a total of four times. He is Finnish. There is another Finn called Tommi Mäkinen who also won four times.
and tommi didnt have a drivers license back in the day
Although your Aussie English is pretty good you can add “saleekah” to your pronunciation of Celica. Great vid Rally drivers are next level.
I love watching your Rally videos. You might want to check out Colim Mcrae, a multi time world champion from Scotland. He drove the classic livery Subaru Impreza.
That was legendary Impreza blue who we all loved and fantasy to drive it same like Mitsubishi Evo 7
Juha is a rally legend, It was also a great car. I probably still have a poster from when I was a kid.
Ah, man... Happy days watching that. Following tje RAC Rally around the UK for a week watching those legends... bliss!
The first clip could well be from the UK.
Had the pleasure of watching him and others many times in the lombard race rally.
at 13:50 its a old german licence plate
Those men were in it to win it, not just "place well".. And yeah, Juha Kankkunen is one of the GOATs when it comes to WRC.
My favourite World Rally Car of all time was the Ford Sierra Cosworth (maybe the Escort). Awesome childhood memories!
Late '90s is the era when I fell in love with this sport. 😊
That reminds me on the wild Paris-Dakkar Times in the early 80s. Ari Vatanen did 200 kph on a flat part of dessert and was overtaken by an truck doing 240 kph, legendary DAf Truck with 1000 hp.
You should totally watch "UNIBET RIDE #1: WRC with Kalle Rovanperä, Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard"
Kalle Rovanperä WRC world champion (only 24 years old) and Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard F1 legends.
Juha Kankkunen
Legend.
I know its an overused term, but he is.
Juha, Ari vatanen, Stig Blomquist, all legends
Nicky Grist calling the notes here before he teamed up with Mcrae 👍🏼
3:10 was actually codrivers error, you can hear him immediately apologizing. Kankkunen almost hit the wall for wrong note and still corrected, in those conditions.
You need to watch Juha, just before Group B cars, he was wild, and still is a Legend!
Finally some rally again 😍
The best rally driver of all, was a Frenchman called Sebastein Ogier ( 9 consecutive world championships 2004-2012)-- see him set the Pikes Peak record 11/12 years ago-truely the best.
13:53 min This is an old German plate, and the show to the end it's Best Motoring what inspired Gran Turismo. The driver next to him is Takashi Ohi, one of the drivers who will help design the Gran Turismo.
That early Celica GT4 is such a kickass machine, but no wonder it is considering the competition at the time.
13:50 Old style German plate for the City of Cologne (Köln). A few Toyota Rally cars have been built in Germany by the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) Headquarters there. As far as I know ST165, ST185 (the car in the video) and the ST205.
He is and always will be "The Master" 😁
Kankkunen is Legend!
The nice thing about Group A cars is that they had to build 5000 of them, as opposed to the 200 they had to build for Group B, which means your chances of ever becoming the owner of the street version of a Group A car are way better than your chances of even driving a Group B road car.
13:47 That's a German plate from the city of Cologne, I believe either this very car or a similar year rally Celica is on display in their museum in Cologne.
A neighbor of mine (literally next block) has that exact Celica from the Bulgarian WRC circuit. And I mean even white with the same vinyls. Will try to take a shot when he opens his garage. 😅
Long time sub first comment .. I owned a gt4 wrc st205 with the video subject being a st185 my celica was nuts I had the homologation wrc variant which was 1 of 2500 road going variants to be sold before the rally car st205 could be used in group A (preceded wrc) competition .. I had the JDM version which boasted 259bhp over the Europe supplied 239hp version .. with a little work and unlocking my celica boasted 460hp and was an insane beast on the road with anti lag and water injection .. the homologation st205 also boasted twin cooling .. split through a water charge cooler and front mounted inercooler with the spray bar system cooling the intercooler by spraying mist at the fins and displacing the heat with vapour .. I would say that tyre choice needs to be specific with this car to obtain the monster grip it has .. thanks for the vid rocker
What is so cool about his driving, even though there were many good drivers over the times, is that only he made his car looking perfectly balanced (although it wasn't). If you watch closely, you will see most other driver's steering with a vertical axis at the front right after the windshield, while he has the vertical axis right in the middle of the car. You rarely get to see this. He handles the car nearly perfect.
Hi Ian, watching this, I thought you should love it:
"French Sophistication: 1949 Citroën Traction Avant - Jay Leno’s Garage", and
"1971 Citroën DS - Jay Leno's Garage"
Enjoy!
The RAC 93 had like 35 stages and very tough but during group B they had like 80 stages during 4-5 days. My dad did the RAC 2 times. They drove through the night the first day, had 6 hours sleep the next day, 3 hours the day after and so on. It was alot tougher than what it is now. My dad was the co-driver and on one stage they rolled up to the start line and during the countdown from 5 sec they both fell asleep and woke up when the marshall banged on their roof.