For one reason or another, Finnish drivers have been extraordinarily successful in motorsport, considering Finland is a relatively small country. This has been particularly noticed in rallying, a real showcase for this excellence being the yearly Finnish round of the Rally World Championship series, the legendary 1000 Lakes Rally, sometimes referred to as the 1000 Jumps rally.

Now, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this rally (the first was organized in 1951), a Finnish car museum called Mobilia organizes an exhibition featuring interesting rallying and racing cars as well as motorcycles that have helped the Flying Finns to success.

As a Renault enthusiast it's great to see two Renaults in this rather exclusive exhibition; the Renault 8 Gordini of Jukka Suvisalmi and the Renault 5 Turbo 'Tour de Corse' of Asko Mansikka-aho. As other marques are concerned, the highlight of the exhibition must be the ex-Hannu Mikkola short Audi Quattro S1 group B rally car with well over 500 bhp.

The exhibition opens on April 28th and is open till the end of year 2001, so if you're near Tampere, Finland, visit the Mobilia exhibition to see all the interesting cars live.

NB! The exhibition was still under construction when these pictures were taken, so decoration and lighting are still far from ready.

For more information, visit the Mobilia website at www.mobilia.fi.