If I were a Finnish Ralley Driver.....

[soareyes]

....I would wear a Hans device!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5NEnwp13g4&feature=player_embedded

And what's with the cheering from the spectators?


Stan

[Rod]

I hate when that happens

[moosetestbestanden]

I have always wondered why Finns, from one of the least populated countries on earth, do so well in a couple of endeavours: car racing, ski jumping etc. I theorized that the way it works is that all Finns are made to engage in those activities and a winnowing process is undertaken (pun intended). The result of this vetting is 2 or 3 Finns that are the best in the world, and all the other Finns, cripples.

This video proves my theory is correct.

[magnusfeuer]

Or they may only be extremely bad ass as a people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Winter_War

Check out the causalities and losses at the right side of the page.

/Magnus F.

[Doug Liedblad]

I found this reading some WWII history a year or so back:

Just an example of how convoluted wars can get.

From some 1940 Finnish history....

"No need to worry, the Swedish pilots in German aircraft with US propellers will make the Soviets think twice before attacking this Finnish base in Sweden with their American (lend-lease) bombers."

[magnusfeuer]

Just to muddle it up some more.

Finland used to be a part of Sweden until we f-cked it up with Russia and had to give them independence under a strong Russian influence.

Finns in Sweden are lovingly known for their preference to fight with knives. The phrase the Finns utter before they carve you up is: "Inte sأ¤ra, para rispa", which is Swedish with a heavy Finnish accent that translates to "No cutting, only scratching."

We stay away from them when they are drunk, which is always.

/Magnus F.

[mopho]

Finnish Rally drivers have Sisu!


I've been drunk with a few Finnish Rally folks, pretty wild times, managed to escape with no scratches (at least none that I wasn't responsible for)

[Sean]

I think learning how to drive in a place where traction is scarce forces one to learn car control.

[moosetestbestanden]

The book 'A Frozen Hell' covers the winter war comprehensively. The Finns did well, but not entirely because of themselves. As detailed in the Wiki, Stalin had just purged all of his generals and the replacements were incompetent sycophants. They employed WW1 tactics in a WW2 world. And the average Russian soldier at the time was one minute a peasant farmer and the next minute an untrained conscript (literally taken off of the street, kidnapped by their own government) stood in line being lead to slaughter.

One account in the book details how the men at a Finnish machine gun nest literally broke down crying and ceased firing because they had slaughtered so many men

It's a great read, detailing not only the major battles of the war but also the politics of the era.