Rally of the Thousand Lakes

Although Hannu Mikkola was leading in the early stages, a blown cylinlder head gasket in his Escort stopped him and the lead was taken over by Markku Alen in his Fiat 131 Abarth, above. Ari Vatanen (right) made valiant efforts to catch him but he had a few minor incidents in his works Escort which consumed vital seconds and could manage no better than second place. Leyland was using Pierburg electronic fuel injection for the first time on one of its TR7 V8s. There were many starvation problems but Per Eklund (below) nevertheless scored a good eighth place. An astounding sequel to this fine rally was a decision by the RSA to drop the event from the World Championship next year. More on this in Rally Review.