Eläintarhan ajot ( Finnish: ''Suomen Suurajot; Suomen Grand Prix'') was a Finnish motor racing competition arranged between years 1932 and 1963 in

Eläintarha Eläintarha () is a large park in central Helsinki, Finland. The park serves as a divisor between the districts of Töölö to the west, and Hakaniemi and Kallio to the east. The southern half of the park includes two bays of the Baltic Sea: Töö ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland. The idea for the race came from a racing driver,

S. P. J. Keinänen S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

. Its racing history included the pre-war Finnish Grand Prix.

First race

The first

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

-race was a success and it attracted around 25,000 spectators. There were ten cars in the first start, six of them Finnish and four Swedish. The very first win went to the Swede

Per Viktor Widengren Per or PER may refer to: Places * Peru (IOC country code) * Pér, a village in Hungary * Perthshire (Chapman code), historic county in Scotland Science and technology * Physics education research * Packed Encoding Rules, in computing, an ASN.1 wi ...

who drove a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

, second to qualify was S. P. J. Keinänen in a

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

and the third place went to

Karl Ebb Karl Alfred "Kalle" Ebb (5 September 1896 – 2 August 1988) was an athlete and racing driver. He represented Finland at the Summer Olympics in athletics and was Finland's first internationally successful driver. Born in Turku, he gained select ...

driving a

Motorcycles

Motorcycle races were also held from the beginning – the first motorcycle win was also taken by a Swede –

Gunnar Kalén Gunnar is a male first name of Nordic origin (''Gunnarr'' in Old Norse). The name Gunnar means fighter, soldier, and attacker, but mostly is referred to by the Viking saying which means Brave and Bold warrior (''gunnr'' "war" and ''arr'' "warrior ...

. The best-placed Finn was

Raine Lampinen Raine is a given name and surname derived from any of several personal names (such as Raymond or Lorraine). Notable people with the name include: Given name * Raine Allen-Miller (born 1989), English film director * Raine Baljak (born 1996), Fil ...

who finished second in the lower class.

Last race

The Eläintarha race was an annual happening in

for almost 30 years until the final race was held in 1963. The winner of this last race was

Timo Mäkinen Timo Mäkinen (18 March 1938 in Helsinki, Finland – 4 May 2017) was a Finnish race car driver and one of the original "Flying Finns" of motor rallying. He is best remembered for his hat-trick of wins in the RAC Rally and the 1000 Lakes Rally. ...

, although the main start (

Formula Junior Formula Junior was an international single-seater auto racing, motor racing category that existed between 1958 and 1963. Devised by Italian motorsport promoter Count Giovanni "Johnny" Giovanni Lurani, Lurani, the formula was created as an ac ...

) was canceled after a fatal accident. At the start a driver (whose identity has not been confirmed) hit

Curt Lincoln Curt Richard Lincoln (8 October 1918 – 28 August 2005) was a Finnish racing driver who was one of the most famous race car drivers in Finland. He also played Davis Cup tennis for Finland. Early life Born in Stockholm, Lincoln moved to Helsinki ...

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

BT6 (Formula Junior), and the car slid to the left side of track. Most drivers managed to avoid a collision but the Swedish

Örjan Atterberg Örjan (OErjan) is an old Swedish male name originating from the Low German name ''Jurian'' or ''Jurien'' which is a variant of George. The Name Day in Sweden is July 9. The Norwegian version of the name is Ørjan. The name has been present i ...

hit his countryman

Freddy Kottulinsky Winfried Philippe Adalbert Karl Graf Kottulinsky Freiherr von Kottulin, better known as Freddy Kottulinsky (20 July 1932 – 4 May 2010), was a German-Swedish racing and rallying driver who won the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1980. He was born in Mu ...

. Unfortunately Atterberg's car flipped over and the driver was pinned under his vehicle. As a result of the crash Atterberg sustained fatal injuries. The race was stopped by the race officials one minute after crash and the jury told the race was over. As the setup was considered too dangerous this was the final race to be conducted on the city circuit. The racing events that followed the ill-fated Eläintarha race were held at

Keimola Motor Stadium The Keimola Motor Stadium (, ) was a dedicated race track located in Vantaa, Finland. It was founded by Finnish racing driver Curt Lincoln after the closure of the Eläintarha track in 1963. Construction started in 1965 and the track was opened o ...

between 1966–1978. In the 1930s motor racing events were also arranged couple of times in

Munkkiniemi Munkkiniemi (; , Helsinki slang: ''Munkka'') is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in Helsinki. Subdivisions within the district are Vanha Munkkiniemi, Kuusisaari, Lehtisaari, Helsinki, Lehtisaari, Munkkivuori, Niemenmäki an ...

, a residential district in northwest Helsinki.

Afterwards

The race has been arranged three times since to honour its memory – the first time was in 1982, then 1992 and the last time was in 2002. In the 1992 event

Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (, ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995) was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "el Chueco" and "el Maestro", Fangio won five Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and—at the ti ...

was present. Around 2005, a detailed and driveable virtual recreation of the circuit appeared for the

Grand Prix Legends ''Grand Prix Legends'' is a computer racing simulator developed by Papyrus Design Group and published in 1998 by Sierra On-Line under the Sierra Sports banner. It is inspired by the 1967 Formula One season and includes the teams Brabham, B ...

historical racing simulation.

Statistics

*Active years: 1932–39 and 1946–63 *Circuit length: (1932), (from 1933) *Lap record:

David Hitches David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lol ...

Mk 5 Ford, time: 57.1 seconds/ (1963) *Most spectators: 82,597 (1958) *Most wins:

(14)

Results 1932–1963

References

External links

Video archive – Eläintarhanajot

YLE Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elaintarhanajot National Grands Prix Finnish Grand Prix Defunct motorsport venues in Finland Pre-World Championship Grands Prix Pre-World Championship Grand Prix circuits Formula One non-championship races 20th century in Helsinki Recurring sporting events established in 1932 Sports competitions in Helsinki 1932 establishments in Finland 1963 disestablishments in Finland