Tauno Olavi Nurmi (25 April 1922 in

Kangasala Kangasala is a city in Finland which is situated about 16 kilometres East of Tampere. The city was founded in 1865 and had a population of people as of . Kangasala covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Finnish ...

– 18 December 2014 in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...

) was a Finnish motorcycle racing driver, an innovator and an accomplished veteran athlete.Ville Vasaramäki, "Opettaja, tekniikan uranuurtaja ja menestynyt veteraaniurheilija" (eulogy), ''Aamulehti'', 4.1.2015

Life

In 1944, during the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrie ...

between Finland and the Soviet Union, Nurmi took part in the battles at the Teikar Island (currently in Russian

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

) and was injured in battle.

Technical innovator

Nurmi started his career in

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

as a planner for Valtion lentokonetehdas (Finnish State Aircraft Factory) and as a teacher of Technical Studies at Parantolaopisto and later at

Pälkäne Pälkäne () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa regions of Finland, region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which . The population density is . Onkkaala is the adm ...

School. Besides his occupation as a teacher, Tauno Nurmi maintained an active career as an independent innovator in the technical field, especially in engine technology, for most of his life. His work was supported financially by several international oil companies as well as the Finnish government. Nurmi's accomplishments as an innovator and a technician supersede those as a racing driver. His independently constructed V8 Premier racing motorcycle received global interest in its time. The V8 Premier was a 350cm3 V8-powered 4-stroke motorcycle engine with a V angle of 90°. The engine was air-cooled and each of its cylinders had its own carburetor."http://www.motorcyclesport.net/"
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Racing driver

Tauno Nurmi was one of the pioneers of

motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. ...

and construction in Finland. He started his career as a TT motorcycle racer by winning the Estonian Nationals at the Pirita track in the 500 cm3 series. In the World Cup, he achieved several finishing positions in the top 10 and these international achievements entitled him to win bronze in 1962 and 1963, and silver in 1966 in the Finnish Cup. He was awarded with the gold medal by the Finnish Motor Association in 1965.

Masters athlete

Later in life, Tauno Nurmi became an active athlete in different masters sports events, competing especially in

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skati ...

. He won several medals in speed skating until the men's 85 series on the World, European and National level.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nurmi, Tauno 1922 births 2014 deaths Finnish motorcycle racers Finnish male speed skaters People from Kangasala Sportspeople from Pirkanmaa