A classic story of speed and danger is showing at Helsinki's Sports Museum, just over the hill from the screaming thrill-seekers at Linnanmäki Amusement Park. Motorcycle racer Jarno Saarinen lived fast.
Jarno Saarinen was young, handsome and fast. He looked like a rockstar and drove a fancy motorcycle. In the early 1970s, motorcycles were in fashion. They were developing rapidly, and getting bigger all the time. The talented Saarinen was set to become the greatest motorcycle racer ever – but destiny stepped in.
He was a motorcycle racer for a new era. Nicknamed "Baron," he was a perfectionist who constantly got his hands dirty fixing his racing bikes. Later, even after Yamaha put two engineers at his disposal, he checked his bike himself. He had, after all, graduated as valedictorian from engineering school.
Saarinen was Finnish motorcycle champion from 1969 to 1972. After the fourth championship, Yamaha finally noticed the rising international star and gave him a support team at the start of 1973. Until that, his only assistant had been his lovely young wife, Soili.
Inventing a new style
"I wasn't in the pit as just a pretty figure," Soili says now. "I was his only help, his whole team." She was the one standing by the track holding a signboard with lap times. She still remembers vividly how Jarno drove:
"He was incredible. He invented a new style of motorcycling: he turned his knee towards the track, making his bike turn horizontal when in a curve." Saarinen's knee almost touched the ground on the curves, an innovative style that was soon copied by others. It looked risky, but Saarinen himself was a truly calm person. He didn't race on tracks he felt were too dangerous.
In a 1972 championship race Saarinen challenged the great Italian Giacomo Agostini. Agostini had to agree he'd met his equal when he suffered his first defeat in five years. The Flying Finn won the 1972 World 250-CC Championship.
Destiny lurks
The next year started well, with Saarinen winning five out of six starts. On May 20 a Grand Prix race in Monza, Italy became his destiny. Saarinen was in third place going into the Curva Grande. In front of him, Italian Renzo Pasolini lost control of his bike. Saarinen could not pass him, hit Pasolini and fell as well. Both died immediately.
The popular youth magazine Suosikki published a poster of him, and hundreds of boys and girls put it up in their rooms.
Starring again
This summer Saarinen is the star again. His bikes, racing overalls and World Championship prizes are on show in the Sports Museum in Helsinki, situated in the 1952 Olympic Stadium. On the way, you might want to go up the stadium’s 72-metre tower to experience a view over the entire Finnish capital. It's a great time to catch this attraction before the tower closes for renovation in September 2010.
After the exhibition, you yourself might want some speed in your life. Luckily there is a safer way than motorcycle racing. Just behind the Olympic Stadium and up the hill, you'll find Linnanmäki Amusement Park, one of Helsinki's most popular tourist attractions.
