Imatra was one of the famous TT/RR circuits in 60's and 70's carrying lots of history. We spent the weekend watching the memorial race and competitors in the paddock area. The other option, seats are more than 1 km away and no way to come back to paddock during the day. Circuit was closed in 1986 and is nowadays part of the road network. They closed the roads for the race day. We saw, among many others,
125 cc: Pierpaolo Bianchi, Patrick Plisson, Börje Jansson
250 cc: Luigi Taveri, Christian Sarron, Jean-Francois Balde, Bruno Kneubuhler, Gianfranco Bonera, Roland Freymond, Mario Lega, Jim Redman, Mika Kallio
350 cc: Dieter Braun, Chas Mortimer, Pentti Korhonen
500 cc: Giacomo Agostini, Gianfranco Bonera, Phil Read, Marco Lucchinelli
750 cc: Teuvo Länsivuori
+ 18 sidecars, H1, H2, GT750 and many others.
All these great riders were on 2 or 3 wheels making 4 "parade" laps, full throttle of course. We had a chance to shake hands with them and get autographs. Great day!
Early morning, first pic shows ORIGINAL Jarno Saarinen bikes, there must be +100 replicas around now..
TZ 750 with original Nico Bakker frame:
Later on..
Giacomo Agostini: