Pekko Iivonen and Joona Haatanen are the best in the world of RC or miniature car racing. The sport offers the charm of speed at a small cost.
- The RC cars used in competitions are not some toy store games.
- Iivonen and Haatanen have been successful in the sport both in Finland and around the world.
- The duo praises the sport as a great hobby for the whole family, where expenses are kept under control.
An old industrial building in Vantaa’s Hakkila hides a fast-paced secret.
When you open the right door, a race track spreads out in front of your eyes, surrounded by cars roaring along. Wild jumps and millimeter-precise driving lines require a lot of courage and skill from the driver.
Pekko Iivonen and Joona Haatanen hold the Finnish flags high on the world’s RC tracks. Rosa Bröijer
Good news for those interested: These cars can be driven by people of any size. There is no need to measure the stern, because there is no need to squeeze inside the main beam.
It is enough that the controller remains in the hand.
The price of the sport is relative
Don’t be mistaken for thinking that this car is the same as the one on the toy store shelf. Rosa Bröijer
RC ie radio-controlled is, according to its English version, a radio-controlled car.
But no, these are not the same toys that children admire on store shelves.
Toy is the last word to call these.
Pro tricks cost money, but everything is relative. The duo estimates that they will spend around a thousand euros on the racing equipment.
Sure, that’s a lot of money, but the sport is still at the cheapest end when it comes to motorsports.
Schumacher, but not F1
Iivonen is Schumacher’s factory driver. The name is not related to formula one. Rosa Bröijer
When Joona Haatanen answers the question of how his profession is viewed, you can pick up a tone of frustration in the laughter.
– People really don’t understand. When someone asks what I do for a living, they have no idea what RC racing is really about.
The image of children’s play equipment has stuck in people’s minds. Everyone’s imagination would be guaranteed to change when they got to try an RC racer.
It is a piece of technical skill tuned to its peak, even in miniature.
– People don’t understand how much development work goes into such cars., Pekko Iivonen states.
Iivonen’s shirt says “Schumacher”. However, the European champion of the sport does not tell his favorite from the formula world, but he advertises his employer.
Schumacher is a British RC car manufacturer, and Iivonen is its factory driver.
– After a couple of fights, someone shouted at me “Häkkinen was better”, Iivonen laughs, telling about the misunderstandings he experienced.
Haatanen also introduces himself with the status of a factory driver. The employer of the EC bronze medalist is the American Team Associated.
Chisel should stay in hand
Haatanen has been racing since he was a child. Rosa Bröijer
Although the RC car is small, its adjustment possibilities are enormous.
A screwdriver is the driver’s friend when he adjusts the car’s shock absorbers, the angles of the support arm, weight distribution and numerous other nuances that go from the basic lump to the flake.
In this regard, Haatanen compares RC car racing to the royalty of motor sports.
– Everything possible can be adjusted in cars. Development work plays a really big role, and in addition to driving skills, you also need to know how to adjust the car to be successful.
Neither of the young men is an engineer. Over the years, the secrets of cars have been learned by the familiar “trial-and-error” technique. You learn and get help by doing.
– Many top drivers make online videos where they teach about car adjustments, Haatanen says.
A great family sport
On the track, victory and disaster are separated by only a couple of centimeters. Rosa Bröijer
Both love the sport as a blood inheritance. Both Haatanen and Iivonen got to know the sport through their father.
– This is a great shared hobby if a parent and child think of something to do together, Haatanen praises.
The young blue-and-white RC drivers can run into multiple Finnish champions in domestic competitions, but mainly Iivonen and Haatanen compete abroad. There, the market for RC cars is huge compared to Finland.
The hunger for success drove both of them beyond their limits from a young age.
– I don’t even remember my first competition abroad, I was so young then. But it went so well that the Americans there took an interest in me. They sent the father a message and asked if he would be interested in cooperation, Haatanen recalls.
Not for the money
Haatanen and Iivonen hope that the sport will provide them with a living long into the future. Rosa Bröijer
Both are factory drivers, but the question “what does that mean?” to smile. It doesn’t compare to the F1 world, where the driver himself doesn’t have to do anything but arrive at the race venue and be ready to drive.
However, this work is not done for money.
– You don’t get paid for this. But travel expenses are reimbursed and you don’t have to pay for cars or their parts, Haatanen explains.
– Expenses are at a minimum, Iivonen sums up.
However, you can get a profession from RC driving. That would mean getting into the shoes of a car manufacturer to test, develop and market cars by racing.
Then there is a chance to get nice jobs. The top names in RC motoring earn six-figure sums a year. Such sums show that it is not just a joke.