We can finally provide you some more info about the 10th Raid Laponie. The big number of participants and enquiries have kept us busy.

We have accepted more than 80 people into the group and there are still more in the waiting list. This is going to be the biggest Raid Laponie ever - and very challenging for us organisers. The raid is still organised on an amateur basis so hopefully you will understand our limited capabilities with such a big group. Any volunteer help
for the organisation will be appreciated.

There was a cancellation by team 15 Bolt/Visser and they have been replaced by a new French team. Rik Janssen (team 11) also has a co-driver, Frans van Riel from Belgium. Team 26 Tölg now has 3 people as Bimbo eventually could join us.

Please, notify us about changes or errors in theparticipant list by returning the Enquiry Form to us by 20th December. This info will be also mailed in ordinary post to all the teams (driver's address) registered. Keep your co-driver informed. If you need to cancel, please inform us immediately. Last minute cancels may bring additional difficulties to all raiders.

It will become quite crowded in some overnight spots. We hope 2CV people will prove social in this respect. Sometimes part of the group should be prepared to sleep on the floors or in a heated tent. Our accommodation quality varies from hotels to modest lodging in common
rooms or cabins.

Accommodation does not always include bedding. You need to bring a good quality sleeping bag and a mattress, especially if you like to try sleeping in a tent. A sleeping bag may be useful also in case of unexpected stops and health problems.

There are no changes in the dates which are 5.15.2.2004. Every evening we hold a driver´s meeting "Ajajakokous" (memorize the word) where the next days plans will be explained to detail. Keep the raid information we send you in good order, please. It will be the most important source of information for you. If you want to use a partly different route from the others, always let the organisers know about it in advance. Due to practical reasons, the accommodation must be booked in advance, you can not make impulsive changes of overnight spots during the raid.

BASIC PRINCIPLES
* the participation fee (60 Euros/person) covers the costs of organisation only. When you registered, you paid a minimum of 60 e/team and the rest will be paid according to the number of participants when you join the Raid Laponie. If you cancel your trip, the fee will not be returned.

* everyone participates entirely at own risk and responsibility. Remember to take a sufficient and car insurance.

* the organisers arrange the accommodation and make a route proposal. For all the other things you may decide yourself. The accommodation and some special programmes are paid separately by the participants.
If you do not want to share a part of the program, you must inform the organisers before the start of the raid.

* only 2CVs and derivates may take part. The cars must be in legal condition and properly prepared according to the written info from the organizers. Winter tyres required. Leave your trailer at home

* the raid is not recommended for small children or pets

ENQUIRY FORM
Separatately, you will receive our Enquiry/Confirmation Form. Please fill it in carefully and send it back - by post, not by email. Correct the possible errors in your data. If you do not know all the details yet, you can send the missing ones later. The most important thing is to know that you will participate for sure.

EMAIL AND THE INTERNET
We are very glad that most you have an email address. It is very practical for us or anybody having something to say to other raiders. Just copy the addresses from the recipient field or use "Superfinnmail" (explained below). If you have an email address which we do not know yet, let us know. Teams without email will receive the infos by post.

Gert-Jan ssssssf has set up "Superfinmail" mailing list in the Internet. The registered users will receive all the messages from fellow raiders and the participants of previous raids . If you are not already there, you can start by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Superfinnmail/ or contact Gert-Jan at superfin@home.nl . Used it for chatting anything concerning Raid Laponie, 2CV or Lapland: questions, greetings, jokes...

Last raid we had a superb Internet diary arranged by Tante Rik, and we will have something like that again.

Have a look at the fine Raid Laponie web pages at
http://www.sitruuna.com/raidlaponie/ . You can access the "raiders only" area with the password "sssf" (write anything in the "name" area). Please, send in your photos, greetings etc. to be included in the participant list there. Our webmaster is Nalle Karhu (team 14), send the material to: nalle@citroen-hy.com All the informations we have sent will be available in the web. If you try to get a sponsor, ask them to visit these pages. We promise to update them frequently before the raid.

PREPARATIONS FOR YOUR 2CV
You should have received the separate info for preparations for your 2CV. Please, do all the preparations in advance. Do not suppose you can do anything during the raid. It will be too busy, cold and dark.

Winter tyres are very important and studs are recommended. Studs do not help in snow, but most of the roads we use can be covered with plain ice. Anyway, good friction tyres (studless/ spikeless M+S) will also do the job, but you just need to have a little more precaution.
In Finland even foreign cars must use winter tyres during the months of December, January and February on Finnish roads. From border or harbour you may drive with normal tyres to the closest changing spot. If stopped by the police with summer wheels, you can show the Raid
infoletter.

It is recommended to put the better tyres in the rear axle. If your 2CV is heavily loaded it is dangerous if you lose the grip at rear before the front. When driving in a convoy, it is important to keep long distances and those without studs must be driving in front. In Scandinavia there is no particular speed limit for stud tyres. You can use sizes 125, 135 or even 145 x 15. Snow chains may also help in
some tricky situations.

If you need to rent spiked winter tyres, let us know early enough (use the Enquiry Form). The tyres are coming from private club members and the tyres are all second hand ones. The rent is 60 e/set of 4 tyres on rims for the duration of the Raid. The user is responsible for possible damages to the rented tyres. If you get a flat tyre stop immediately, do not continue driving.

We are just happy if you can arrange the tyres yourself. Karsten Schreiber has a set of used winter tyres with spikes for sale. Mark Lewis (team 31)has a set of Vredestein's 155 x 15 winter tyres (no spikes) to hire. His tyres will be available in Finland. Burton Car sells brand new Michelin winter tyres (with stud holes) in Holland,
contact Gerjo Kip (team 22) if interested. Automeca (see Matti Lampila, team 19) can arrange new studded Michelin tyres in Finland. Michelin friction tyres seem to be still available in Germany at www.franzose.de. You can also use the front winter tyres of Smart car, Continental for example, they are OK.

TRAFFIC REGULATIONS
The Nordic countries have very strict drink & drive laws. Norway is only allowing 0.1 milligrams of alcohol per litre of blood, in Sweden the limit is 0.2 promilles and in Finland 0,5. Police checks, including breath tests, are often made along the roads. If you are caught driving under the influence of alcohol, it can mean your driver's licence will be taken by the police immediately. This would make a sad end for your raid, so be careful.

Although it may not be a problem, you should keep in mind that overspeeding in Finland may become rather expensive for you. If you are driving about 5-20 km/h over the limit you may need to pay up to 100 euros, and if you are driving even faster your punishment will depend on your monthly incomes. The highest speeding ticket so far in
Finland has been about 50 000 euros! In cities and villages thenormal speed limit is 50 or 40 km/h and on the highways 80 or 100 km/h.

Headlights must be used at all times. Seat belts front and rear are obligatory.

Scandinavia is heavily forested; as a result there are a lot of "animal" warning signs posted. Elks, deer, and reindeer are commonly seen during the Raid Laponie so these signs must be taken seriously.

When you meet a snowplough on the road, slow down and prepare for a "snowcloud" with very poor visibility for some time. Do not stop, because the car behind you cannot se what you are doing.

COMMUNICATIONS
Car to car communucations are made with CB phones (normally FM, some Finns may have AM only). The organisers can be reached at channel 6. In our meetings we can agree which channel the different countries or
groups normally use.

Most people have GSM phones and sending short (SMS) messages is not so expensive. Of course the phones are very useful in case of emergency as the net covers most of our route. Emergency calls are made with 112 in Scandinavia and can be used directly by a GSM phone
(In Norway: fire and rescue: 110, police 112, medical 113). Let us know your GSM number and we will publish a list of numbers before the start.

THE WEATHER
The winter is more or less on time here this year. In Lapland there is already some snow and temperatures going down to -20...-30°C during the nights. The temperatures vary a lot in wintertime, we can expect anything from +5 to -40°C. First weeks of February are the coldest according to the statistics. Along the coastlines, it is often much warmer and snow may disappear even in February. Near the Arctic Sea, the roads are often very icy and snowstorms are usual.
Good preparations will make your journey an enjoyable one in any weather conditions. The low temperature record of all times in Finland is -52,4°C at Kittilä from 1998. Last few raids have been quite "warm" so hopefully this one is much colder, but who knows.

The daylight only lasts a few hours in the North so let's not waste it. Anyway, we cannot avoid driving in the dark daily. Still, it can be quite an enjoyment with the white snow all around nicely illuminated by the headlights of your 2CV.

For daily weather reports in internet, see http://www.fmi.fi/weather (select a location). There are also interesting weather cameras reachable at: http://www.wetteronline.de/ (choose webcam, then Europe and Finland...)

We will arrange a little competition to the raiders. Guess the lowest temperature during the trip. It will be measured by Jukka's "official raid thermometer" with min/max memory function. We will collect your guesses in the Enquiry Form. There will be a nice prize for the winner in the end of our trip.

HOW TO COME TO FINLAND
You are free to join and leave the Raid where and whenever you wish, if you let us know in advance. Give us the date when you arrive/join/leave. Please make your ferry booking early enough.

Ferry connections between Sweden and Finland
The cheapest ferry routes are for example Stockholm-Helsinki or Stockholm-Turku operated by Silja Line (www.silja.fi), Viking Line (www.vikingline.fi), and Seawind Line (www.seawind.fi ).

Combitickets including the ferries to Denmark and Sweden may be also available. The Northernmost all year ferry (interesting ice conditions) runs Umeå-Vaasa by RG-line (www.rgline.com). If you use this one, you can join the raid with Jukka (accommodation possible in Vaasa). An alternative on your way back, too.

Ferry connections between Estonia and Finland
If you prefer to travel along "Via Baltica" you have the possibility to take a ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki. Try for example Silja Line (www.silja.fi), Viking Line (www.vikingline.fi), tallink (www.tallink.fi).

Ferry connections between Germany and Finland
Take a ferry from Rostock to Hanko (Superfast ferries,
www.superfast.com) or a combi-ferry from Travemünde to Helsinki (Finncarriers Ro-Ro ferries, www.ferrycenter.fi). Rostock-Hanko takes about 22 hours and Travemünde-Helsinki 36 hours.

If you need a place to stay in Helsinki, let us know and we try to arrange a cheap place. For this contact Veikko Jousmäki (veikko@neuro.hut.fi). One possibility is Eurohostel close to the harbour (www.eurohostel.fi,
tel +358-9-6220470, fax -655044).

For information about Lapland in internet, you can try for example: http://www.mek.fi/ (Finnish Travel Bureau),
http://www.visit-sweden.com/gb/frontpage.asp ,
http://www.visitnorway.com/ . Inform the other raiders if you find useful links in the internet.

SPONSORS
We trying to get a few sponsors for the raid. Negotiations are still going on. We would be very happy, if you could get a smaller or bigger one even for the whole group. To get the benefits from the sponsors you are asked to carry their stickers in your car.

THE COSTS
Finland uses Euros, but not Sweden or Norway which both have their own national currency (Swedish and Norwegian Crowns). It will be difficult to use Euros there. Norway is also not a member in EU. Normally cash works best when you pay, credit cards are widely accepted too, but do not rely on them alone. Usually the organisers have to collect the money at the driver´s meetings in cash for the
accommodation. Keep enough Euros in cash for this purpose. Change the money you need in advance because it can be difficult to find exchange spots in Lapland. Petrol can be bought also from automats which work with bank notes and sometimes with credit cards. In Finland there are 24 hour automats in almost every station. In Sweden
and Norway it may be more difficult.

When counting the costs, consider accommodation, petrol (1 -1,3 e/litre), fees for special programmes and visits, possible rent of the winter tyres and in addition all your personal consumption like food and drinks. The price level here is a little higher than in Central Europe. Norway is more expensive. Good meals in average restaurants cost 6...10 e. The lunchtime (11-14) on weekdays is cheapest. Alcoholic drinks (incl. beer) are rather costly.

OTHER THINGS
Good clothes, shoes, handgloves and a warm hat will avoid you from freezing. You sure do not want to get ill during the raid. Keep your feet always warm and dry. A raincoat and waterproof shoes can be useful sometimes. The wind is more an enemy than the low temperatures. Better to use many thin layers of clothing than just a thick one. Do not forget the sunglasses and protective vaseline (without water !) for your skin. Lighter indoor shoes can be a good
idea, too. For clothes or equipment, we recommend to look for them in cities in the Southern part of Finland. Shops are not that easy to find in the North and the prices may be higher (although stuff of good quality normally).

If you have cross-country skis, it might be a good idea bringing them with you. They are not very expensive in Finland, too.

For cooking outdoors, use spirit burning cookers. The gas ones do not always work if it is too cold. Most of the overnight spots have cooking facilities and sometimes a breakfast is included in the price. Remember that any liquid can freeze if left in your car. Beer cans will explode and glass bottles break. The oil will not come out
from the can. We have even seen cognac frozen in -40C. A good idea is to keep liquids in a thermo basket. Reserve also some dry food as an emergency backup.

Safety tips: remember to take a good light torch, matches, a reflector (the plastic glittering thing to attach in your outdoor clothing) and warm extra clothes with you whereever you go.

Finnish time is one hour ahead of the Central European time. Norway and Sweden are in the the Central European timezone.

If you play an instrument, there is a good chance to join the "Raid Laponie Igloo Band". Let us know!

We will print Raid Laponie stickers in two sizes and a name sticker, too. Every team will get some at start. Extra stickers, t-shirts, postcards etc. will be available at the "Raid Shop".

If you are interested in bringing 2CV spare parts or even a whole car for sale in Finland, contact us.

The official raid language is English.

Die offizielle Sprache während der Raid ist Englisch. Für weitere Informationen oder Übersetzungen in Deutsch, steht Euch gerne Nicole Ahtokivi zur Verfügung (team 3).

Als je iets te vragen hebt over de Raid Laponie of Lapland revaringen in het Nederlands, kan je contact opnemen met je wenden tot Gert-Jan van Asperen sf (Team 2).

Looking forward to seeing you in the 10th Raid Laponie,