Raid Laponie Calendar for 2005
Mark Lewis has compiled a nice wall calendar of different pictures (by different raiders) from the 10th Raid. You can freely download the PDF file of the calendar by clicking the image on the right.
Mark can also print the calendar and bind copies for people at a cost of 10 euro each plus post etc. Contact Mark directly <mark4x4lewis@yahoo.co.uk> and let him know the number of calendars you need and your postal address.
Thank you Mark for doing this great work for us!

There is also a nice photo album of Alain´s raid pictures available.

The 10th Raid Laponie is over.

On this page you can find some rather nostalgic after-Raid feelings...

10. Raid Laponie on ohi.

Tälle sivulle on koottu osallistujain haikeita Raidin jälkeisiä tunnelmia.

Raid photos on http://www.citroen-2cv.org.uk/Events/2004Lapide.htm

G'day everyone,

A communal letter to try and contact as many people as possible. Peta is in Swan Hill, Australia, half way through the fifth Raid Australia Citroen 2CV event having spent a lot of the first half in the dusty outback roads. The outback desert 'town' of Innamincka is cut off from the north by the flooded Coopers Creek running 3 metres over the causeway. As most tourists visit this area in the milder winter months, they do not get to see this interesting site. The various cars have had varying responses to the conditions. Other campers are always amused when we tip a 2CV on its side to weld the chassis or underside. It only takes four strong people and a couple of tyres to do this. A lot of suspension arms have bent or cracked. Far more than I would've expected but we have a lot of first time Raiders who do not know how to handle their cars on the dirt roads. I've had a couple of minor problems only (like the knife edge). It's the Raiders themselves that have suffered more. Many are uncomfortable off the bitumen - but what else did they think that they were signing up to? For one night, as Raid Organiser, I put them up in an underground motel in White Cliffs - an outback opal mining community - which was a real luxury after the rougher camping that they'd had. Some places only had a long drop loo - and no water. For those in the northern hemisphere - I am getting an early summer tan but because Australia is now heading into Autumn and the Raid is moving south, the tan may fade before my return. My health is still coming good slowly. The fresh air (and numerous flies) must be doing the trick. I'm enjoying eating all the foods of my childhood and experiencing the wide open spaces again. One British car got lost outback one day when he went off on his own without a group. I think the scare of being in such a vast space has kept him linked closely with a group ever since. Now I'm taking them into the more populous areas (by Australian standards) and the High Plains - places not assumed to be typically Australian by Europeans as they tend to be colder, wetter and greener and even a ski resort. It should be good fun if they don't drive off the edge of a cliff on the windy gravel roads!

Have fun wherever you are as I'm trying to have fun between the organising of this wonderful event.

Peta

Jukka and Nalle,

Well there has been a little snow but not much to speak of so I have spent the last few nights trying to find an easy guide to web sites. As a result I have managed to upload all 154 shots Tim and I took and they can be found at

I have yet to send you a CD of all the high res shots plus the paper but
this took a bit longer than expected.

4x4 is still in raid spec, in fact I still have not fully unpacked it. To
put the back seats in means I really wont be playing in the snow for a long long time...

Thanks again for a top time and fantastic memories...

Mark 4x4 Lewis sf

http://www.cig.canon-europe.com/album/sharerec.html?id=C158D07D1D1D7DAB8D1118B6869C2D9D&locale=nl_NL

hello raiders of the lost winter.

i´m dreaming that i´m sitting in my office and when I wake up I pack my bags, put it in the car and hit the engine, waiting for the strong reply by minus 28°.

or am i driving another x-hundred km on snow and ice in the dark, dreaming that i´m sitting in my office…….

who knows – not me.

raid laponie has changed my life.

my admiration to the hyperfinns for bringing it on the ground:

jukka, the one who did more for european community than the eu-government,

henkka, “do you have any experience in starting a 2cv at -40°?” – “yes, only the worst”, the one cooler than an iceberg,

veikko, always full of patience with the mideuropeans fighting with their not starting engines – mr. superSTARTfinn

real winter has disappeared in our countries, fleeing to the north – and we were raiding for it.

thank you for the once in a lifetime experience of -44.4 in COLDCAPE naruska, and sorry jukka, I have a very reliable witness that odyssee had started completely natural with only one hit for maybe more than 1 minute! :-)

i was NOT sleeping in the tent there (only gert jan was imitating a kind of snoring) :-) because the stove lighted the place with red gleam, my feet there were nice, but the parts upper were very bad so i shivered myself through the night……..

i remember me celebrating starting competition there from 8:30 to 3:30, building out completely iced spark plugs a lot of times, having tools glued to the skin of my fingers and pulling a snowwhite ami8 for km and km and km – then didier horned, the engine ran and we were dancing together like crazy in the middle of nowhere.

the snowscootering in hetta was cancelled, too low temperatures and i went into heavy fever for days.

if i would have the same fun here in austria they would send me to jail – in lapland i was free to do it: to slide, to make u-turns and to fly on the frozen skin of arctic areas with my dyane and with odyssee, guided by the marvels of those impressive northern lights, when the lasting sunset changes directly to polar lights.

time to look forward: in the middle of july (15-18) i will give myself a 2cv meeting as a birthday gift. everybody here is invited. there will be some sound and visual equipment, so maybe we can watch some pictures, slides or movies there together. the place is at the german border at passau, so it´s quite near even for finns (just another piece of the cake jukka).

you are honestly welcome.

let´s fight together the after raid lag.

arne

27.2.2004
Today ca. 15 cm snow in Belgium. One big chaos.

Alain
---

Tante Rik also told me whole Belgium has stopped because of this
dangerous white stuff.

Jukka
----

Yes, I'm home today, doing some housekeeping stuff, enjoying the snow.
People just drive as crazy men, not keeping distance. It felt really dangerous driving back in Belgium. And when some snow falls,
half of Belgium takes the car instead of the bus or bike, some trucks get stuck on some hills, they have only summer tires, of course,
and the effect is complete : today, they announced 1100 km trafific jam
for a country, that is only 300 km wide..

Positive news : I could dig in the snow with my fiskars snow shuffle,
and felt a bit raid lappish again.

oups, poetry starts again.

Alain

Is there any life after the last Raid Laponie..?

Monday evening. Sitting here by my computer, just read all the diary of the Raid (no, I really didn’t have time to do it during the raid..!) – thanks Tante Rik! Eating Mozart Kugels Manfred and Fritzu brought me on their way to the Raid, and sipping some enoughi-drinki-left-over-rhum (that I saved for my self while cleaning up in Hetta after all you messy bastards ;) at 5 on saturday morning). I’ve already had my first day at work again today. A colleque of mine was wondering how did my 2cv cope the whole trip – some summer years ago a frend of his drove all the way to Germany and back, and had 3 (three) gear breaks (whatever that might have ment)!

Well, we did have our losses, too; back home we noticed that the glass of both front lamps were broken. Nalle remembered to hear or feel some stone about 100 km earlier. So, that was the end of my birthday presents (sorry Pertsa).

The last morning in Oulunsalo was really difficult for me again – some of the raiders probably noticed, that I’m not a morning person, and after a few short nights I really hit the edge. So Nalle had to goodbye everybody for me aswell. Maybe it was for the best; saved me from some crying!

Talking with Arne in Hetta we agreed, that actually (also) this raid was not only just one, but 81 different raids. Each one of us had his/her own experience of driving to North Cape (ok, almost…) in the snow, and we only catch a glimpse of each other’s raids. --- Like watcing some guys changing the axels in Kiruna morning --- or sewing somebody’s jacket (you know how the door lock can rip it when you sit down into a 2cv) --- or wondering why somebody is walking up the hill in snow in the middle of nowhere (read: Norway?) (-because he was pushing the 2cv uphill, and then ofcourse the driver just had to go on all the way up!) --- or breathing in the sweet smell of Indian pede coming out from somebody’s car window in a snow storm 13 km from the North Cape --- or listening somebody translating Taisto in Hetta --- or …

For me this was the third Raid, but a very special one because of Nalle. Thanks to him, we were able to drive our own Lalla Fatima all the way to snowy North – something I never thought would even be possible! So KIITOS, Nalle! (Well, that thanking really is not enough, but maybe I’ll think of something…;) )

I don’t even mind not getting “there”. I really had a great time waiting for the snow chain people coming back, enjoying the snow – luckily it wasn’t any colder, otherwise it wouldn’t have been that nice – and playing snow fight with other clowns. Every now and then the wind died, and a few of us even were eager enough to walk on the “last road” with 4 meters snow wall beside. But the clear moments were quite short - at times you could see the distant mountains, and in the next minute you hardly saw the neighbour 2cv. To me it was also really weird that each new snow storm was unique, and brought down different kind of snow. So it was very interesting to study, what would the snow flakes or hailstones or snow grains be like this time!

And isn’t it funny, that it took all three raids to really get to know some of the old raiders even a bit better. Well, with some of the first-time raiders I talked properly only at the very last night in Oulunsalo, but hey, we just have to look forward to the next International Meeting in Scotland! And yes, with some I never really discussed. This is the minus part of being a Frozen Duck singer – you drive, you eat, you sing… and suddenly you’re back home again.

*******************

Mark: I somehow got hooked by the 4x4… now I’m trying to convince Nalle that he should build one with my son Lauri (15 yrs) – if they began now, maybe it would be ready by the time Lauri will get his driver’s licence at 18, or what do you think?

Mannfred, mein Schatz, & Fritzl: What a great beginning for the Raid, having you here. Hopefully you didn’t have to spend too much boring time in DEM Zug in Finnland. (Schau, Ich lerne mich schnell. =D )

Arne: Beginning to remember what I forgot ; ) ! (=almost nothing…)

Sonja: So, did your plan work??????

Etienne, Alain: Enjoyed sooo much playing with you. Pardon my french ?!

Matti, my best friend, and Seppo: Thanks for that great favor in Hetta (finding the liquor store…) and repairing my sound gear! Why, oh why in Oulunsalo I just didn’t put the mixer into your Dyane for a complete care..?!

Gert-Jan: We still owe you for those baby wooden shoes! We’ll manage it for you somehow. Maybe in Scotland..?
--Keep on that cheerful appearance of yours. You’re one of a kind.

Karsten: What a great story of your Nort Cape visit here on these pages! Reading it feels almost like I had been there myself. Hello to Jutta aswell!

Anke&Andreas somewhere in Australia (and I’m trying not to envy you too much): The yellow bath duck family you gave me is actually “sf” now also!

Jukka: Well, you know. And all that.

Nalle: Yes, I’m coming to bed now! ( 00.35, it’s already tuesday.)

…and I know we’ll meet again some sunny day… (or snowy, by all means!)

Wishes
Yours,
Rauni

Hello Jukka, Henkka, Veikko and all others helpers

Thank you very much for very good (prima) Arktics- winters experience
and good organization of 10.th Raid Laponie

Team No. 13
Peter sssf + Sonja ssf
Slovenija

I have an instant and serious attack of RaidLag. Please : HELP.

This night, we had a snow shower resulting in 15 cm of snow!!! HELP, please send me Spike Tires!!!

This is very exceptional in Belgium and public life has come to an end...
For the roads we had until 2 years ago different winter types: from A (= normal) to G (=such severe weather conditions that the economic life is very heavily disrupted). These types were invented for the road services so that they knew when they had to go out with salt and/or snow ploughs... Now they have changed the system to a symbolic system (round, triangle,... Shapes with different colours, don't ask me what they mean)

At this moment, it would have been type F or G. All the roads are blocked with monster traffic jams: e.g. on the E19 as from in holland to Antwerp and further to Brussels... There is no public transportation anymore, electricity has fallen out at some places because of snow entering the high voltage cabins,... Everywhere trucks are blocking the roads since they can't start anymore (and they don't have sand with them)

And the biggest problem is that there are (almost) no snow ploughs around here since it never snows and if it snows, it is maybe 1 or 2 cm that which can be treated with salt...

A lot of fun indeed : imagine everybody driving around with summer tires!!!

I just called Frans to ask him if he had already put on his spike tires on the 2CV, but I got an answering machine. Probably, he's having a lot fun right now... Anyway, should be good business for his garage : there are a lot of accidents and they need to be repared somehow...

I'm missing you all,

A very RaidLag suffering Tante Rik

Be careful with RaidLag!

Jukka,

Here are some pictures of my firts kilomters at my first
Day going to my work.
I didn't make it.

http://81.91.3.224/22547/schade.htm

I'm ok, only some neck pain..
Cheers
SFrank

Hello everybody,

we have enjoyed this Raid verry much and we are happy to have met you all. Hope to see you all on other meetings and wish you some nice raid memmorys.

Greatings Wendy and Jeroen (team 30)

Hi Jukka, hi Päivi,

Yesterday morning, Belgium, first day to work again :

there had been some snow fallen in the night,
just a few millimeters
enough to cover the area

it looked like Lapland said goodbye..

Alain

Hello all and greetings from Enontekiö and Hetan Majatalo.
I just wanted to thank you for visiting us, it was very nice to have you all as our guests! It is sad that this was the last Raid Laponie but I really hope to see you again here someday -as a group or alone..
Thank you and have a nice and sunny spring! Tiina -HETAN MAJATALO

Jukka and all the organisation team,

Last night, I and my family and the 4x4 arrived back in the UK. I left Tim,
my Second Hand Driver in Copenhagen where he lives and then went on to see some Danish friends before heading South to near Düsseldorf to meet my wife and daughter.

From there it was on to the Eifel region of Germany where we spent more time with friends. We had a little snow (5cm) which was a nice reminder of the Raid and then the 4x4 was driven onto the trailer, loaded with all the gear and we headed back to the UK.

We thought we had problems with French customs at Calais when we were flagged down by an officer and he started to point wildly at the 4x4. It turned out that he wanted to take photographs of it and needed us to park up so he could go and get his camera.

Upon arriving home there was a copy of Valkeakosken Sanomat waiting with an article on the Raid and a picture of the 4x4 and team 31 on the back page. I'll send it on to you for your archives.

I have to thank you and the other organisers for making Raid Laponie such a great event and thanks should also go to the other teams who also helped make it so memorable. We shall all have to try to meet up at the SuperFinn Meeting in Scotland 2005. I'll see if I can organise a venue/tent and I'll also speak to the entertainment crew to see if there is a chance for the Frozen Duck band to play!

The next months will probably see the 4x4 returned to mud and trialing
specifications. All external accessories removed to stop them getting
knocked off, the visa 652cc engine refitted. All insulation will also have
to be removed to make the car easier to hose down from the inside!! I will
however keep all the bits in a safe place. You never know. One day you might change your minds and do the 11th Raid....

See you in Scotland if not before,

All the best and thanks again.

Mark 4x4 Lewis ... sf

Hi Jukka,

we also arrived at home safely, it was Wednesday morning at 08:00 MET.
Our Raid-Lag was only short, because when we arrived at Helsinki on
sunday evening, we went to a hotel and at first watched television. It was very interesting to see most important persons from the world of motorsports, like Michael Schumacher, Rubens Baricelleo, Norbert Haug and Jukka Isomäki ;-) unfortunately I didn't understand a single word, but the pictures looked very good and I got the impression of Jukka that he was the self-confidence
in person....

On monday we visited Helsinki, at 15:00 we went to Matti's garage to
re-change the tires and afterwards we drove to the Hansa-terminal where we got on board of MS Transeuropa at 20:00. There are not so many things you can do on board of this ship besides sleeping and eating and so we relaxed very well. And we have the advantage that from the ferry harbour in Travemünde it is only 15 minutes to our home
while other teams had to drive once again so many kilometers to get home.

On bord of the ferry we met a couple from Kiel (50km from Lübeck) that
participated in the VW group. They are about 50 years old and were
driving in their Saab. They said that it was also the last raid of the
VW-people and it was very funny to hear how the organisation of this "raid" was and what kind of participants they had.

On wednesday afternoon I went to my company and had an extreme
jump-start. Reality got me back sooner and harder than I expected.

On Friday I got a CD fom Tante Rik because I used his laptop as
"picture-storage medium" for my digi-cam, again and again we looked at
the pictures. As you said, I also think that the raid was extremely
tough and we enjoyed it without end.

Once again so many thanks for your efforts, you, Henka and Veiko did a
perfect job with the organisation of this big group. There were many
moments in Hetta where I was extreme sad that this was the last raid.
But hope is the last thing that dies.....

We hope to hear from you soon, and many many many greetings to Päivi. By the way, Norway: No points :-)

So long

Andrea + Henning (Team 24)

Hello Jukka !

Just arrived today,
I picked up a wintermeeting in Belgium before I went home,
and everything is fine with the 3th hand driver from team 39.

Only ...

I have the same feeling,
if I could,
I would go back tomorrow,
raidlag, of course.
I'm already missing you folks,

And again,
thanks for this experience,
it was irreplacable,
and the discussion still goes on
if this was better than a one-night stand ..

Greetings from Belgium,

Alain

Hi Jukka,

Gert Jan and i are back for a couple of days now and "raid-lag" describes my and GJ´s feeling superb!

In 2000 my wilfe Jeanette and i had a superb time, and always hoped to drive another raid laponie. We now have a lovely daughter wich makes it harder (financialy) to go on hollidays etc. As you know it was quit a coincedence that i could join GJ on this years raid.

I understand that you and you fellow organizers, Henka, Veikko etc, are up to a holliday yourself and decided that this was the last Raid Laponie. I want to thank you and the rest of the organisation for the best trip Jeanette and i have ever made, and of course this one again! You brought together people from all over west-europe, and made a contribution to Scandinavie-awareness as a beautifull place to be, with nice, friendly and strong people.

Hope to meet you somerwere sometimes!
Bye!

Vriendelijke groet,

Loek Bartelings

G'day Jukka and Paivi!!

A short note to let you know that I had a great time on Raid Laponie #10. Who knows, maybe one day you will organise yet another...but in the meantime enjoy the relaxation away from such things!

Thank you, and thanks too to all those who were involved in making Raid
Laponie such a success. It's amazing how these little crazy cars (who said that???) bring together a wonderful bunch of people in a way that makes life such a breeze, and well worth living! More thanks to all those who participated and gave emphasis to the event.

I am already busy readying two Acadianes for Raid Oz. I have also to do
some small things to Steve Hill's car, to have it close to being ready for
the Raid. We are also planning a mini Raid from Perth to the starting point, somewhere between Adelaid and Melbourne (in the east)....about 3,500 km from Perth. I guess we will complete something like 12,000km on this excursion. Too bad you can't be here, however remember that Raid Oz 2008 will be a new experience for all you Laponie's....hopefully you can plan for it! Karsten and I met Lauri Kivinen and wife at Kangasala, on the way to Helsinki. He seems to be a very lively sort of a bloke. Also met Markko Kaukonen in Helsinki, after being interviewed by a Helsinki newspaper reporter....for Thursday's release...you probably have it already.

I look forward to handing over the "message", in the form of the Raid
Laponie greetings trophy, to the organisers and participants of Raid
Oz....it will be well received.

Be good, and take life easy!

Cheers,
Greg (Batman)........sf