An 8 year old Finnish kid in a rally car. And he's better than you.

[Leonidae@MFT]

Yes. Of course, he had his father tutoring him, but as you can see, he is already blasting around 100mph with that tiny F-Cup spec Starlet (1.6l, anything between 150-240bhp and less than 800kg)

 

[Radracing]

I learned how to drive at 13 in my grandfathers Jeep also on private roads but this kid is pretty good specially with a stick shift too. The steering I can see him learning from a go kart but shifting and steering with drifts in a full on rally car that is pretty good. Amazing even!

My first drive at 13 in something like this.

 

[Jim Prower]

I first drove at 13 in a '27 Ford. Not nearly that fast.

 

[Radracing]

I think that Rally car is also the 8 yr olds personal race car since the seat and pedals are configured to his size. Yeah I would probably be able to do that if I had a dad that would build me a car just to learn how to drive like that. haha! but how many dads do you think would be so cool to give you acess to all that at 8? Kudos to him, hope to see him in WRC soon. Is there an age requirement to race in WRC?

 

[astrosdude91]

I learned to drive when I was 8 while playing GT1

 

[Max_DC]

It's a nice video but the footage I saw wasn't that spectacular, was it ? You have to consider that the kid is driving / practicing on a regular basis with his dad, has a prepared lighweight rally car with a proper offroad setting, differentials and snow / ice / "mud" tires.

If you now take in consideration that these 5 min were the best of the boys driving moments probably recut from several hours of driving I am not really that impressed.

I mean of course he is good, but better than anybody else in his age with that kind of background ( racehappy father and a lot of practice, usually on gokarts etc ? ).

I mean it is a rally car, it is right in the forest - that is unusual and so to say spectacular. But the driving itself, well all I saw is the kid driving and getting the corners allright. What you don't see is that probably 80% of his driving don't look that good and therefor didn't end up in this video.

It isn't hard to drive a car like that - if you have a car desinged for rally instead of a production car and without having a problem to total it into one of the trees.

And I'm no even talking about the fact that you can't always see the driver on the outside shots - could be the dad aswell ;-)

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

His dad's driving would be more aggressive and way faster, without the few errors this kid makes.

 

[Max_DC]

His dad's driving would be more aggressive and way faster, without the few errors this kid makes.

Of course and I don't say that the kid isn't driving... in fact I described why I don't doubt it, because the driving itself isn't that spectacular. I just wanted to add, that if somebody wanted that video to look a little better, this somebody could have manipulated the footage by adding driving scenes of ...well ...for example daddy. And for making it look even more realistic that somebody of course wouldn't drive like Colin McRae but a little more amateurish...

But I don't want to imply that, I just wanted to point out that there is room for some faking here and there because you or at least I can't see the driver all the time in the outside shots.

It is a nice video, that boy is talented and could be a WRC drive rof tomorrow, but I fail to see the awesomness some posters here express.

Given the circumstances of that boy I described before almost everybody could do what he did and over time create enough footage to edit a video like that.

 

[addictions]

Of course and I don't say that the kid isn't driving... in fact I described why I don't doubt it, because the driving itself isn't that spectacular. I just wanted to add, that if somebody wanted that video to look a little better, this somebody could have manipulated the footage by adding driving scenes of ...well ...for example daddy. And for making it look even more realistic that somebody of course wouldn't drive like Colin McRae but a little more amateurish...

But I don't want to imply that, I just wanted to point out that there is room for some faking here and there because you or at least I can't see the driver all the time in the outside shots.

It is a nice video, that boy is talented and could be a WRC drive rof tomorrow, but I fail to see the awesomness some posters here express.

Given the circumstances of that boy I described before almost everybody could do what he did and over time create enough footage to edit a video like that.

Do you actually know anything about this family? Like there roots. If not I suggest you use google to find out.

 

[Max_DC]

Do you actually know anything about this family? Like there roots. If not I suggest you use google to find out.

Why ? To find out what ? I can't think of anything relevant to what I stated in this thread.

 

[maximumattack]

but I fail to see the awesomness some posters here express.

Given the circumstances of that boy I described before almost everybody could do what he did and over time create enough footage to edit a video like that.

The fact that he is 8 years old with car control like that is nothing but amazing in my view

Other than the time between snow being on the ground and thawing out this video probably did not take a long time to shoot and edit as you imply,my guess is one days worth of driving at each session. What's wrong with just giving someone a bit of praise for doing something most of us probably couldn't when we were so young instead of trying to criticise every little bit of it

If it was Harri driving I think the car would have been a bit more out of shape on the bends and probably carrying slightly more speed

Here is one of my favourite Harri Rovanpera videos where he takes a Japanese guy out on a shakedown stage and scares the poor bloke half to death, check out the look on his face from about 0.13, priceless

 

[addictions]

Apart from the fact the kid comes from a Rallying family and quite a famous one at that.
Aimed at MAX_DC.

 

[Small_Fryz]

id love to have that opportunity...

i reckon with an upbringing like that i would be very good too!!, sure maybe not world class but at least a National level.

what i wouldnt give to be a professional race car driver

 

[Leonidae@MFT]

Well, most people here remember what James May concluded about Finnish drivers.. "Being around the middle ground amongst Finnish amateur racing drivers equals being top notch in the rest of the world".. Or something like that

 

[Max_DC]

Apart from the fact the kid comes from a Rallying family and quite a famous one at that.
Aimed at MAX_DC.

Yes I knew, and that changes anything how ? If at all that speaks for my argumentation. Because having prepared a rally car and being tought by a professional rally driver makes the boys performance even less spectacular.

A children's brain is very capable. Put in a lot of training and fun and you'll end up with great results. Look at violine players or go kart kids, tennis players etc.

Of course not everybody will end up in world elite, but I say it again : The skills presented in this video - given the circumstances ( perfect beginners rally car with a proper setup, set of tires etc and a daddy who can teach the boy everything he has to know ) - I fail to see anything extraoridnary.

What is really special is the fact that 99% of the 8 year olds out there neither have the equipment nor the chance to get that kind of rally training.

From a skill perspective that is average driving. Sure he is young, but look at 8 year olds playing better violine, piano, soccer and what not than grown up professionals.

Take 100 8-year old boys and give them the same car, same teacher and a few weeks of training and I bet at least 40 of them will produce enough footage to create a similiar video.

All I say is that after having read the thread title and most of the reactions here I don't share the level of enthusiasm.

I mean... I just watched it again, it is some nice driving but he has a rally car, he and his dad doesn't care if the car gets damaged( regarding the car ) and he and his daddy probably spend every free minute in or around that car.

I guess I'll just have to wait one or two years because by then we'll probably see a video of a 10 year old boy driving a rally car through the same forest like a WRC champion and then I will be impressed as well

 

[nobuffalo]

Yes I knew, and that changes anything how ? If at all that speaks for my argumentation. Because having prepared a rally car and being tought by a professional rally driver makes the boys performance even less spectacular.

A children's brain is very capable. Put in a lot of training and fun and you'll end up with great results. Look at violine players or go kart kids, tennis players etc.

Of course not everybody will end up in world elite, but I say it again : The skills presented in this video - given the circumstances ( perfect beginners rally car with a proper setup, set of tires etc and a daddy who can teach the boy everything he has to know ) - I fail to see anything extraoridnary.

What is really special is the fact that 99% of the 8 year olds out there neither have the equipment nor the chance to get that kind of rally training.

From a skill perspective that is average driving. Sure he is young, but look at 8 year olds playing better violine, piano, soccer and what not than grown up professionals.

Take 100 8-year old boys and give them the same car, same teacher and a few weeks of training and I bet at least 40 of them will produce enough footage to create a similiar video.

All I say is that after having read the thread title and most of the reactions here I don't share the level of enthusiasm.

I mean... I just watched it again, it is some nice driving but he has a rally car, he and his dad doesn't care if the car gets damaged( regarding the car ) and he and his daddy probably spend every free minute in or around that car.

I guess I'll just have to wait one or two years because by then we'll probably see a video of a 10 year old boy driving a rally car through the same forest like a WRC champion and then I will be impressed as well

^ +1

Agreed.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Given the circumstances of that boy I described before almost everybody could do what he did and over time create enough footage to edit a video like that.

I agree. It just seems crazy since people usually learn how to drive, not rally, at twice that age.

 

[Lucas]

^ +1

Agreed.

Same here. He does put up valid points.

 

[bullie77]

Things have to be seen in its right perspective.

Is the kid going to be the new "Sebastien Loeb"? No one knows. Not at least from this video. But to say that the video shows nothing impressive is, at least, void of purpose.

I'd bet that 80% of the members of this forum, above their 18's, if put under the same training that kid was, likely wouldn't show that skill.

 

[Duke]

I'm 14, and I can drive as well as that. I would feel more comfortable driving on the right seat. I'd like to race this kid.

Although, of course, I have never seen you drive, I'd like to give a big old internet uh huh, sure ya can to this statement.

I'd like to be able to drive like that, and I've been driving for more than twice as long as you've been alive.

I'd also like to have Hari Rovanperra's kid's Starlet, too. That thing looks awesome.

 

[NISM0_SKYLINE]

I'd LIKE to think I can drive that well, but if i had the opportunity to do it, I'd creep along the first few runs. My friend and I plan on entering a car in the Rally America series someday so I'll make a claim about my skill after that .