Racing the World’s Best with Yamaha Motor — Jarno Saarinen, the “Flying Finn” —

In April 2019, the Feel Finland event was held at the Embassy of Finland in Tokyo to not only celebrate 100 years of diplomatic relations between Finland and Japan, but also to deepen the friendship and understanding between the two countries.

At the event, Yamaha Motor put on a display to honor the legacy of Jarno Saarinen, a Finnish motorcycle racer held in great esteem by both Yamaha and Japanese racing fans, and a racing hero still widely known today in Finland.

What sparked the idea for this project was an old photo album from nearly 50 years ago discovered in a Yamaha media storage room. It was filled with happy pictures of Saarinen and his wife Soili together during a visit to Japan in the autumn of 1972 in celebration of him becoming the 250cc World Champion and the first Finn to win a world title.

Now, more than 46 years later, Soili was invited to Japan for the event, where Yamaha Motor President Yoshihiro Hidaka gave the photo album to her with heartfelt thanks.

For more on Jarno Saarinen:
https://global.yamaha-motor.com/race/...
https://global.yamaha-motor.com/race/...
https://global.yamaha-motor.com/race/...

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