Sevettijärvi Museum Special Stage
Mobilia has designated Sevettijärvi as Finland’s first official Museum Special Stage. It is part of a wider Museum Special Stage network created by Mobilia’s Rally Museum, with the aim of bringing the stories and locations of Finnish rallying and the Flying Finns tradition into the local landscape and cultural environment.
An exhibition exploring the history of the Sevettijärvi special stage has been created as part of this initiative. The exhibition is located at Sevetin Baari & Guesthouse, in the heart of the village of Sevettijärvi, in the municipality of Inari. The exhibition also serves as the pilot project for the entire Museum Special Stage initiative. Based on this experience, future exhibitions will be developed for upcoming Museum Special Stages. At Sevetin Baari & Guesthouse, the exhibition functions not only as a historical presentation, but also as a cultural meeting place where rally heritage meets everyday life in Lapland. On display is a magnificent 1968 Ford Escort Twin Cam rally car. A similar car was driven to victory in the 1970 Arctic Circle Rally by Hannu Mikkola and co-driver Risto Suonio.
The Sevettijärvi special stage was chosen as the Rally Museum’s first Museum Special Stage due to its exceptional character. Extreme cold, an almost 100-kilometre-long stage, and the fact that it was driven back and forth made it truly unique in rally history. Another remarkable aspect was the logistics: service crews first traveled to Sevettijärvi to await the competitors and then returned to Kaamanen ahead of them.
Off-road incidents were frequent on the Sevettijärvi stage, and with very few spectators present, assistance in pushing cars back onto the road was often unavailable. As a result, fire-starting equipment became mandatory safety gear on the stage after the first year. This requirement followed a dramatic incident in 1969, when a competing crew retired in the middle of nowhere in temperatures below –30°C. With no firewood available, they were forced to burn their own tires to avoid freezing—reportedly using gasoline to ignite them.
Admission to the exhibition is free of charge, and it is open during Sevetti Bar & Guesthouse’s regular opening hours.
Address:
Sevetti Bar & Guesthouse
Sevettijärventie 9040 C
99930 Sevettijärvi
Take Part in Developing the Exhibition
When launching something new, not everything is complete from the start. We warmly invite local residents, rally enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the topic to get in touch with Mobilia’s Rally Museum.
We are particularly interested in photographs, maps, stories, and personal memories that could be preserved and presented as part of the exhibition.
You can contact us by email at [email protected]
or by phone: +358 400 637 918
