27 January 2020

Not much puts the wind up classic-car expert Laura Kukuk, particularly when it’s all about a classic Mini. She came away with some fascinating tips about driving on ice from a lesson with “Rally Professor” and Monte Carlo winner Rauno Aaltonen. The Finnish rally champion is now 82 years old and he’s still genius behind the wheel, with perfect control of the accelerator pedal, brake, clutch and steering. And he knows a thing or two about getting information across. Laura Kukuk has crystallised five tips for winter driving from his advice that can also be applied to other automobiles. You can find them in the classic#heart blog – essential reading for anybody wanting to know more about 45-degree drift!

A “Bucket List for Petrolheads”? “Petrolhead” is clear, the idea of the “Bucket List” is generally taken to mean “Things you want to have done by the time you pop your clogs”. The bmw.com portal presents ten awesome projects for classic-car fans with some lavish illustrations. Some of them (Mille Miglia, Goodwood Festival of Speed) require appropriately beefy power units, while others (Cité de l’Automobile in Mühlhausen, BMW Plant in Leipzig) open up new horizons. Alternatively, the most demanding challenge is taking on the task of restoring a classic car. A link in the portal takes visitors to detailed instructions on how to restore the BMW Isetta “cuddle coach”. Courage, mon brave! The experts from BMW Group Classic will stand shoulder to shoulder with you.

Anecdotes about the Dakar Rally (formerly “Paris-Dakar”) are legion. And most of them are about triumphs and hassles with cars. In his book “Dakar”, Werner Jessner now focuses specifically on the two-wheelers whose desert crossings were in some respects even more adventurous and challenging. There are some fantastic photos, eye-witness reports, portraits and lots of comments from the riders and team leaders involved. Like any impressive book of this nature, the volume includes detailed chronicles, technical data and maps showing all the routes since 1978. Incidentally, BMW occupies a proud place in the annals of the Dakar. The BMW R 80 GS “Tourer Enduro” presented in 1980 mirrored its road-going successes with Dakar victories in 1981, 1983, 1984 und 1985. The BMW F 650 followed suit in the years 1999 and 2000.