Changing wheels

Kimi Räikkönen and Taddy Blazusiak fought a bike versus car battle at the Erzberg Rodeo last weekend, but it turns out they’re rather fond of each other’s preferred mode of transport

Kimi and Taddy have huge professional respect for each other, which is why this particular ‘celebrity death match’ worked, despite having all the ingredients of pure Armageddon as Taddy’s KTM bike took on Kimi’s Citroën WRC car in a 13km dirt-track head-to-head in Austria, with the Iceman coming out on top.

Taddy actually owns his own rally car at home – a front-wheel drive Citroën C2-R2 like the one pictured below – that he uses simply to hoon around in and refine his sideways skills. For the moment though, the Pole has no plans to graduate to the World Rally Championship. “It’s a good question: maybe I’ll try it one day,” he commented. “I’ve always been a big fan of rallying, which is why it’s such a privilege for me to go up against Kimi. I’d definitely like to try proper rallying.”

Don’t be surprised to see him turn up at national rally sometime soon at the wheel of his Citroen C2. In the longer term though, his dream rally car is the Citroën C4 WRC – as driven by Kimi. It’s a reasonably sensible choice, given that it has won the last three drivers’ championships and is well on the way to a fourth, thanks to six-time champion Sébastien Loeb.

On the other hand, Kimi also loves the thrill of two wheels, having started his motorised career on scramble bikes. His career progression was fashioned accordingly to strictly utilitarian principles: he simply raced whatever he could get his hands on. In that respect, little has changed – which is how he ended up racing in a powerboat dressed as a gorilla under the alias ‘James Hunt’ a couple of years ago.

“Once I was into cars they sort of took over, but I still like bikes, and from time to time I go on them to have fun,” said Kimi. “I’ve got some motocross bikes and some other bikes as well.”

Rather than fantasise about his dream bike, Kimi has actually gone out there and commissioned it. The result looks a little bit like the lovechild of a Harley-Davidson and the Batmobile, as you can see below with ‘Iceman I’ – you can see the other example – ‘Iceman II’ – by clicking the ‘Kimi’s hardcore bikes’ tab on kimiraikkonen.com (also on second photo below).


“When I go on bikes it’s just for cruising really: I don’t go crazy,” he added. “That’s why custom bikes suit me best these days. You can have a lot of fun designing it and thinking about it, just as you can riding it.”

Source: RedBull.com