Coca-Cola and motocross
It is August 1969, and 13-year-old Tapio, after much begging, had received a so-called Coca-Cola camera from his parents. You know, one of those small point-and-shoot cameras. The optics in such a cheap camera weren’t exactly stellar, especially for shooting something like motocross, and the film was black and white, too. But when a motocross World Championship round was held at Erkylän Lukot, and a young boy had a burning passion for motocross, he had to take pictures so there would be something left besides memories. The photo on the right is one example of that. Qualitatively, it’s a rather poor photo, but the location is recognizable, even if the riders are not.
Back to the same hill
Now it is the turn of August and September 2026, and the long-standing Hyvinkää Scramble is being held once again at Erkylän Lukot. As I maneuvered with my camera—which had long since been replaced from the Coca-Cola camera to a Canon digital SLR—along the side of the track, I arrived at the ridge where I had taken that photo with the Coke camera back in 1969, and I decided to take a similar photo now, 57 years later. After all, the scenery hasn’t changed all that much, and neither has the track. Fortunately. Traditions live on, and that’s a good thing.
Erkylän Lukot served as the stage for the World Championship series a total of 20 times between 1965 and 1985.
Tapio Vuori