Personal

Name:

Tina Mitakidou 

Age:

37

Marital status:

Not married, not single

Children:

One, Nicole 13

Occupation:

Informer, co-driver

Place of birth: 

Stockholm, Sweden

Country or county where you live:

Orebro, Sweden

Does your spouse / partner like rallying?

Of course! How could he not!

Any other hobbies?

My motorbike, my dog, exercising

Your opinions

Favourite food:

Homemade Lasagne, Greek food and “Swedish smorgasbord”

Favourite drink:

Red wine, cold milk and a real well done Dry Martini J

Favourite motorsport paper / magazine:

Do not read them much, but IB “Idrottsbladet”, the biggest motorsport magazine in Sweden

Favourite sports person (other than rallying):

Hard question, what else is there?

Favourite film star:

Andy Garcia, Helen Mirren, Dustin Hoffman, Sean Mr Bond himself J

Favourite holiday destination:

Anywhere where there is nice people, good food and beautiful nature close to the sea!

Which TV sports programmes do you watch?

Whenever they show rally, which is not too often

Starting out

How did you start out?

Just a coincidence, a too long story to tell, but actually it was because of one of my daughter’s friends…..

First driver you sat with: 

Joakim Roman

First event:

Eurostop Rally Orebro, Sweden 

Rallying background

Type of licence held:

International

Which motor club do you belong to?

Teknis MC Orebro, Sweden

Do you contribute towards your rallying?

I have been working full-time for almost two years with everything from getting sponsors to keeping them including conferences, educations and so on, just to be able to do the WC in group N. Now I have changed my working situation and am not able to do so….

Have you ever driven on a rally?

Actually, the best event ever! J

Did you ever marshal on events?  When and where?

No

How many events do you get to watch?  (e.g. per year)

One or two

How many rallies do you take part in?  (e.g. per year)

Around ten

Have you competed abroad? Where and when?

Belgium 2000, Cyprus 2001, Corsica 2002, Finland 2002, New Zealand 2003, Cyprus 2003, Germany 2003

Your opinions (rallying)

Favourite rally car:

My own Suzuki Swift Group-N car J

Favourite rally driver:

Petter Solberg, Niall McShea,

Favourite rally co-driver:

Phil Mills, Chris Patterson, and me J

Favourite bit of road or forest:

Tarmac roads, Condroz Rally Belgium, and the Swedish Rally when it is a lot of snow especially stage “Granberget” the longest one!

Do you prefer pace notes or map reading events?

Pacenotes

Things you dislike about rallying?

Too long recces, bad organisation

Who do you think will win the World Rally Championship in 2003?

The one worth winning but probably not this year: Petter. But it will probably be Burns, also a fantastic driver!

Rallying history

Drivers you have sat with:

Joakim Roman, Patrik Lindell

Best driver you have ever sat with? 

Hard question, did a small road section with Kenneth Eriksson, not bad!

Best result:

Winner of  a local series, 2000, 2001 

Worst result:

Finland on a big bang (crash) at SS 5 Mökkipärä

Championships contested:

Group-N World Champ. In 2003 (partial in 2002)

Best Championship result:

Sixth twice at the Swedish rally in group -N

Best rally memory:

When we borrowed a recce car from Mr. Nocentini in Corsica and came seventh.

Another one is having Vic Elford with us in the car on the third recce day at Cyprus! (2003) and getting to know this wonderful man!

Strangest incident on a rally:

On Cyprus on the alternative road, they were still building the road while around 15 cars were waiting.

Biggest accident:

Finland on stage 5 last year (2002), Three “crests” in the pacenotes were three big jumps, we rolled over and our Mitsu. looked more like a Golf after the accident

Achievements gained from rallying:

The best of all: All the nice people from all around the world I have met!

Your current performance

Your current driver(s) and events or Championships being contested in 2003 

The World Championship In Group-N

How could you improve your ‘own’ current performance?

I have to exercise harder, and do as much rallying as possible. Also drive myself, which I am going to do from now, while I am home in Sweden. I think that is the best way to become a better CO-DRIVER!

How could you improve your current driver’s performance?

Tell him/her to change place with me now and then! J

If you had £50,000 to spend on rallying, what would you do? 

Perhaps go to Belgium and do a lot of tarmac rallies!

Your future in rallying

Where would you most like to compete (in the world): 

All over!

Which rally would you most like to compete in? 

The whole World Rally Championship

Which driver(s) would you most like to co-drive for?

Petter or Marcus 

Ambition in rallying for the future:

Find myself a driver to go in the WRC with and have as much fun as possible! J

The future of rallying

Which up-and-coming rally driver can you recommend?

Petter Solberg, Sebastian Loeb

Which up-and-coming rally co-driver can you recommend?

Hopefully myself, but need much more experience!

What would be the best tip you could give to other co-drivers?

Trust yourself!

Any other comments

Don’t forget to have fun!

 posted 20/9/03

Enjoying the Swedish Rally!