Janne's Designs

 A year ago the rallying world got hit with sad news. Hannu Mikkola had passed away. To pay my tribute to the great late legend of rallying, I've replicated Hannu's livery from his last WRC event win with the mighty Ford Escort Mk II. The rally in question is of course the 1979 Lombard RAC Rally.  Sadly, due to me being on a deadline to release this still on the 25th, and due to eWRC-results being down, I can't give much more info about the rally than that Hannu won the rally by 10 minutes and 29 seconds ahead of Russell Brookes. Hannu won 24 stages of the event's 59. Hope you guys can also achieve great wins with this livery! DOWNLOAD (Updated at 1:41 UTC+2 on 26.2.2022) Here's some pictures of the skin in action. Photos by me.

For many, this is The  Mk II Escort. (Or the Rothmans ones, gotta make those soon too) Definitely one of the most beautiful Mk2 Escorts in the existence of Mk2 Escorts. The real life counterpart with the undeniably beautiful wide arches being swung around UK's tarmac roads in true Vatanen fashion is some of the best things to witness in rallying and that's why I wanted to make this skin for RBR, despite our Escort's 3d model not being 1:1 match to the 1982 one that Vatanen drove. In the 1982 Manx International Rally Ari begun strong. Stage win on the rally opener and a tight battle with another fine fast Finn Henri Toivonen for the lead of the rally. Toivonen then started to disappear into the distance a bit leaving Ari battling with Terry Kaby first and then Jimmy McRae for the second place in the rally. Then on SS11 Glascoe 2 Ari started driving again on the level he's most famous for and did four fastest stage times in a row, leaving McRae into his dust and Ari inche...

Good to see you driving again Ville! Those of you who are not familiar with Ville's story, I'll make a short recap. He crashed out in ERC Rally Liepaja in 2020. It didn't look too  bad . But he was heavily recommended by doctors not to drive again for a while for medical reasons. And then in SM Pohjanmaa Ralli 2021 Ville made his competitive return to the Finnish Championship after a half a year hiatus from driving. He didn't test too much before the event (less than 100km) so in my opinion his result of being 8th in his comeback isn't too shabby.  Pohjanmaa Ralli was mentally quite a tough one for Ville who I've learned to know to be quite critical of himself when it comes to driving. He didn't have the routine down yet, and there was no confidence of the normal kind in his driving. But Ville's driving did improve indeed when he got back to the rhythm, with the statistical highlight of his rally coming in SS5, where Ville was 7th fastest. And personally...

Time for another Mk2 Escort!  This skin was chosen to be made by Onza. We had a "bet" that for every rallying reference he could sneak in to his entrance exams essays, he would get to choose a livery that I would make for RBR. He managed "only" one and this is the prize for it.  Ari's rally in 1982 Rally Finland was an uphill battle from the start. Audi had brought in the four wheel drive Quattro and it was superb on loose surfaces compared to the outdated rear wheel drive cars, such as Ari's Escort. Ari tried his best but the car couldn't take his intense pushing. The engine kept losing power throughout Saturday's loop in the rally and eventually on special stage 18, Kalliokoski, Ari retired from the rally from 4th position at the time. Hope you guys fare off better with this skin. Oh and congrats Onza on getting in to the school! DOWNLOAD Here's some more pictures of the skin in action. Pictures by me.

First skin for the Ascona 400 by me! This one was supposed to be done way later, but aesthetic_sofa (Lorenzo) updated the Ascona 400 template to be quite sweet, so I got hyped and made this skin as a result. The UV mapping in this car is quite a nightmare so probably will not make too many Ascona 400 skins. Also big thanks to Voittanen for finding me the font for the name sticker, and to Owen Morgan for helping find accurate text for the small number stickers! The livery is from 1982 Mintex Rally and the car was driven by Henri Toivonen, one of my favorite drivers. It was a long and a hard rally. Mintex Rally was driven late February and it was wet and muddy. Hannu Mikkola left everyone in his dust thanks to the mighty Audi Quattro, but behind him there was a proper battle between Ari Vatanen and Henri Toivonen for the 2nd place of the rally. The battle was decided on the last few tarmac stages, when Ari did not have tarmac tires there and Henri was able to overtake him there. I hope y...

 Final release of those "advent calendar skins" that I've had laying around. This would have been day 1 release if the advent calendar thing would have come to life. Definitely one of my favorite drivers, one of my favorite cars, one of my favorite rallies and one of my favorite colour schemes. What more could you ask for? The rally itself was victorious for Markku. He took the fifth of his six Rally Finland victories here. Piloting the Delta HF 4WD to a dominant victory. Markku started the rally with his usual style. Maximum attack from the start. He won first five stages and by the time of leg 1 ended, Markku was leading already by 1 minute and 16 seconds ahead of teammate Juha Kankkunen.  On leg 2 Markku continued from where he left off, opening the leg with three back to back fastest times. By the end of leg 2 Markku's lead had increased to an over four minute gap ahead of Ari Vatanen who was driving a Sierra Cosworth. Legs three and four Alen could already take i...