It all started one Wednesday afternoon when I received a phone call from an unfamiliar number. I didn’t even notice that it was a foreign number at first, so it was quite a surprise to suddenly hear Jemela’s voice on the other end!  She was very excited because a Finnish radio station had just contacted her through the GoKimi website looking for a Finnish speaking Kimi Räikkönen fan. Since I’m pretty much the only Finnish person on there, she had thought of me straight away and was now asking me if she could pass my contact details on to this guy. 

I agreed and the producer of the radio show, Johan Aaltonen emailed me soon after my phone call with Jemela ended. The new Formula 1 season was due to start in one week and his radio show was hoping to get a Kimi Räikkönen fan and a Heikki Kovalainen fan into their studio to discuss the upcoming season. I couldn’t believe it at first, it sounded too good to be true! 

Over the next couple of days I exchanged several emails with Johan. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to go at first as Helsinki is a long way from Jyväskylä and I would have trouble affording the ticket price. But the radio station offered to pay my travelling expenses and that pretty much sealed the deal! I was going to Helsinki!

But first, I really needed to brush up on what had been happening in Formula One during the offseason! I asked my husband Graeme to explain this KERS thing to me and tell me about the recent testing form of the Ferrari and McLaren teams, and I bought a F1 preseason magazine to read on the 3 ½ hour train trip. I needed to be as prepared as possible as I had no idea what type of questions they might throw at me and I didn’t want to make a fool out of myself on national radio!

I arrived in Helsinki just before midday and Johan picked me up from the train station. We were driving to the studio when he told me that they were unable to get a hold of a Kovalainen fan for the interview, so it would just be me on my own facing the barrage of questions! But then when we got to the radio station he introduced me to the two presenters of the afternoon show, Kjell and Anne. They were both really great and easy to get along with which helped me to relax. When we were recording the interview both Kjell and Anne asked me questions and then every so often Anne  would sum it all up in Swedish in case some of the listeners couldn’t follow Finnish all that well. It was a Swedish speaking radio station after all!

The interview went really well and the 30 minutes just flew by! They mostly asked me about what kind of Kimi & Formula 1 fan I am, have I ever been to a GP myself, do I have any rituals, who I thought was going to win that weekend, etc. I was able to mention GoKimi once or twice and also Anne mentioned it when she spoke in Swedish. Then they got all excited when I mentioned having a British husband who also likes F1 and they wanted to know all about that; did we have any rows during the races or anything like that. After the interview was over, Anne was all excited and swore that she’d watch her first ever GP that weekend! We also took a few photos of the presenters and me, and also one of me wearing the radio headset.

After it was all over  I met up with Johan again and we talked about covering the costs of my trip and I also gave him my address so he could send me a copy of the interview on CD. Then he drove me back to the train station so I could catch a train to the centre.  I hung out there for an hour or two until it was time to head back home. They were all so pleased and thankful that I had gone through “all that trouble” to come and talk with them, even though the pleasure was all mine. It was all so exciting!

Kati Cartmell (Gokimi member and moderator Kati)

To see a transcript of Kati’s interview on Radio X3M please click here.

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