Teemu Peltola is building and drifting diesel Mercedes estates for years now. Team Black Smoke Racing is familiar to any drift fan, because of their ‘just do it’ approach. I had a chance to speak with Teemu about telescopic handlers, Gatebil and finnish attitude to life.

– Where are you from?
– Finland

– What is the best place to go in Finland?
– Lapland

– What are you working on at the moment?
– With my own company since 2011. I have 5 telescopic handlers.

– What motivates you?
– Fans

– Why do you think fans follow what your team does so much? I mean, does any other drift team sell so much merchandise?
– We drive a diesel and also, when everything works, we sometimes succeed in races. We have had a lot of problems with the car and it´s not a secret – I think that helps people to identify with us more easily.

– Who are the people behind Black Smoke Racing? By looking at your BSR page, I see that you guys don’t lack irony!
– It´s me , Patrik Wargh and Joni Uunila. Our main mechanic is Jesse Haapala.

– How did you end up in drifting? I heard a story that you were doing tractor pulling before, is that true? tell me more.
– We just wanted to build a diesel car to drift. I don’t have any motorsport background.

– What’s your plan for 2017?
– Plan is to develop the CDI (common rail engine) more, we will use a NIRA aftermarket ECU. We will attend Gatebils at least. I also bought a Nissan S13 with 2JZ, its just a drift missile, the number one car will be the diesel Mercedes!

– You don’t think that you will have a full competitive drift program, just random events for fun?
– I hope someday to drive a whole series, but it´s almost impossible with current unreliable car, still, I think 2017 will be a good year for developing the CDI engine and I really hope that I can drive a whole series in 2018.

– What’s your favourite Finnish word or sentence? What does it mean?
– ’ei se siihen hajua’ = ’it won’t break when doing that’ , I say often when we tune our Mercedes….

– What do you say when it does break? 🙂
– Normally we are depressed for maybe 5-10 min 😀 and then we just try to build it better..

You can follow Teemu on:
His Facebook
Black Smoke Racing Facebook
His Instagram
Black Smoke Racing Instagram