Rein Sillat – the founder of the museum

The life of Rein Sillat (1939 – 1991), founder of the museum, is marked with many significant endeavours and projects.

He started as a racer in his youth, taking part in boat racing and motocross national championships. Unfortunately a choice between a hobby and a profession had to be made. Although racing didn’t become his profession, he still was indirectly connected to motorsport through work.

After graduating the Tallinn Polytechnic Institute, he worked as a car engineer constructing Estonia formula cars in Tallinna Autoremondi Katsetehas (TARK). In 1969, he moved on to work in the mechanical engineering department in Tallinn Polytechnic Institute, where wider range of opportunities arose to put his ideas into practice. One of the most interesting and biggest projects was the construction of the mathematical computer model of a two-stroke engine.

The project directly connected to racing was the cooperation with his former employer TARK in developing Estonia formula cars. From this collaboration the idea for a motorsport museum was born. After the completion of the 1000th formula car, TARK ordered a research project on the history of Estonia formula cars with the purpose of publishing a book on the topic. It was a reasonable idea during that time, as TARK was the 2nd biggest manufacturer of formula cars in the world in 1985. The completed research was given over, but for an unknown reason the book was never published. Thankfully the work wasn’t in vain as this research, completed in 1986, was the base for MOMU Motorsport Museum.