Tulpenrallye 1951

The story of 1951: The third running surpassed the first two, both as sport and as organisation. More than a thousand helpers were at work on the rally, and most of them had to contend with the aftermath of an exceptionally long and severe winter — the Vosges had not seen so much snow in a hundred years. The eight approach routes to Clermont-Ferrand were each around 2,000 kilometres long and had to be covered at an average of 50 kilometres an hour, which in near-summer weather was not especially demanding, with time controls every 250 to 300 kilometres. The common route ran to about 1,400 kilometres. This edition also introduced the sports class, where the required average was eight per cent higher than for everyone else. The field had a strongly international flavour, with entries from England (78), France (8), Denmark (6), Switzerland (4), Italy (4), Germany (3), Belgium (3), Sweden (2), Norway (2), Finland (1), Spain (1) and the United States (1). The first special test was held near Clermont-Ferrand under the name Circuit de Puy de Dôme, over 175 kilometres. The fair-weather route was used, because the alternative over the 1,400-metre summit was not yet clear of snow. Only 28 crews picked up penalty points there, but no fewer than 30 had to retire. The Route des Quinze Montagnes was very hard going this time. New maps had to be printed three times over, on account of heavy snow, closed roads and broken surfaces. The new route included some very poor stretches, particularly on the Col de Bramont. Eighty crews took penalties and the retirements mounted. The 106-kilometre Parcours du Bonhomme was also buried under three to five metres of snow, which was not fully cleared until a month after the rally, so the route was diverted onto the main road over the Col de la Schlucht and the Col Sainte-Marie, at the top of which stood the Belle Vue hotel and restaurant — where a good many crews arrived with the engine boiling. Seventy-two of them reached the time control late. By way of a route control at Épinal the crews then joined the Route des Mille Virages, 140 kilometres held by night in Luxembourg for the third year running. The tour of the Netherlands over the Afsluitdijk was dropped, for fear that tired crews would fall asleep on the straight Dutch roads. Through Eindhoven, hosted by Philips and the southern automobile club, a route control at Apeldoorn and a time control at Hilversum, the crews reached Noordwijk, where everything ran smoothly. Within half an hour of arriving they called at the rally office in the Huis ter Duin hotel for document checks, their road book and the exchange of foreign currency. The cars were scrutineered before entering the parc fermé and the crews were taken to their hotels by taxi. Seventy-three crews arrived at the closing test at Zandvoort without a penalty point over the full 3,400 kilometres. The organisers were unhappy that the rally should be settled in a matter of minutes this way, but for the time being had nothing better to offer. The test had to be set up so that every class stood a chance of producing the overall winner. This year it was a fairly short one, driven individually. After starting in front of the grandstand the cars ran towards the Hunserug; once past a marked line they reversed to the foot of it, then came forward and made for the finish flat out. Ken Wharton lost the rally there by failing to cross that line. The young Ian Appleyard won, helped in no small measure by the sheer power of his Jaguar. A thousand competitors and guests attended the dinner and the prize-giving. There was no ballroom in the Netherlands that could hold more, and the 140 prizes were handed out in under two hours. With another 500 guests on top of that, the closing party took over the whole of the Huis ter Duin: a funfair with genuine barrel organs in the dining room, the Marine Corps band, and at eleven in the evening the annual visit from Noordwijk's own wind band, Echo der Duinen. The ladies' prize went to Mesdames François, Sigrand and Renaud in a Renault, and the manufacturers' team prize to the Dutch Renault team.