Tulpenrallye 1953

The story of 1953: In this edition the organisers were again looking for ways of settling the classification out on the road, and so reducing the weight of the closing test at Zandvoort in the final result. They were also trying to make the system by which the overall winner emerged from the various classes fairer and more competitive. At Spa the road book was handed over just three seconds before the start. Cars had to conform entirely to the manufacturer's specification this year, with no tuning allowed. Approach routes of around 500 kilometres brought all the crews to the common start at Spa. The rally held five special stages and four special tests. The first test was near Clervaux: 1,150 metres with 100 metres of descent — and it had to be covered without starting the engine, using nothing but the handbrake and the footbrake. At the start officials pulled away the blocks placed in front of the wheels and the run began. Some crews brimmed the tank beforehand to gain weight for the descent, and most pumped their tyres up rock hard. A marshal sat in the car to keep an eye on the driver. Next came the special stage from Wilwerwiltz to Heiderscheidergrund, 82 kilometres to be covered in between 72 and 88 minutes depending on class. By now it had begun to rain very hard indeed. From Luxembourg the route ran to Épinal and the 9.5-kilometre climb of the Ballon d'Alsace, starting at Malvaux, where the crews met rain, snow and fog together; times were often a good deal slower than the year before — Imhof in his Allard needed almost two minutes more. Then followed the second special stage, 42 kilometres from Willer to Schweighouse. It was still very foggy and the crews were given more time accordingly. Having decided to allow everyone five minutes extra, Piet Nortier could not raise Han van der Heijden on the telephone at the stage itself, so the message was sent up in a sealed envelope with Appleyard, who would be running through first. From Belfort the route went on to Geneva, the southernmost point of the rally and a chance to rest. The return began with the climb of the Col de la Faucille, 10.6 kilometres and 600 metres of ascent. The third special stage ran from the summit of the Faucille down to Saint-Claude and counted 387 bends. After that came a run by way of Dole and a daylight climb of the Ballon d'Alsace to Gérardmer, then an 80-kilometre stage to Saarbrücken, and finally the Thousand Bends route to Liège. From there the crews went on through Roermond, Eindhoven and Breda to Noordwijk. The closing test was held at Zandvoort the following day, on the Queen's Birthday, with the ten best-placed crews from each of the ten classes taking part. The races began with a Le Mans start, followed by ten laps run in the opposite direction to usual. Grandstands for a thousand extra spectators had been put up at the circuit. After the first two tests Bill Banks led in the Vosges, from Carstedt and Van Zuylen van Nijevelt. Coenen and Butter — the latter the well-known sunroof manufacturer — found their own answer to the fog on the second special stage: Butter stood up through the open roof for a better view of the road and pulled driver Coenen's hair to the left or right to show him which way to steer. Dries van der Lof retired before Geneva with trouble in the sump of his MG, and the car was carried home in the Vredestein service lorry. Seven crews were disqualified before the Zandvoort test because their cars did not meet the regulations — Gatsonides among them. The Jowett Javelin of the Frenchman Becquart, borrowed straight from the factory, turned out at the finish to have a non-standard engine, so his points passed to Count Hugo van Zuylen van Nijevelt, who thereby won the rally. Elliott's Sunbeam, recently taken over from Stirling Moss, was then also thrown out; he had finished second in the closing test. Banks, who had already been fêted as the winner, tried to protest his way back: he lodged a protest against Clarkson's Morgan, which had retired but which he argued was not built to the regulations. Had it been upheld, Banks would have been the winner again, since he could then have added Clarkson's points from the Ballon to his own. It was rejected, chiefly because Clarkson's car could not be examined at the finish, having retired earlier. Hugo van Zuylen van Nijevelt and Frans Eschauzier gave the Netherlands its first win in the Tulpenrallye. The crew of Piet Jetten, Louis van Noordwijk and Nol van der Vlies came fourth, won their own class and set the fastest time in the closing test at Zandvoort, ahead of Sheila van Damm. Van Noordwijk was at that time also a commentator on Formula racing in Europe and the circuit commentator at Zandvoort, and would later commentate on Sport in Beeld, the Assen TT and the AVRO's rallycross. Ian Appleyard took fifth overall. Jowett Javelin won the manufacturers' team prize with Van Zuylen van Nijevelt, Scheffer and Homan, and Greta Molander and H. Lundberg took the Coupe des Dames.