Tulpenrallye 1965

The story of 1965: The European Championship had by now been established, with the result that almost every rally was won by works teams, which attached ever greater importance to the publicity value of the championship. It had therefore become all but impossible for amateurs to finish high in the classification, and the number of competitors was falling away quickly. The Deutschland Rally had already disappeared and the Tour de France was having great difficulty getting its organisation together. The organisers of the Tulpenrallye recognised this development and decided to introduce an Amateur class; with 117 entries it was an immediate success. They also succeeded once again in obtaining permission to run a route in Luxembourg during the final night. The section through Germany, which had been little liked by competitors the previous year, was dropped, and only the test on the Nürburgring was run there. The 160 crews that started were spread across 20 nationalities! There were 51 Dutch competitors at the start. Among the field were David van Lennep with a Hillman Imp and the Finn Simo Lampinen. Timo Mäkinen, with a Morris Cooper 5, was one of the favourites after victories in the previous year's Tulpenrallye and in the Monte Carlo Rallye earlier that year. Other contenders were Peter Harper and Ian Hall (carrying start number 1) with a Sunbeam Tiger, the Morley Brothers with an Austin Healey, Rob Slotemaker and Ferry van der Geest with a works Triumph T2000 Saloon, and Henri Gréder, this time at the start alongside the American William Reiber in a Ford Mustang (400 bhp). The rally route was once again altered in many places that year. It took in 19 special tests and 84 controls. Two weeks before the rally the organisers were confronted with heavy snowfall in France, as a result of which the route had to be changed at many points. It had not snowed so heavily in France at that time of year for the previous 40 to 50 years. After the start in Noordwijk, flagged away by Richard Burton, with the Grand Hotel 'Huis ter Duin' serving as the rally centre for the 17th time, the route headed towards Rotterdam. The first special test at Zolder was cancelled, after which the competitors went straight on to the test on the Nürburgring (412 km), meeting the first snow showers and black ice on the way. By way of Saarbrücken the route ran into France, where the first snowstorm was already raging. The Col de la Schlucht was no longer passable and a diversion by way of Gérardmer became necessary. The organisers then also had to decide to shorten the test over the Ballon d'Alsace considerably because of the snow. Just as they were doing so, a French car that was not taking part in the rally skidded on the Ballon, and the test had to be cancelled altogether. At Willer sur Thur the competitors rejoined the planned route, and the last test of the first night, Willer sur Thur – Col Amic, was again very hard going because of the snow. The organisers expected that the next day's southern route to Champagnole, which would be run in daylight, would not cause too many problems. Many competitors, however, became stuck and turned back, because the roads on the Col de la Faucille and the Mont Salève were too poor. The organisers asked all competitors to return to Champagnole, but could not reach most of the crews. Most of them pressed on, although many were forced to give up. Only 88 of the 128 crews that had started completed this loop. Some competitors used studded tyres, and the Variomatic of the DAFs proved its worth in full (two of the DAFs are said to have been linked together with Variomatic belts and to have got up that way). After this the weather improved. From Champagnole the route ran by way of St. Maurice over the Col de Fouchy and the climb at Breitenbach — the Ballon d'Alsace was struck from the second day as well — and over the Col du Donon to the time control at Sarrebourg. Next came the control at Larochette, after which the Luxembourg section began. The three tests here, Bourscheid, Kautenbach and Dasbourg, were free of snow, but rain, fog and the absence of the familiar Tulpenrallye arrows introduced new elements. The test at Francorchamps was cancelled, after which the competitors ran by way of the Zolder and Zandvoort circuits to the finish in Noordwijk. Henri Gréder had to give up in the south after trouble with the rear axle. Peter Harper did not reach the finish either, retiring after Champagnole. Slotemaker and Van der Geest retired at Samrée with a broken engine. With only 47 crews classified at the finish, this was the hardest Tulpenrallye run to date. The closing party was again held on the Friday evening, so that foreign competitors could fit the whole rally into a single week. DAF won the manufacturers' team prize, with all five of its cars that started reaching the finish: Laurent/Marche, Ransy/Pirnay, De Schutter/Horbach, Honhof/Loos and the ladies de Fouw/Englebert. Rosemary Smith and Valerie Domleo not only won the ladies' prize, but were also the surprise winners of the general classification.