Tulpenrallye 1968

The story of 1968: Together with the Monte Carlo Rally, the Tulpenrallye was one of the two most important events in the European Championship, which consisted of sixteen rallies in all. Organising rallies in Europe was becoming steadily harder as traffic increased, but thanks to good contacts with the authorities in Belgium and France the Tulpenrallye had so far managed to put a talked-about event before its competitors every year. Even so, there were some dark clouds over the event. BP International withdrew as sponsor, and the remaining support from BP Nederland was not a sufficient financial basis. Negotiations with a new main sponsor came to nothing, but at the last moment the rally was saved by the support of a number of smaller sponsors. Luxembourg was not included in the route this year. The number of special stages went up, whilst the number of special tests was reduced, in order to give the amateurs a better chance of staying close to the works teams. Alongside the fixed time controls, a larger number of supplementary controls was introduced along the way. Scrutineering was once again particularly strict. To prevent tampering, the engines were sealed before the start, and secret technical checks were planned along the route as well. Vic Elford did not come to the start, because of commitments at the Monza 1000 km. Well-known names at the start were Andersson-Davenport in a Ford Escort, Hannu Mikkola in a Datsun, Timo Mäkinen in a Mini Cooper and Gérard Larousse in a Renault Alpine. The competition Alpines had been finished only two days before the rally and were being used for the first time. Other familiar names at the start were Gilbert Staepelaere, Roger Clark, Jean-Claude Andruet (also in a Renault Alpine), Gerard van Lennep in a Shelby Mustang, Ben Pon in a VW Beetle 1500 and Rob Slotemaker with Rob Jansen in a BMW 2002. The DAF 55 made its rally debut in this Tulpenrallye. More than half the cars appeared at the start carrying extensive advertising, since the rally regulations said nothing on the subject. The Royal Dutch Automobile Club, however, would not allow it, and so all the advertising had to be removed from the cars. The rally had 22 special tests and special stages. After the start, two special tests awaited the competitors, at Zolder and La Reid (a hill climb). A straightforward route then brought the caravan to Sarrebourg in the Vosges. Familiar sections such as the Col de la Charbonnière, the Ballon d'Alsace, the Col de Fouchy and the Route Joffre were once again included in the route here. At St. Odile an entirely new test had been laid out. From St. Maurice sur Moselle the route then ran by way of Morez, Croisette and the Mont Salève to Annecy. Here the competitors could rest before they began a night through the French Alps. The route was comparable with the previous year's, but this time in the opposite direction. On this occasion too it was particularly demanding, not least because a good deal of snow still lay on the road, and many crews picked up penalty points. At Rumilly, in the car park by the Chéval Blanc, the next day began with a two-hour rest halt, followed by the special stage over the Mont Clergéon. The route then went by way of the Col de la Faucille, the Cote de Bienne, Belfort and the Ballon d'Alsace, over the Cols du Bramont, the Brabant, the Fouchy and the Breitenbach, to Sarrebourg. In Belgium an entirely new section of the rally then awaited, including the climb at La Roche and a special stage around the Route du Mond. The final test was on the Vlasakkers near Amersfoort, the test at Zandvoort having been dropped because in the past it had led to ever busier roads to the circuit. Larousse led at the beginning of the second day, but immediately picked up a number of penalty points. Staepelaere then took the lead, with Andruet a few seconds behind. Next came the descent from the Ballon d'Alsace to the Lac d'Alfeld. Only the two Renault Alpines managed the average of 79 km/h. Staepelaere tried as well, but went off the road, and his Ford Escort was a write-off. The DAFs, too, showed themselves at their best on this test. Claude Laurent and Theo Koks, together with Jaap Dik, were the fastest in their class with the DAFs. The intermediate standings at Annecy consisted entirely of top drivers: Andruet led, followed by Clark, Andersson, Mikkola and Larousse. The gaps between them were remarkably small. The Alpine night was hard going. The tension became too much for Andruet; the two Ford Escorts were creeping ever closer and he decided to retire. Gerard van Lennep also had to retire after the Ballon d'Alsace with a broken rear axle. On the Col de Bramont the weather was poor and the leader of the touring car classification, Timo Mäkinen, went off the road at high speed. He came to rest in a meadow 7 metres below. After half an hour he found a farmer who put his car back on the road with a tractor. By then spectators had already removed the rally plates from the car. Mäkinen set off again and pulled back his hour's deficit over the next 150 km section. A win had long since been out of the question. The final test on the Vlasakkers provided plenty of fireworks, but brought no further changes in the classification. At the finish Slotemaker thought he had won the touring car classification. Unfortunately the results office had made an error, which was put right, and so he finished second. Larousse lost the rally by taking a wrong road in Belgium; he realised it too late. At the finish all the competitors agreed that the 20th edition was the best Tulpenrallye so far. Roger Clark and Ove Andersson proved the enormous potential of the new Escorts and finished first and second respectively, ahead of Lunenius in the Datsun and Larousse in the Renault.