Tulpenrallye 1973

The story of 1973: In 1973, after two years without a Tulpenrallye, the magazine Autovisie floated the idea of running the next edition of the event in Poland. The idea was taken up by Maarten van Wamelen, who was regarded as the moving spirit behind this edition. The organising committee consisted of Messrs Nortier, Zwikstra, van Wamelen, Hulsker, Jansen Venneboer, Hamel, Bos and Rijshouwer. The road book was drawn up by the experienced navigator Jooks Klein, based on the familiar Tulip system. Calanda was the first major sponsor of the event, and its director, Verwey, put his energy into recruiting the sponsors. A total of 120 local officials were deployed, whilst only 10 Dutch officials accompanied the rally. The competitors made their own way to the start in Warsaw. One of the problems was that the best petrol available in Poland was 98 octane. The entry of 61 was disappointing, and only just enough to maintain the rally's European status, particularly when one considers that 20 of them started in the national Tulpenrallye, whose programme was rather less demanding. The rally promised to be exceptionally tough, and bore no comparison with the French editions of the past. In the end the Polish ace Zasada (a former European champion) was not among the competitors; he was none too happy with his high competition number (a works Opel Ascona). The announced Marlboro-sponsored works Lancia Fulvias were likewise absent. There were, however, four cars from the works Polski Fiat team. The leading Dutch contenders were Kees van Grieken – Rob Wiedenhoff in a BMW 2002ti, Wim and Kees Luijbrechts in the Gulf STAR DAF 66, Bert Dolk and Bob de Jong in an Opel Ascona, and the Radio Noordzee team with Datsuns for Han Tjan – Dirk Buwalda and Theo Koks – André Jetten. André Jetten was driving his first Tulpenrallye this year, and was a cousin of Dries Jetten, who had been successful in earlier editions. The route took in eleven special tests and five special stages. The first part of it was made up of the 1029 km to Wista, to be covered at an average of 66 kph, after which came a rest halt of two and a half hours. Three special tests then followed in quick succession, and after them five special stages. These sections had to be driven at average speeds of around 100 kph. The Sokolec stage was the most demanding of them, and had to be run three times, each time at a higher average. After one more test the competitors reached the border with East Germany. Five hours were allowed for the run through Germany to the border between East and West. At that border, at Helmstadt, came the first rest halt. Three more tests were laid out on the route through West Germany. There were two tests in the Netherlands: near Oldenzaal the Holterberg was climbed, with 5000 spectators out early in the morning, and there was a run on the southern loop of the TT Circuit at Assen. By way of the Afsluitdijk the competitors then set course for Schiphol airport, where the finish was to be held at the Aviodome. The Opel Ascona of Dolk and De Jong, backed by the General Motors dealer association, was accompanied by three service vehicles carrying 40 tyres and well over 300 litres of petrol from the Netherlands. All seven DAFs retired from this rally. It had been predicted beforehand that most of the tests would be too fast for the home-grown product, and most of the cars simply broke down along the way. Bert Dolk led for a long stretch of the opening phase of the rally, but before the rest halt at Wista he was delayed at a control. After Wista he soon put that right with a number of fast times. Van Grieken then picked up penalty points as well, for failing to clock in at the correct time at a control, which allowed Dolk to take over the lead. Dolk and De Jong were supreme in this 23rd edition and in the end took the victory home with them. The crew of Zegwaard – Bruin won the national class. A large number of protests followed at the finish, brought about among other things by the poor communication between the competitors and the Polish officials, and by differing interpretations of the neutralisations set out in the regulations.