Tulpenrallye 1994

The story of 1994: The inventive organisers of the AMAC decided to change the rally further. The FIA European championship was failing to get properly off the ground and attracted too few competitors, whilst organising special tests for speed events in the Netherlands, even with old cars, remained a difficult business. It was decided to organise a rally that came as close as possible to the original Tulip Rallies of the 1950s and above all the 1960s. On the initiative of Hans Broekmeulen, director of the Noordwijk tourist office, it was also decided to return to the roots of the rally: Noordwijk. The support in this municipality was exceptionally strong, and the Grand Hotel ‘Huis ter Duin’, by then thoroughly rebuilt after a major fire, was once again to serve as the venue for the start and the finish of the rally. The rally was now run under the regulations of the Federation Internationale des Véhicules Anciennes, FIVA. It consisted of long road sections based on various map-reading systems, which had to be covered at a predetermined average speed. A number of route controls and time controls were included along the way, and missing one, or reaching it too late or too early, earned penalty points. A few tests were also included in the rally. Once again there were two classes. The sports class (101 crews) drove a longer route and a night section in Belgium. The touring class (57 crews) drove a slightly easier route. The rally was open to cars built before 1972. The concept caught on remarkably well and immediately attracted more than 150 crews. Greta Molander, by now more than 80 years old, returned to the start, having won the Coupe des Dames back in the 1950s. Another familiar name was Maus Gatsonides, now 83, sharing a Citroën ID 19 with André Jetten. Dries Jetten was there too, together with his son Piet in a Ferrari 250 GTE. Nick Porter and Andrew Bodman, winners of the Monte Carlo Challenge earlier that year, were also taking part, as were Collin Francis and Mike Cornwell with their handsome Porsche 356 and the Danes Hilmar Andersen and Henning Friborg with a Volvo. Eddy van den Hoorn started once again with the Volvo, whilst Renger Guliker lined up with a Fiat 16005. Among the oldest cars were the 1934 Lagonda M4.5 of Macko Laqueur and the 1939 Alvis 4.3 of Bob Meijer. Dutch Healey Competition entered twenty Austin Healeys, whilst the Porsche 356 Club appeared at the start with three cars. On Thursday morning the competitors set off from Noordwijk. By way of a route control at Duinrell, which belonged to former Tulip Rally winner Count Hugo van Zuylen van Nijevelt, they headed for Belgium. The most important rally country of that day lay in Belgium, after which the crews arrived in Spa for a reception by the mayor. For Friday a long route had been laid out through the Ardennes, including a section on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, and through the north of France. The weather was exceptionally bad and the crews had to contend with rain, snow, fog and hail. Early in the evening the crews returned to Spa, after which the sports class faced a nerve-racking night stage. This ran over 250 km, to be covered in five hours, with the route lying mainly in Luxembourg. Only a handful of crews managed to reach the finish here without a single penalty point, among them Leerdam-Gordijn (Ford Lotus Cortina MKI-1965). On Saturday the competitors then drove back to Noordwijk by way of a lunch at the Autotron in Rosmalen, finishing there during the afternoon. The rally produced a keenly fought contest. The Danes Andersen and Friborg were to be found at the front of the classification throughout and eventually won the rally. They were followed by Eric Leerdam and Hans Gordijn at 24 seconds, and by father and son Bart and Timo Rietbergen at 27 seconds. The touring class was won convincingly by Dries and Piet Jetten. They came through the first five sections entirely without penalty points and dropped only 31 penalty seconds on the final section. For the first time in many years the prize-giving was held at ‘Huis ter Duin’ once more, and it was a great success. The organisers could look back on a thoroughly successful event and were firmly resolved to carry on along the road they had taken in the coming year.