Tulpenrallye 1999

The story of 1999: In the autumn of 1998 Maurice Gatsonides, the founder of the Tulpenrallye, died. In the early years “Maus” was of course an active competitor in the Tulpenrallye, but he also appeared at the start of the more recent historic editions with great enthusiasm. He liked to talk about the cars he had designed himself, and at the finish he liked to speak about his wife, whom he would then describe as the winner of the Coupe des Dames. 50 years of the Tulpenrallye! The organisers decided to mark at length, in 1999, the fact that it was exactly 50 years since the Tulpenrallye had first been organised. The Netherlands Board of Tourism and the Keukenhof shared that ambition and decided to sponsor this special edition. In Berlin, on the fourth day of the rally after the start, a gathering was organised for German journalists in order to promote the Netherlands and the Keukenhof further as a tourist destination. The organisers published the book 50 Jaar Tulpenrallye, compiled by Jan de Beus, Klaas Kornaat and Frank Pauli. The book was presented to every competitor at the finish and afterwards sold successfully through the book trade. After consultation it was decided that the route, too, should be something quite out of the ordinary, and one was laid out from Noordwijk to Berlin and back. At 2300 km the route was decidedly long, and as a result the rally grew by another day, so that this year the start from Noordwijk was already on the Monday. By way of Barneveld, a first halt in Münster and a second in the East German town of Arolsen, the crews reached the centre of Berlin on the Wednesday, passing through “checkpoint Charly” among other places. All competitors stayed at the Forum Hotel and dinner was served high above the city in Berlin’s “Fernsehturm”. By way of the Holländisches Viertel in Potsdamm, the competitors drove on the Thursday to Winterberg. Here they ran into a good deal of snow, as they had on the outward leg on the Wednesday, after which they drove on the Friday to Vaals in the Netherlands. By way of the Keukenhof at Lisse, the competitors reached Noordwijk on the Saturday. The competitors found the run out to Berlin and back a considerable challenge. East Germany had not been open all that long at the time and the state of the roads was a severe trial for the cars taking part. The hotels and the meals, too, were not what competitors were used to on the Tulpenrallye, but the adventure along the way and the enthusiastic welcome in Berlin and at the finish in Noordwijk made up for a great deal. The leading contenders were Bert Dolk (winner in 1973), Renger Guliker (winner in 1983), Hilmar Andersen (winner in 1994), Dries Jetten, Eric Leerdam, Aernout Lindner, Bart Rietbergen, Don van der Vaart, Linus Verhoeks and Karel Westerman. Once again there were many foreign competitors at the start, with Horst Deumel (D), Mike Cornwell (GB), Frans Zapfe (D) and the Briton Neil Wilson, who lined up with the former world championship driver John Buffum (USA). The Germans Horst Deumel and Wili Potjans, in a BMW, won this special German edition of the Tulpenrallye and were fêted at length during the closing party at the Grand Hotel “Huis ter Duin”. This year, for the first time, the vintage class was opened to competitors with cars built before the Second World War. A number of very handsome Bentleys took the start in it, as did Bert Kersten’s Mercury Kwik-1 of 1938, built by Maus Gatsonides.