Tulpenrallye 2016

The story of 2016: Kees Stoel died in 2015 at the age of 83. He had already handed over his duties as clerk of the course to Abe van den Brink and the chairmanship to Frank Pauli, but he remained closely involved in the organisation of the Tulpenrallye to the very last. Together with Piet Nortier he was the man responsible for a great part of the history of the Tulpenrallye, and he was the initiator of its transition, at the beginning of the 1990s, from a modern rally with closed special tests into one of the most prestigious regularity rallies for classic cars in Europe. Steltman Juweliers in Den Haag drew the organisation’s attention to the fact that they had bought the moulds from which, in the 1950s, the silver windmill was made that was presented as the nations’ prize at the Tulpenrallye. This remarkable and valuable trophy had been lost at some point, and the organisation decided, together with a number of sponsors, to have it produced anew. The Kees Stoel International Trophy was presented for the first time this year to the winners of the Nation’s Cup, the modern version of the Nations Trophy. Partly at the initiative of the printers SchultenPrint / Rallydrukwerk.nl, the organisation commissioned a design agency to create a new corporate identity. A stylised expanse of colourful bulb fields, a number of orange tulips and a photograph of the outright winner of the previous edition all played an important part in it. The logo was redesigned, based as a matter of course on the colours red, white and blue and on orange, and the name was changed from International Historic Tulpenrallye to Tulpenrallye, with the year and the edition number communicated clearly alongside it. The identity was applied consistently across every form of communication. The prologue was once again held at Athlon Car Lease in Almere, and on an even grander scale. A short Tulpenrallye Sprint was also run on the Athlon grounds during the prologue. The Linda Foundation of television star Linda de Mol was the good cause supported that year. Frits Wester and Roelof Hemmen, gaining more and more experience, were there once more. The proceeds for the Linda Foundation came to 37,500 euros. The start in Saint Vincent had gone down so well that the organisation returned there for the start of this 63rd edition. The Gran Hotel Billia was again the headquarters hotel, and the co-operation with the local council was closer still. The shopping street was decked out entirely with orange and red-white-and-blue flags when the competitors arrived there before the start. On the first day the route ran to Milan. Traffic was fairly heavy in this part of Italy and the competitors were only moderately pleased about it. But there was a good reason for going that way. At the end of the day all crews were expected at the Monza Formula 1 circuit, where a lap-consistency test was run. The competitors thoroughly enjoyed famous corners such as the Curva Grande and the Parabolica. On the Tuesday the route led from Milan to Feldkirch (Montforthaus) in Austria. High in the mountains along that route the weather was seriously bad, and the competitors had to contend with a great deal of snow and low temperatures. On the Wednesday the rally suffered a considerable incident when the Swiss police held a speed check on the route, at a spot where there was no danger whatsoever. More than 40 crews were stopped and fined. Many crews were kept waiting there for a long time, and part of the route was therefore neutralised. That evening the competitors returned to France, with the overnight halt in Horbourg-Wihr. Thursday, too, was spent largely in France, the day’s finish being in Mondorf-les-Bains in Luxembourg. On the strength of the good experiences of 2015, the organisation ventured to run through Belgium again. On the Friday evening the competitors were in Vaals, after which, on the Saturday, they drove the final day to Noordwijk. Traffic in the Netherlands was growing busier all the time, which made it ever more difficult to take a caravan of well over 200 classic rally cars through the country for a whole day. If the weather was fine as well, the challenges grew greater still. Every year the organisation tried to think up new ideas to keep this last day interesting for the competitors too. Alongside a couple of demanding navigational sections in the quieter regions, and a good number of tests on closed grounds in the Netherlands (this year again on the OTCRij military training area at Boxtel), it was decided to work together with a number of local councils (Bergeijk, Schoonhoven) to receive the rally caravan there and so bring the event closer to the public. Enjoyable though these occasions were for the competitors, they remained a compromise compared with the demanding navigational sections that could be run abroad. In Noordwijk the competitors ran the Tulpenrallye Sprint and then went on to the finish at the Grand Hotel “Huis ter Duin”. The organisation was not entirely satisfied with this edition of the Tulpenrallye. A number of sections on the Friday were too difficult, the timetables could not always be met (partly for that reason), there were too many speeding offences on the public road, and the logistics of the rally did not always run flawlessly either. At a long evaluation meeting in Huizen a number of measures were agreed for the coming editions: better checking of the routes beforehand, more speed checks, and limiting the number of competitors to a maximum of 200 crews. The leading competitors included Susanne and Bart Tonino, Wytze van Leuveren / Rutger Kwant, Olaf Pothoven / Pieter van Leusden, Koen Bender / Willen van Leeuwen, Cees de Jong / Jaap Verplanken, Harry Dekker / Maarten Verweij, Mark and Remco Hagenzieker, Paul Zweers / Arjan ven der Palen, Rinus Sinke / Bart den Hartog and Alexander Leurs / Peter van Hoof. It was on the demanding fifth day that Leurs and Van Hoof ultimately made the difference, laying the foundation there for their second victory in the Tulpenrallye. They finished in Noordwijk less than 1 control ahead of Sinke / den Hartog, who came second. The Opel Ascona, by now turned orange, was driven into the Pickézaal of the Grand Hotel “Huis ter Duin” as tradition demands, and there the winners received the Coupe Rallye des Tulipes from the hands of presenter Bas van Werven. Leo van Beukering and Hans-Olav de Wolf won the Sporting class by the narrowest of margins after a very close contest, and father and daughter Onno and Hilde den Boer won the Touring class. Marcel and Alfons Geurts won the Vintage class once again.