MGs among the Tulips

 The Tulip Rally, starting and finishing in Holland, is now in its 50th year and is Europe’s most popular historic rally: this year a maximum 220 cars took part, though 350 had tried to enter. Among them were 19 MGs, ranging from Hans Jouvenaar’s 1937 TA, through two MGAs, a ZA Magnette, an MGC, a Midget and a wide assortment of MGBs.

  British entries on this event are relatively few, but there’s no reason why they should be: both regulations and route instructions are in English is well as Dutch, virtually all Dutch people speak excellent English and, at around £750 for a week’s rallying (not including hotels) the Tulip is very good value.

  Intensive navigation is at the heart of the Tulip Rally and it always has been, so the event has always attracted a wide range of cars including those that would have no chance in a speed-based event. Until this year, no major award has been won by an MG, but 1999 changed that, with a well-deserved Ladies Award going to Sandra Deumel and Regine Hansche in Sandra’s MGB roadster – complete with large and friendly dog in the back! It was a good family event, as Sandra’s father Horst won the rally outright in his BMW 2000ti. The highest placed MG at 17th overall was the Belgian-entered 1958 MGA Coupé of Gilbert Wilssens and Filip de Munck. All crews endured 2000 miles of non-stop pressure; the rally was made up of many shortish sections – often five or more to a morning – each of which required the navigator to plot the shortest route on the map between several marked points or arrows, and then to navigate his driver on the right route – not so easy when the route book for the day was handed over just 15 minutes before the start – or, in the case of one regularity section, as the section started! As if that wasn’t challenging enough, code boards were placed along the organisers chosen route to make sure everyone went precisely the right way. It proved such a trial that even the winners amassed over 2000 penalty points, while those at the end of the field had over 35000 penalties!

 For the first time, the Tulip Rally ventured into the former East Germany, bringing in a whole new range of testing roads and a memorable dinner in a revolving restaurant 270 metres above Berlin in a building that had been a symbol of the ‘Big Brother is watching you’ oppression of East Berlin. While some east German roads have been beautifully resurfaced, others seem to have had no maintenance since the 1940s, while both types can be marked the same on the map, all adding to the challenge for navigator, driver and car alike. Few MGs were seen requesting the help of the Koni service bus which followed the event, but there was an endless stream of big Healeys which had lost their exhaust systems on the rough sections.

Considerable snowfalls in the Harz mountains came as a surprise in April, adding to the stark beauty of the forests and the fun for drivers, contrasting dramatically with the sunny fields full of tulips and hyacinths back in Holland.

For details of the 2000 Tulpenrallye, contact G van Empelen, Schuilenburgerplein 9, NL 3816 TE, Amersfoort, Netherlands.

Malcolm McKay