THE STORY OF 2016
Kees Stoel passed away in 2015 at the age of 83. Although he had previously transferred his roles as competition director to Abe van den Brink and as chairman to Frank Pauli, Kees remained actively involved in the organization of the Tulpenrallye until the end. Alongside Piet Nortier, he was responsible for much of the history of the Tulpenrallye and was the driving force behind its transition from a modern rally with closed special stages to one of the most prestigious regularity rallies for classic cars in Europe in the early ’90s.
Steltman Juweliers in The Hague notified the organization that they had acquired the molds used in the 1950s to create the silver windmill trophy awarded for the Nations’ Cup at the Tulpenrallye. This unique and valuable prize had been lost, prompting the organization, along with several sponsors, to reproduce the trophy. The Kees Stoel International Trophy was first awarded this edition to the winners of the Nation’s Cup, the modern version of the Nations’ Trophy.
At the initiative of printer SchultenPrint / Rallydrukwerk.nl, the organization commissioned a design agency to create a new visual identity. This included a stylized field with colored bulb fields, several orange tulips, and a photo of the overall winner from the previous edition playing key roles. The logo was redesigned, featuring the colors red, white, blue, and orange, and the name was changed from International Historic Tulpenrallye to Tulpenrallye, with the year and edition number clearly communicated. The new branding was consistently applied across all communications.
The Prologue was again held at Athlon Car Lease in Almere and was even more grandly organized. During the Prologue, a short Tulpenrallye Sprint was held on the Athlon premises. The supported charity this year was the Linda Foundation, led by TV star Linda de Mol. Frits Wester and Roelof Hemmen gained more experience and were part of the event once again. The proceeds for the Linda Foundation amounted to €37,500.
The start in Saint Vincent was so well-received that it was chosen again for the start of this 63rd edition. Gran Hotel Billia once more served as the headquarters hotel, and collaboration with the municipality was even closer. The shopping street was adorned with orange and red-white-blue flags as participants arrived for the start. On the first day, the route led to Milan. Traffic was quite heavy in this part of Italy, which left participants somewhat dissatisfied. However, the day ended with all teams gathering at the Monza F1 circuit, where a lap consistency test took place. Participants greatly enjoyed navigating famous turns like Curva Grande and Parabolica.
On Tuesday, the route continued from Milan to Feldkirch (Montforthaus) in Austria. The high mountains along this route experienced serious weather conditions, with heavy snow and low temperatures affecting participants.
Wednesday saw a significant incident during the rally when Swiss police conducted a speed check in a location deemed safe by the organizers. Over 40 teams were stopped and fined, causing considerable delays. As a result, part of the route was neutralized. Participants returned to France that evening and stayed overnight in Horbourg-Wihr. Thursday’s route also predominantly passed through France, with the finish that day in Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxembourg.
Building on the positive experiences of 2015, the organization decided to include Belgium again in the route. By Friday evening, participants had reached Vaals, before driving the final day to Noordwijk on Saturday.
With traffic in the Netherlands becoming increasingly congested, it was challenging to navigate a caravan of over 200 classic rally cars throughout the country for an entire day, especially in good weather conditions. The organization continually sought new ideas each year to keep the last day interesting for participants. Apart from challenging navigation sections in quieter regions and several tests on closed-off terrain in the Netherlands (including at the military training ground OTCRij in Boxtel), the organization collaborated with several municipalities (Bergeijk, Schoonhoven) to receive the rally caravan and bring the event closer to the public. While these events were enjoyable for participants, they remained a compromise compared to the challenging navigation sections that could be driven abroad. In Noordwijk, participants took part in the Tulpenrallye Sprint before finishing at Grand Hotel “Huis ter Duin.”
The organization was somewhat dissatisfied with this edition of the Tulpenrallye. Some sections on Friday were too challenging, schedules were not always met (partly due to this), there were too many speeding violations on public roads, and logistical aspects of the rally were not always smooth. During a lengthy evaluation meeting in Huizen, several measures were agreed upon for future editions: improved route checks beforehand, more speed checks, and limiting the number of participants to a maximum of 200 teams.
Key participants 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 van der Palen, Rinus Sinke / Bart den Hartog, and Alexander Leurs / Peter van Hoof.
Ultimately, Leurs and Van Hoof made the difference on the challenging fifth day, laying the foundation for their second Tulpenrallye victory. They finished in Noordwijk with less than 1 control difference over Sinke
/ den Hartog, who came in second. The orange Opel Ascona tradition-ally drove into the Pickézaal of Grand Hotel “Huis ter Duin,” where the winners received the Coupe Rallye des Tulipes from presenter Bas van Werven.
Leo van Beukering and Hans-Olav de Wolf won the Sporting class by a narrow margin after a thrilling competition, while father and daughter Onno and Hilde den Boer claimed victory in the Touring class. Marcel and Alfons Geurts once again emerged as the winners of the Vintage class.
