12.10.06

Back in June I arrived at the Hotel Inkelshoes in Epen, in the south of Holland (Limburg), near the Belgian border which was the base for a rally next day for classic Ferraris. This was an event for which the preparations started two years before and was organized by... I'll call them Martien and his wife Tonnie. One day they had arrived by accident at a castle, made contact with the owner and noticed his predilection for Ferrari. They suggested he ought to take advantage of this liking and asked if it was possible to organise a meeting with many Ferraris. The owner (I’ll call him Luc) was thrilled and started immediately to explain all his rebuilding plans, ensuring that everything would be ready when the Ferraris arrived. In the mean time Martien was investigating some nice places to include in the rally and finding solutions to the many problems which arise when organising an event of this kind - bless all event organisers!

During the evening there was an exclusive dinner which took several hours and was a very pleasant affair. Every participant had his own story and in a very short time they told me about the many rallies they had driven in and enjoyed. These included the Mille Miglia, Tour Auto, Milan - San Remo, Paris - Luxembourg, Ennstal Classic, Planai and some in Spain and the Mediterranean Islands. Hmmm...dinner was so good! Drawing up the inventory of this classic rally I can say that there were some marvelous cars to enjoy. Two 250 GT Europas, two SWBs, three GTEs and other 250s, some 330 GTCs and 365 in various models and last but not least two Dinos 246 (a GT and a GTS) and some in very rare colours too.

The next day the participants were due to leave at approx. 09:30 am, after a nice breakfast in the morning sun, where it already was very pleasant to stay, with a temperature of approx. 24 degrees. Some participants had yet to come and they were late - what else is new! I left 10 minutes earlier to intercept them close to the Castle of Beusdael. After parking there was coffee with the traditional “Limburgse vlaai” (a special pastry of this specific province) [the FCN certainly like their pastries! - Ed.]. The rebuild of the castle wasn’t finished yet, but it was a beautiful place to have coffee and photograph the Ferraris. After a while everybody arrived and I went outside the castle to do the start. After that I would drive to certain places along the rally and take a photo of every car. First the participants drove to the centre of a small village where they had to solve some difficult quiz questions. The rally paused for a while at the American Military Cemetery and Monument at Henri-Chapelle where there are 7,989 marble crosses, a moving and humbling experience.

After lunch at the Castle of Targnon, I followed the 330 GT 2+2 of Martien to look for a nice place where some nice shots could be made and very soon we reached the first resting point of this part. A nice little castle, where the cars only should round the fountain on the inner court. The first two cars did so, but very soon someone came out and told us that it wasn’t permitted because of a wedding which was due to start in 5 minutes. In French…: “c’est très dommage !” so we left. Approx. 500 meters ahead there was a roundabout. Taking the first exit the road was closed for all traffic. I didn’t found the right way and returning to the castle I saw Ferraris driving in every direction! This amused me and at the end of the day I heard that that road was closed the previous week. Imagine this… you work hard for two years to organize an event and three days before it starts they close a whole street without any signed diversions … but hey…we were in Belgium!

I waited some hundred meters before the finish and made took the last photos of the finishing Ferraris, with Beusdael Castle in the background. It was time to take it easy, have a drink and a chat, go to dinner and wait for the results of the rally. The winner received the legendary Grail of Beusdael, which was granted by the Pope for the “Tournoy de Beusdael”. The last tournament was in 813 AD and was won by Lombardus van Lambalgen, who was killed the year after. 1190 years after this last tournament the present owner found the Grail , hidden in the thick walls (2 meters) of the dungeon!

The Grail is very beautiful and you can imagine how thrilled the winner was to to receive it!