MiniWorld June 2019 71
M
arital arguments concerning
driving and navigating can
often be fraught but add
a rally competition into
the mix and you’re surely asking for
trouble. Not so with Philip Plotnikov
and his wife, Marit van‘t Hullenaar, who
compete in events organised by the
Dutch Historic Rally Club (DHRC).
With Marit often acting as navigator,
and sometimes driving, they compete
in events in the Netherlands, France,
Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.
One of the best-known is the current
version of the Tulip Rally, which Pat
Moss won in 1962 in a Mini Cooper and
Timo Mäkinen in 1964 in a Cooper S.
“There are three classes to compete
in: Tour, Sport and Expert, with a more
recent requirement being added
that the competing cars have to be
registered before 1975,” says Philip,
who competes in the Tour and Sport
classes with his Cooper S. “Each team
is given a set of maps and a timetable
at the departure and has to arrive at
a specific time at the next checkpoint,
while constructing the route as they go.”
Points are won by driving the correct
route, and collecting stamps at each
checkpoint, but any team more than
30 minutes late is disqualified. The
routes are mostly on public roads,
although some are held on closed roads
and loose surfaces, so there is the
opportunity to drive more aggressively.
With a passion for classic cars in
general (his family owns a 1962 Austin
Healey 3000 Mk2 and a 1957 Citroën »