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In July 1958, 54 pioneers set out from Liège in Belgium in a brave attempt to prove that the new breed of tiny-engined cars, made popular by the Suez crisis two years earlier, were not just toys but could do everything their bigger sisters could do – and much more economically. The Liège-Rome-Liège rallies were well known as the toughest events of the 1950s so when the organisers, the Royal Motor Union of Liège, announced a similar event for cars up to 500cc, everyone knew it would be hard. Even so, the schedule was staggering. Cars would leave Belgium on Thursday evening, travel all night through Germany, cross the Alps via Austria then head east through the Dolomites into Yugoslavia, tackling many notorious loose-surfaced mountain passes on the way. Still without stopping except for fuel and snatched refreshment, they would turn around at Ljubljana and return through the Dolomites to tackle Europe’s most challenging mountain pass, the Stelvio, descending south to Brescia. There, the cars went into parc fermé, meaning they could not be worked on, for five hours while the crews had a little kip (assuming, of course, that they arrived on time – none did) before heading back north up the Gavia pass and down the Stelvio, then up over the Alps, Austria and Germany, back to Liège, arriving Sunday evening. That’s over 2000 miles of flat-out driving, averaging well over 30mph through three nights in tiny cars with engines as small as 250cc. Just 13 of the 27 starters made it... |
For 2008, we had the presumption to create a celebration rally over the exact same route, for the same cars plus slightly later cars in the same spirit up to 700cc. 54 started from Liege on July 11, 2008, navigating from Michelin maps provided and quickly learning our innovative route checking system that ensures you follow the correct route, or pick up penalties for taking the wrong roads... This was no easy cruise - torrential rain through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia added to the strain on the first four days, but crews and cars rose to the challenge and the sun finally joined us in Ljubljana and stayed with us to the end of the rally. Cars that could have been eligible for the original event competed in 250/350/425/500cc classes in the Authentic category; slightly later and larger engined cars competed in 425/500/600/700cc classes in the Spirit category. "Fantastic", "unforgettable", "wonderful", "the best rally ever" and "a life changing event" are just some of the incredible tributes that have been paid by competitors on the 2008 event... |
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On July 10-19, the 2009 Liège-Brescia-Liège will take 10 days to follow the same route as in 1958, 51 years after the original rally. This touring event will cover approximately 200 miles (330km) each day, with competitive tests on private tracks in Belgium and Germany combining with sheer endurance to establish worthy winners. Crews will plot the route on maps from the original list of place names, adding navigation to the challenge, and further interest will be added by visits which we hope will include BMW’s superb museum at Munich, the charming Boxenstop Museum at Tubingen, the amazing collection of microcars at Engstingen, the personal collection of Italian engineer Gino Tonutti near Udine, the Museum of the Mille Miglia in Brescia and the stunning Schloss Lichtenstein in Germany. Two categories will be admitted – ‘Authentic’ for cars of 600-1000cc in age -related classes, pre-1948, pre-1958, pre-1968 and post-1968 ‘Spirit’ for three-wheelers of all ages and engine sizes, again divided into appropriate age/engine size classes so all compete against similar vehicles. |
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LBL 2009 IS HERE! LIEGE-BRESCIA-LIEGE 2008 WAS A HUGE SUCCESS! Our thanks to all who took part and made it the amazing, exhausting, exhilarating and incredible special event that it was. For 2009 we are opening the event to cars that couldn't join us in 2008 either because their engines were a little too big or they were a little too new: 600-1000cc cars and all three-wheelers over 600cc. AND we are running an all-new event for microcars up to 700cc in September 2009! Click on the photo to email us. The route for Liège-Brescia-Liège 2009 runs from Liège to Liège via Karlsruhe, Munich, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Ljubljana, Bolzano, Brescia, Bolzano, Munich and Karlsruhe. The entry fee of just £2950 (3750 Euros) includes 11 nights in top hotels and ALL meals for two people from dinner on Thursday, July 8 to breakfast on Monday, July 20, plus rally plates, route book, maps, special tests, mechanical back-up and luggage transport. Regulations and Entry Forms are ready - email us now to request them! |
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CATEGORY OVERALL RESULTS AUTHENTIC Penalty Class Posn in class
1 17 Vespa 400 Patrick Pellen/Ronald Hagelen/Els van Beek NL 4 425 1
2 25 Messerschmitt TG500 Mark Smith/Jane Southgate GB 10 500 1
3 18 Vespa 400 Mark Benthem/Miep Messelink NL 20 425 2
4 24 Messerschmitt TG500 Colin & Kim Archer GB 24 500 2
5 20 Berkeley SE492 Mike Webster/Malcolm Norman GB 46 500 3
6 23 Messerschmitt TG500 Roger & Julian Adams GB 54 500 4
7 14 Citroen 2CV Richard Dalton/Bob Green GB 56 425 3
8 19 Vespa 400 Nicolas Courtonne/Robin Davy F/GB 84 425 4
9 2 Heinkel 200 Jeff Lane/Claude Gueniffey US/F 120 250 1
10 6 Zundapp Janus Udo Lenz/Juergen Bader D 130 250 2
11 10 BMW Isetta 300 Mick & Sara Bell GB 172 350 1
12 4 Messerschmitt KR200 Andrew & Peter Woolley GB 174 250 3
13 5 Zundapp Janus 250 Norbert Mylius/Armand Duchateau A 202 250 4
14 7 Zundapp Janus 250 Manfred Feik/Alex Schallenberg D 222 250 5
15 1 BMW Isetta 250 Alex Maier/M Stier/Edouard Boucquey D/B 292 250 6
16 21 Berkeley SE492 Graham Higgs/Mike Stringer GB 348 500 5
17 16 Goggomobil Dart 400 Anne & Lars Benthem NL 364 425 6
18 12 BMW Isetta 300 Stoffel Mulier/Geert Collaerts B 614 350 2
19 11 BMW Isetta 300 Dries Meynckens/Carine Poortmans B 674 350 3
20 9 BMW Isetta 300 Michael & Stephan Coenen B 760 350 4
21 8 Berkeley SE328 Bill Toyer/Thomas Lueck GB/D 820 350 5
22 22 Berkeley SE492 Daren Jeff/Martin Archer GB 1160 500 6
23 3 Heinkel 200 John Ducker/Jim Ellis (Retired Bolzano) G 2350 250 7
24 26 UMAP Citroen 2CV Jaap vd Broek/Roel Dijkstra (Retd Karlsruhe) NL 2642 500 7
SPIRIT
1 55 BMW 700 Alastair Caldwell/Tanya Annett GB 2 700 1
2 53 BMW 700 Sport Hans Lehr/Manfred Kolbe D 12 700 2
3 37 Fiat 500 Arvid Goes/Gerda Reimers D 22 500 1
49 Fiat Gamine John Rondeau/Dennis Greenslade GB 22 700 3
5 47 Fiat 600 Richard Disbrow/James Goodwyn GB 28 600 1
6 33 Subaru 360 Jane Puttock/James Ewing GB 68 425 1
7 39 Fiat 500 Donald Hawes/Chris Berens GB 94 500 2
8 32 Subaru 360 Vic Sayer/Craig Lawson GB 102 425 2
9 36 Fiat 500 G Schulz/C Wandinger/M Becker/R di Cocco D/B 106 500 3
10 58 Steyr-Puch 650 TR2 Michel & Jean-P Thomas/Karl-M Emer F/D 122 700 4
11 46 Fiat 595 Abarth A Fabiani/Fiat journalist & PR team I/var 200 600 2
12 38 Fiat 500 Michael Notheisen/Manfred Hahn 208 500 4
13 44 BMW 600 Henk Tappel/Jolanda Leenhouts NL 212 600 3
14 31 Citroen 2CV Trevor Redpath/Mike Norton GB 420 425 3
15 35 Berkeley T60/492 Ian Danaford/John Cook GB 536 500 5
16 43 BMW 600 Dominique van Meerbeeck/Marie-Claire Goens B 714 600 4
17 30 Berkeley T60 Phil Tetley/Chris Foster GB 888 425 4
18 45 BMW 600 Marc van den Broeck/Serge op de Beeck B 916 600 5
19 52 Berkeley B105 Ray Bell/Nigel Halliday GB 1016 700 5
20 51 Berkeley B95 Graeme & Sally Barker AUS 1200 700 6
21 42 Fiat 500 Giardiniera Dan O’Brien/Bernie O’Connor EIRE 1370 500 6
22 41 Fiat 500 Tony Maybury/David Murray EIRE 1396 500 7
23 57 Fiat-Abarth 695SS Nigel Cripps/Remo di Cocco/Roger Barker GB/B 1938 700 7
24 40 Fiat 500 Howard & Jane Atkins (Retired Bolzano) GB 2426 500 8
25 56 Fiat 500/650 Mike & Edward Stephenson/Jean Remion GB/B 2460 700 8
26 50 Berkeley B95 Jamie Pfeifer/Andy Weltch (Retd Ljubljana) US/GB 2486 700 9
27 48 NSU Sport Prinz Andrew Bremner/Mike Ramspott/David Poole GB/D 2666 600 6
28 54 BMW 700 CS Walter van Campfort/Roger Barker (R Cortina) B/GB 2796 700 10
29 34 Subaru 360 Steve Johnson/Terry Langridge (Ret Karlsruhe) GB 3100 425 5
NOT CLASSIFIED: 15 Citroen 2CV Christian Vaslin/Willy Cave F/GB
MARQUE TEAM TROPHY Messerschmitt Tigers, Car numbers 23, 24, 25
ECURIE TEAM TROPHY Noddy & Friends, Car numbers 33, 49, 55
NAVIGATOR’S TROPHY Miep Messelink, Vespa 400
DRIVER’S TROPHY Alastair Caldwell, BMW 700
CHARITIES’ PRIZE Richard Disbrow/James Goodwyn, Fiat 600
CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE Michel & Stephan Coenen, 1956 BMW Isetta 300
CONCOURS DE CONFORT Bill Toyer / Thomas Lueck, 1957 Berkeley SE328
VETERAN’S PRIZE Edouard Boucquey/Alexander Maier, 1955 BMW Isetta
LADIES’ PRIZE Jane Puttock, Subaru 360
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