Tulip Rallye Report

Springtime must be here because we ran the Tulip yesterday!

It was rather surreal as I thought we were going to be late, and drove like a madman over the hill from Arlington into the Skagit for the start. We arrived at the Cascade Mall parking lot among the first few cars… only to find out some sort of construction-related delay in Everett had prevented the vast majority of participants from arriving from Seattle, much further south.

The Tulip is sort of like the “Opening Day” for car enthusiasts here in the Pacific Northwest and draws several hundred participants in an unusual array of vehicles, with a large portion of them being British (The local MG Club hosts the Tulip Rallye.) Jaguars were a tad under-represented this year, with only about 10, two big Saloons, a couple of XJs and a “one of each” group of E-types. Zillions of MGs & Minis/MINIs, lots of Healeys, Corvettes, Alfa-Romeos, Lancias, Fiats, Porsches, a smattering of Soltice/Sky drivers, rounded it up to somewhere between 250-300 cars.

This year the route ventured west through the tulip fields (in partial bloom) then north around Lake Samish to Fairhaven in Bellingham, then back down Chuckanut Drive, Padilla Bay and out to the Finish at the Swinomish Casino.

My car ran fine despite the lack of a functioning radiator fan. The temps got a wee bit high (90°C+) as we waited through a couple of lights for a left turn in Farihaven, but I was always able to get the car up to speed and cool down again.

Above: At the finish in Swinomish, Doug Martin (left) and Greg Bilyeau (inspecting) check out the engine bay of a particularly well-sorted out E-type Series 3 2+2. Greg drove his ’74 S3 and Doug left his E-type at home and drove a Miata(!) Can you name all the cars in this photo?

We arrived at the finish pretty early (12:45ish) and then since there were SO MANY cars the wrap up lingered on a tad too long. I was planning a lunch stop on the way home but after waiting more than an hour for the awards Doug & Constance Martin offered Chris & I a sandwich from their cooler. That probably saved our lives as Chris gets really cranky if not fed. Thanks!

Chris had to get back home for an event later in the day so we had to bail out before we found out how we placed. Oh well. (It was well after 3 by this time though!) On the drive home I ran into some Tourist Tulip Traffic… coming off Fir Island into Conway and had to shut off the car a couple of times to prevent it overheating. The gauge never registered higher than 95°C so the car should be fine.

The rains are due to return tomorrow so perhaps I’ll start troubleshooting this fan issue.

I didn’t take any photos while the Rallye was underway.. so no tulip fields for you! I did grab a few shots of obscure cars for the ongoing “Car Photo of the Day” series, so stay tuned for that.