Mission impossible! You know that Spa-Sofia-Liege was not all about exclusive cars and automobiles. But would you ever consider taking a 750cc car for a +5500km long endurance rally up to Sofia and back? Well,… that is exactly what they did in 1962, 1963 and 1964: The “DAFFODIL” cars from the Dutch “Van Doorne” factory were sent out on a mission. 119 cars -99 cars= 20 cars! In the 1963 edition only 20 cars made it to the finish, and for the first time in history, a car with 750cc finished the arduous race. The Daf 600 with 22hp was shown to the public in 1958 at the AutoRAI. The Daf had a first-of –a-kind VARIOMATIC (fully automatic) transmission for its 2cylinder 4stroke engine. The Liège-Sofia-Liège Daf had a boxer air cooled 750cc engine… Almost a Porsche! The Belgians Nokin-Kakert (96) and Colinet-Ransy (76) both gave it a first try in 1962, without success. Nokin-Kakert kept their belief in the boxer engine and gave it another shot in 1963 (68). Ransy was experienced and convinced Norbert Rebetez into the Daffodil adventure (60 that same year). Rob Gorris and Oscar Rosenblatt had the heavy task to the Netherland’s pride and joy in ‘63, but they had to give up with engine trouble. Nokin-Kakert were still in the race when arriving at Novi, with 4500km already behind them, and only 1100km to go to reach Spa. Unluckily, on their way home, diesel was poured into the Daffodil, and they had to give up as well. This left only Ransy-Rebetez as a 1963 Liège-Sofia-Liège survivor on their arrival in Spa, after 4 days and nights. Not surprisingly, the Van Dooren company made good publicity with this stunt! On the picture you can see Nokin-Kakert in the Liège-Sofia-Liège rally. Nokin on the drivers’ side of the little beast, and Kakert with his freshly stamped “carnet de route” (roadbook) in his hands. The Liège-Sofia-Liège rally plate “98” is covered by Yugoslavian dust. The other picture shows Rebetez and Ransy going flat-out on encrusted roads… A picture offered as trophy by Van Dooren: Respect!
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 17:26:19 +0000
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