The start of the Douze heures de Huy 1960. Here seen Pierre Goffin at the wheel of his Triumph TR3, Pierre was one of the few to wear a helmet.

The “Douze heures de Huy” Rally was organized this Saturday, 4 September 2010 and checks did take place on the Friday evening before.

The “Douze heures de Huy”  is as much part of the Belgian automobile history, as the “Liège-Rome-Liège”,  the “Marathon de la Route” and the “Tour de Belgique” events.

Fifty six years later, the revival event was conducted in the true spirit of that first event in 1954;  card-punching in the village bistros, cars no more recent than 1969, publication of the route in the local press, and most important, the return of a “driver only” category.  It was this driver only category that distinguished the “Douze heures de Huy” from all other rallies ever organized.

This Revival event was therefore conducted with respect of the spirit and sporting codes from bygone eras. One can only hope that the Douze heures de Huy Revival  event will build on its name and fame, in time attracting both experienced and amateur racers who will favour  its originality as well as its quality, but above all the pleasure of being part of history and the revival of a great classic, the Douze heures de Huy.

Equipes participated in two different categories; the Revival or driver only category, where the driver has to combine the roles of both driver and navigator, or the regular Equipage category, where driver and navigator are two different persons.

For drivers’ and spectators’ safety the average speed of the Revival category was considerably slower compared to the Equipage category. Yellow RAC style arrows were placed at tricky sections of the course, and the roadbook was of course be much easier to read than the traditional road books are.

The event was divided into three age based categories; Pre-war cars from before 31.12.1944, Post-war cars from 1945 – 1959 and Classic cars from 1960 – 1969. All age based categories were divided into three engine capacity related classes;  up to 1300 ccm,  1301 – 2000 ccm and 2001 ccm upwards.

Overall winner of theDouze heures de Huy  Revival was Filip De Munck (B) on Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint 1961 racing in the Revival or diver only category.