Ypres by night: the 100 Miles of 2022

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We’ve been great advocates of the 100 Miles Rally, organized in 2009 for the first time in and around Amsterdam and then held in a number of other Dutch cities, too. We’ve seen blizzards and downpours since, all from the cosy seats of our own pre-war vehicles, and all in the dark as well - this is a night rally, after all. Don’t let this scare you off too much - ‘The objective is to complete the course’, stresses the organizer. Well, we can say it’s not always just as easy as that!

This year the night rally will centre around Ypres, Belgium, and some great Belgian-based machinery is expected. From a 1934 Lancia Augusta to a 1931 Rally NCP, an SS100 and no fewer than two Riley Sprites ('37 and '38, black and white). Additional machines will come from the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Germany and Italy also. The good news is that there's still time for you to enter (click here).

Ypres is, of course known for the battles that took place there during the First World War. We can’t resist checking Tom Wisdom’s wonderful old guide Touring Abroad just to see what the great writer had to say about a certain place, and these were his thoughts about Ypres: “The First World War immortalized many Belgian names, Louvain, Liège and Passchendaele among them, but possibly Ypres is the most famous of all. It was all but wiped off the face of the earth, and shells played a deadly tattoo on the old town as the conflict raged on year after year without appreciable gain or loss on either side. The Cloth Hall (pictured here - Ed) and Cathedral have now been restored and the town has regained something of its former glory.” Don't you think it's even prettier by night than it is by day?

Words: Jeroen Booij, picture: The 100 Miles

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