Legend Boucles de Bastogne, the winter rally for vintage rally fans!

5 Feb

Eventhough I could only make it one day to this years Legend Boucles de Bastogne. It was quite fun shooting this rally held mid February in the Belgian Ardennes. A day full of cold weather, snow, vintage rally cars and friends!

This rally which first took place in 1966, was originally held in Spa. It was called “Boucles de Spa” which literally means “Loops of Spa”. In 2006,
Pierre Delettre decided to transform the Boucles de Spa into the Legend Boucles de Spa, a rally specifically for vintage rally cars. Nine years later the rally moved to Bastogne, the heart of the Belgian Ardennes and is now called Legend Boucles de bastogne.

At 04:45 in the morning, my alarm woke me. I knew I had an exciting day ahead, so getting out of bed wasn’t a problem. I was all packed and prepared for the snow. After a strong breakfast, I headed to the train station and took the train to Leuven where my friend picked me up. On our way to Bastogne, we talked about our expectations of this rally. When we arrived, we met up with another friend and headed to the first stage. Just in time to see the whole pack.

After dinner, we headed towards Spa, where we would catch up the rally cars for the second time. It was a circa 45 minutes drive, so ideal to heat up a bit. When arriving in Spa we faced our biggest challenge: finding a parking spot without getting stuck in the snow. And as real Flemish people, we didn’t have any winter tires. That didn’t make it any easier. Anyhow we made it on time to this stage!

I feel bad that I could only make it on Saturday, because on Sunday the stages took place in the heart of the Luxembourg forests! But I can tell, I was happy to go home at the end of the day as I was freezing cold and exhausted. And I know for sure, next year I will book a hotel and attend the full weekend.