Day 5 : The Princesses reach new heights

Blue skies way up yonder… for the second-to-last day of this 10th anniversary Princesses’ Rally with nearly 300 kilometers of unforgettable climbs and death-defying descents through some of the region’s most notorious passes. The Princesses wet their whistles by mounting the Madeleine before tackling the main course atop the Glandon, one heck of a monster and classic highlight of the Tour de France bicycle race. For dessert, the little ladies treated themselves to the Lautaret, as they took in the view of the Meije’s snow-capped peaks, reaching 3,800 meters high!

On the rocks or straight up? The sun glistened on the icy mountains, and the Princesses! This 4th straight day of gorgeous weather made everyone extra thirsty. At lunch, the order of the day was fresh squeezed orange juice, though a few Kir Royals made their way to the tables parked in the shade at the Hotel de la Poste in Saint Colomban, a precious little village tucked into the climb up to the Glandon Pass.

Polka dot jersey for the no. 21! Despite colorful performances by several talented teams, the royal Dutch (Nicole Melse and Karen Campagne) stole the show with their Porsche 911. So they’re the ones who deserve to wear the traditional polka dot jersey awarded to the their fellow Dutchman, Joop Zoetemelk, years ago on these same roads during the Tour de France bicycle race.

Our Singer needs a break...literally. Barbara Morris and Sylvia McRae are not about to forget this trip through the French Alps. First thing in the morning, before they even began to climb the Madeleine Pass, their magnificent Singer Roadster 1500 Open showed signs of faulty breaks. A fortuitous repair job and they were off again. But not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, they avoided the most perilous aspects of the day’s itinerary.

A shower for Hermine. Hermine de Clermont Tonnerre and Valérie Benaïm received a warm welcome when they finally made it to lunch. Champgne in hand, Patrick Zaniroli sprayed the navy blue Panhard Junior with a victory shower after it struggled for two hours to make it to the top of the Madeleine Pass.

A Triumph, without a fan? Carol Swain and Jo-Ann Jenkins also had serious delays today. An electrical breakdown made it impossible for their Triumph TR4 Sport to properly cool. Luckily, the rally’s assistance team managed to fix the problem quickly so they didn’t lose too much time.



Total discretion for Little Miss Corvette. The Belgians Yvette Van Den Bosch and Stéfanie Berben are on their second Princesses’ Rally and have figured out the key to Regularity. Little by little, their clever strategy is adding up to a beautiful score and possibly a place among the top 5 on the podium in Cannes!

Hitch-hiker or controller? The summer heat seems to be taking its toll on some of the Princesses like Michelle Leneveu and Pascale Pourzol who almost didn’t stop for the RS controller after they offered a ride to the timing commissioner (they’d mistaken for a hitch-hiker)! What’ll they come up with next?

Carmen is… very enthusiastic. Since we’ve decided to offer you the sequel to the adventures of ‘Bolbo Amasson’ starring Carmen Mangold and Anne Goudenege, here’s today’s episode: the hot-blooded Franco-Spanish driver set out to prove that her 1966 Swedish ‘ride’ was as powerful as Adriana Di Salvatore and Sandrine Galerne’s Ferrari 430. So with the passion and conviction of a ‘matador’ her Volvo flew past the Ferrari on one of the hairpin curves of the Glandon Pass… and arrived way ahead of schedule at the afternoon’s first Regularity Sector!

In the Princesses’ own words:

Marie-Laure Raynaud (Fra/Porsche 356): “I admit that I do have a bit of trouble catching on to this whole ‘regularity’ thing. But we’re having a ball! The scenery is simply splendid and the conviviality is omnipresent. I can’t believe we’re almost at the end.”

Béatrice Belle (Fra/BMW 2002 TII): “Partaking in this Princesses Rally is like a fairytale, come true! We’re loving the game of regularity, despite the ups and downs – like today. This morning, everything was perfect, and then in the afternoon: disaster! 98 penalty points on the Glandon Pass alone! I think we’ll have to pop the bubbly to celebrate the occasion!”

Grete Keyser (Nor/Triumph TR3 Roadster): “Today was truly magnificent. Aside from a few electrical problems, we made it through each of the mountain passes and reached Serre Chevalier on time. Now we’ll just fix our electrical circuit and be ready for Cannes tomorrow!”

Barbara Morris (G-B/Singer Roadster 1500 Open): Given our sticky breaks, we didn’t want to take any risks. After the morning’s RS, we opted for a safer detour away from the steep slopes to reach Serre Chevalier safely via Grenoble. Because the important thing is to make it safe and sound to Cannes tomorrow.”