MECHELEN: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
     
WHY MECHELEN?   A SHORT HISTORY OF MECHELEN

The first Mello Yello for kids was organised in 1994 in Mechelen on a tri-oval. It was a competition among national teams, where the kids had assistance from such experienced racers as Jan Limpach, "Gugu" Ber-nardino, Jozef Miskolci, Josef Hensl and myself. The competition went over 10 sprint races and turned out to be a gruelling fight among "Piki" and Josef Korec. At that very moment nobody could preview that, later, they should win several world championships, and certainly not that Korec should become the absolute #1 racer on the IOC-list and that "Piki" should become the best all-time model car racer (#3 on the IOC-list). Eventually "Piki" won seven of the ten rounds and the Mello Yello.
The nation winning the series could take the brand new track, made by Canada's Steve Ogilvie home. The first day four national teams were close together: Czechia, Slovakia, Belgium and Holland. Unfortunately for Belgium, their third youngster - the late Herman Helskens - overslept and was five hours late, just in time to be elected as the trophy for the most sympathetic racer [Herman committed suicide two years ago]. So Belgium missed too many points with two kids instead of three. Holland ran in problem since their coach Arie van Wijngaarden sr could only stay one day. So it was a fight on live and death between Czechia and Slova-kia. Should Peter Cerlce not have deslotted at the end of the last round, they should have won the track. Now it went to Czechia. In the evening their was a Race of the Champions where the 4 best kids could compete against the 12 best racers of the world. Josef Korec caused a stir by beating "Piki" as second, and all the stars, even the nearly unbeatable Jan Limpach at those days. Korec won $ 10,000, but unfortunately the sponsor never paid for obscure reasons.

Now, 13 years later, it's great to return to Mechelen. The track will no longer been installed in the famous Vrijbroek Park (it was during the Summer in open air!) now that the 17th IMCA Nats were scheduled for such rainy month as November. We go back to Hotel Gulden Anker, where all racers were hosted in 1994. Mechelen is a splendid city with 78,000 inhabitants, linked by train to the Zaventem airport. The railway station is at walking distance from the hotel. Since my dad is from Mechelen I did it as a young kid hundreds of times. It's great to see that no less than 12 of the racers having been in Mechelen in 1994 are again at the start 13 years later. And it's a real pity that "Piki" stopped active racing, since otherwise we could have lived a new edition of the famous fight of 13 years ago. Enjoy your stay in Mechelen, it's really worth your travelling! [JPVR]

  

In some ways it is surprising that Mechelen has turned out to be the great and historic city it is, because it started out as a mere settlement on some marshy land by the River Dijle.

The man who got things going was that early Christian and coffee visionary St Rombout who founded an abbey by the marshy settlement in 756 and set about converting the locals, to religion that is, not mildly intoxicating hot drinks. It has to be said that everything did not exactly go smoothly as he was martyred 19 years later, but was at least buried in his own church.

Next on the scene was the Prince-Bishop of Liege, who passed leadership of the town to the Berthoud family in 1213, who were followed by Louis De Male, Count of Flanders in 1333 and finally the Dukes of Burgundy in 1384.

Things reached a bit of a low at this point, not to say complete extermination, as the entire place was wiped out by a fire in 1342. So, the only way was up as they say, and the town’s fortunes began to prosper from this point on, particularly after Charles the Bold established a Supreme Court in Mechelen in 1473. Having already set up the Grand Council of the Netherlands, he knew what he was doing, and this move attracted lots of legal officials to the area, who, as is well known, always have lots of money to spend on the good things of life. Charles only lived another four years, but his widow, Margaret of York – who was sister to Edward IV of England – settled in the town.

Having gone up, fortunes then went down again, after about 1530, mainly due to the fact that Margaret’s granddaughter, Margaret of Austria moved the court back to Brussels, leaving poor old Mechelen in a state of decline. Buildings were left unfinished and numbers dwindled.

But all was not lost. By the 17th century Mechelen was making a name for itself as a lace and wood carving industry, and by the 19th century was also well known for those exquisite tapestries.

Very sadly, and unlike some Flemish cities, Mechelen took a pounding in both World Wars, but ever since, a painstaking programme of restoration has seen the city reconstructed to its baroque medieval glory.

THE "VRIJBROEK" PARK

You cannot have  been in Mechelen without a visit at the famous Vrij-broek Park, the largest and most beautiful park of Belgium. The en-trance of "Hotel Gulden Anker", making a corner with the Briusselse straat, is situated at the Ridder Dessainlaan. If you continue that ave-nue (4 minutes of walking) you arrive at the Vrijbroek Park, the green lung of Mechelen. The park originated in 1919 when the province Antwerp decided to buy the free (="vrij") pastures in Southern Mechelen. Those grasslands were moist and at several places rather swamps (="broek"). To drain the marshes one had to dig several canals and ponds or lakes.

There are two chalets in the park. One of them, near to the tennis courts, is the one IMCA used in 1994 to organise the Mello Yello (right picture). In the mid of the park you'll find the second chalet, famous for its Belgian beers. Just behind the central chalet one finds the famous roses park, very popular among garden specialists (especially from England). The drama of the park is that it doesn't belong to the city of Mechelen but to the province of Antwerp. The web site made on it by the province is exclusively in Flemish, with ridiculous pics. The web site of the city is hardly better. Although Mechelen is a very tourist city, with splendid Renaissance buildings, you find nearly nothing on it on the communal web site. I know no city in the world having been so poorly sold to tourists as Mechelen. Nevertheless the old centre is one of the most attractive in the world. There is enough free time between the heats of the Benelux Cup to take time to visit those pearls of history!

  
     
 
     
 
     
 
     

THE CENTRE OF THE OLD CITY
 

St-Rumbolds Cathedral. The cathedral was built over a period of 300 years, from the 13th until the 16th century. The unfinished tower, the symbol of Mechelen, is 97.28 m high and contains two carillons, each with 49 bells. The tower is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.The cathedral contains numerous works of art, including a “Crucifixion” by Anthony Van Dyck, a series of 25 panels from the 15th  and 16th centuries depicting the Legend of St. Rumbold, and a magisterial pulpit sculpted in oak with numerous figures of animals.

  

Court Hof van Busleyden. Early 16th century palace of the humanist Hieronymus van Busleyden, a teacher of the Emperor Charles V, judge at the Great Council of Mechelen and patron of Thomas More’s most famous work Utopia.
The elegant south wing features an open galleria with renaissance pillars and a Gothic balustrade.
Today it is the Hof van Busleyden museum.
 
The Market Place with the City Hall in the background. It'sa former Cloth Hall, dating from the start of the 14th century with an unfinished bell-tower. Linen and textile trading was conducted on the ground floor. The unfinished bell-tower is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The interior can be visited with a guide. Highlights include the richly-decorated marriage, council and column chambers and a well-known 16th century tapestry depic-ting the Battle of Tunis
 

IJzeren Leen - This elongated square once played host to the city’s Fish Market. A canal ran down the middle of the square, linking the square to the River Dyle. Although the canal was vaulted in the 19th century, the 16th century iron railings which boarded the canal can still be seen today. Fountains with fish sculptures remind today’s visitors of the Ijzerenleen’s fishy past.

  

Stone bridge over the River Dyle. It's the oldest bridge of the city. Over that bridge you reache Mechelen's most important shopping street linked to the Market Place. The bridge dates from the 13th century.

 

Brusselpoort (1951) - That's the Brisselpoort like a saw it many times when I was a little boy. At that time cars could pass it in the middle. I al-ways dreamed to sit in a car driving through the old monument. Unfortunately my father, his five sisters, his brother, and the uncles in law had no car at all. When I bought my first car (a Honda S800) in 1965 there was no more traffic through the middle.

  

Brusselsepoort (2007) - Having been built between 1264 and 1268, the Brussel(se)poort is the only remaining medieval city gate of the 12 that circled the city. The walls of he two round towers are 180 cm thick! There is a museum in it, the Brusselpoort Museum. I know that slot-racers are not very specialised in sight-seeing, but this monument they'll certainly have seen, since the "Gulden Anker" hotel is less than 100 m behind!

THE "TIVOLI" PARK

HOTEL "GULDEN ANKER"

Hotel Gulden Anker in Mechelen opened on September 3, 1987. Ever since, the combination of refinement and class have added to its renown. Hotel Gulden Anker - a Best Western **** Hotel - is situated near the Vrijbroekpark (town park), the green belt and main oasis of peace in town, the perfect place for a walk or a game of tennis.

Situated next to the motorway E19 Brussels-Antwerp, only 20 minutes away from the national airport at Zaventem, Gulden Anker is extremely well located for residencial as well as other seminars and congresses, for which the hotel has three spacious rooms available. In one of those rooms the race location will be installed. Racers who want so can order in the morning a lunch packet (with free soft drinks) at the price of € 18.00. Sandwiches will be available at € 2.00. The evening before the race we should know how many sandwiches will be needed per racer for the complete event. Twice per day their will be new soft drinks at € 10.00 per person per day.

The rooms all meet with the highest standards of comfort. They are furnished with private bathrooms, direct dial telephone, minibar, cable color television, writing desk, internet connection and automatic clock. The hotel offers 35 rooms, all of them breathing an atmosphere of calm and class at a price of € 75.00 per room per night, breakfast included. That makes only € 37.50 per racer. Single rooms are available at € 67.50 per night. Furthermore the hotel provides laundry and room services and of course, the hotel staff speaks four languages.

The hotel has a range of luxury services including 24 hr rooms service, bar/cafe, gym, meeting rooms, parking, restaurant, safe, sauna and secretarial services.

  
     
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ROOMS
Room ? first person second person
Rooms with twice a single's bed
14 - Jozef Miskolci Ladislav Szalai Nov 1-5
15 - Gugu Bernardino Benny Justice Nov 1-5
18 - Henry van Gool Gabriel Inäbnit Nov 2-4
24 Francesc Reyes Daniel Gonzalez Nov 1-5
33 - Marcelo Triginelli Antonio Teixeira Nov 1-5
34 - Josef Korec Vladimir Horky Nov 2-4
44 - Tamar Nelwan Marcel Oosterling Nov 2-4
50 John Emmons Tim Tyler Nov 1-5
51 Mireia Ortega Albert Ortega Nov 1-5
52 Chris Radisich Fred Hood Oct 31-Nov 6
Rooms with a double bed
3 - Youri van Rossem "Piki" v Rossem Nov 1-4
4 - Marko Salomaa Arttu Salomaa Nov 1-5
5 - Rune Yterdahl Anders Skar Nov 1-5
6 - Hotran Kristian Frank Rødahl Nov 1-5
17 - Glenn Wennerberg Borge Haug Nov 1-5
19 - Hugo Dekker Des Dekker Nov 2-4
20 - Jostein Vandas Stag-Ale Eriksen Nov 1-5
23 - Jean P van Rossem - Nov 1-4
41 - Fola Osu Oscar Hernandez Nov 1-5
43 - Mark Campbell mrs. Campbell Nov 1-5
53 Alberto Ortega Antonio Ortega Nov 1-5
54 Mimmo Martinez Pietro Razzano Nov 1-4
55 Pekka Nurkkanen Brian Saunders Nov 1-5
56 Nick de Wachter Emily Kuipers Nov 2-4
57 Henrik Hasager P Christiansen Nov 1-5
S1 - Giovanni Montiglio - Nov 1-4
 

RULES TO BE RESPECTED AT THE HOTEL & THE RACE LOCATION

(1) Payment of the rooms at "Hotel Gulden Anker" (€ 75 per double room per night, € 67.50 per single room per night; prices are inclusive breakfast) is done UPON ARRIVAL. [Indeed, in 1994, several racers went home without having paid their hotel bills. We don't want a repetition of such painful situation.]
(2) Since the new Canadian track is too big for the conference room at Hotel Gulden Anker, the MTT track will be installed at Feestzaal "De Posthoorn" at walking distance (2 à 3 minutes) from the hotel.
(3) Soldering irons are NOT allowed in the race location. There will be ONE central soldering iron to be used at a fixed place by all racers. Racers found with a soldering iron in their bags will be disqualified for the rest of the meeting. The reason is quite simple: the contract with the insurance company stipulates that only ONE soldering iron is allowed in the racing premises.
(4) If use of soldering irons at the rooms of Hotel Gulden Anker  causes damages the racers of that particular room will be hold to pay the damages before their departure. If this is not done the police will be informed.
(5) Racers causing the smallest damage in the race location will be immediately excluded for the rest of the meeting. Caused damage will be at their cost. In 22 years of international racing IMCA could avoid the smallest damage at the race location. We are sure that it will be like that also this year.
(6) Experience from the past learns that some racers behave as half barbarians. Next to each table racers will find a refuse bag. Since we race in a luxuary conference room no garbage will be allowed. At 3pm and 11pm their will be an inspection round. If tables are found being not clean, the racers sitting at that table will be not allowed to enter the following race.
(6) Racers should bring with them a 1.50 m x 2.50 m plastic foil which they have to place upon the table. No racing will be allowed by racers having forgotten the plastic foil.