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Echte motorsport momenten zijn er meerdere waaronder ons team kampioen worden in de GT3 classe ... onderaan vind je echter een tekst die ik een 2-tal jaren geleden geschreven heb voor een Engels club-blad. De vraag daar was "Wat is de beste ervaring die je gehad hebt in je Caterham?" en mijn antwoord luide als volgt ... het verhaal speelt zich af op Zolder:
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The best thing I ever did in my Seven .... hmmm, could be tricky to decide. I could bring up trips to the Ardennes, to France, gorgeous roads, laughing children, first time passengers, etc., etc. or I could try an write down the feeling we all have when we open the trottle on a twisty road ....... but no, right now, neither of those spring into my mind.
The best thing ... the best emotionally engraved into my mind thing ... happened when I took my mother out onto the racetrack. My father, at the age of 56, was diagnosed having cancer. The doctors gave him 3 months but he suffered way longer, 2.5years to be exact. During that period my wife and I started renting a Seven, one day at a time, just to see if we would enjoy it enough to buy one ... Dad liked the car, never managed to get in it though due to being ill, but he still called us fools if we would not go for it while we could afford it, had the chance and where healthy ...........
Funny but often it takes someone to pass away before you realise how short life can be. When he died we did not wait much longer and bought a 1.6SS. Why that short story .... well, last year, for the first time since I got the car, I took my mother out onto my "home track". After several real "hot" laps with lots of overtaking and ... well, you know .... she grabbed my attention by putting her hand onto my leg. I looked at her and trough her visor could see tears in her eyes. Thinking something was wrong I quickly finished the lap and went back into the pitlane. I took my helmet off and asked "what's wrong". She just smiled at me and while wiping the tears away she said "You did not have to come in!", "I was just thinking ... Dad should have been here", "He would have been proud of you ... "
I don't think I have to explain why it took quite a while before I managed to do some more laps .......
That's the best thing that happened in my Seven ...
STIJN
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Life starts at 7000rpm and 133BHP
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