The feeling of the fence in my hands (plastic meets iron). A soft breeze that disturbs the dandelions. Dark clouds in the distance. The sun warming my face. 
And all that in complete silence. 
Seems quite peaceful, doesn’t it?

Until suddenly, in the furthest corner of my perception, the subtle sound of a cheering crowd is. And it gets louder. Louder. Louder. And louder.
Until it’s divided into different independent sounds. Soprano yells; roaring engines.
 Helmets appear behind a tire wall and slide-float from right to left in the most elegant way at the most incredible speed, one after another. The dandelions rock in shock. Air is being moved.
The helmets come closer. A high-speed procession of karts looms out of the nothingness in the distance.
A beat is added to this polyphonic unity. But what is it? A breath? A break? The shifting of a gear? It appears to be the sound of a tire touching the curbstones for a split-second, multiple times in a row, with every kart that passes that particular point. 
Until they disappear again. 
I’m thunderstruck with this circular movement that continues to repeat itself. And I can’t find out whether this is an explosion of effects that belong to completely unnatural processes or the manifestation of Mother Nature herself, pushing her limits. It confuses me. But does it even matter?

There’s a crowd on the other side, I see now. And there are people standing around me. A bunch of photographers arise from the bushes that are spread over the track, and start sneaking around. Today, at the track of Kerpen (in Germany), it seems as though the world has turned. Drivers have become aliens. The commentator is a pygmy. The audience is numb and rigid. Jules, the only RAW Racing Team driver today, is imitating a dot in the distance.
I feel as if I’m stuck inside this universe, this vacuum.

Then a dog barks, really close to me. In fact it lies between my feet. I didn’t notice this before. It’s a German Sheppard.
I wander between tents only to find ours, enter and find that same dog there as well. She’s the new team mascot, I learn.

And all for nothing?

A busy weekend it was, at the track of Genk. Jules and Glenn competed in the first series of the BNL Championship. 2 drivers, 2 days, 4 races. 2 types of weather, also.
The weekend was one gigantic bulk of excitement. Jules drove his first shifter race, along with the current top of Europe. He raced phenomenally: he lead the first race for about 1,5 laps before his engine seized and finished the second race right behind Max Verstappen (a kid that brims with talent) but got disqualified because he lacked 250 grams of weight. Today he finished 4th twice.
Glenn had a restless weekend. He drove his first race on a dry circuit that was wet (a condition that provided a spectacular race), lead one of today’s races for a nerve-wrecking long time, dropped back about ten spots and climbed back up. He finished 8th twice.
Even if the sum of the results in the end isn’t astonishing, the racing was definitely worth it. This weekend was fun. It’s good to know you don’t necessarily need to win if you want to have a laugh. At least, the RAW Racing Team doesn’t. Because after all, fun is what a sport is about, isn’t it? Good racing in itself can bring these people joy. O, and the glow of talent that’s around the heads of these two boys also has a share.

This week the first of a series of 4 Euro Challenges took place. In Belgium, of all places. Today Jules, Fred, Nikita and Glenn drove their finals. Partially, that is, if anything at all. Jules, Nikita and Fred raced in the DD2 class, Glenn (for the first time) in the Senior class. This week the RAW Racing Team dwelled at the track of Genk, once again.

As you might know, the European Championship is my favorite championship. That’s because of the neat tents, professional teams, talented drivers and controlled parents. It’s well-organized and the racing is much more intense compared to other championships. Simply because the winning of a European Championship means a lot more than the winning of a national contest. Today leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, however.
Glenn mounted a ninety-strong Senior crew for the first time. He did quite well but didn’t manage to qualify for the final.
Jules, Fred and Nikita Khudov (a Russian driver who joined the team this season) had bad luck as well. Somebody drove over Nikita’s foot yesterday, and that accident eliminated him from the final today. Jules and Fred had a great start but lost it all when the DD2’s had to restart. Jules crashed with Xen de Ruwe, his only real equivalent this race. After that accident some Russian guy drove into his kart and bent his axle. That made his kart shake shake so heavily (because it the wheel was tilted) I was afraid his spleen would burst open. (Luckily for me) he had to stop racing because of this mechanical defect. Fred crashed and stopped before the end of the race as well. That’s how more than a week’s preparation evaporated like water into air in just a few minutes.  Suddenly it was time to pack up.

Jules claims to have learned ‘a lot of stuff’ that he can use next time. I hope he does. The boy was so eager to win it killed him. I claim I’ve learned a lot too. Ingo, a.k.a. the kart-doctor (he bought a new tool that looks too much like a surgeon chair), taught me some things about fuel nozzles. Man, that’s craftsmanship. I’m talking about that significance of a micrometer. Now I understand how such small machinery can make a difference. Today it didn’t, however.
Yet I keep my hopes up high. I saw some maneuvers today that weren’t good by accident but that necessitate talent. In the end you need talent  to get there.