MDI Karting Cup Part 1

Part 1 van de MDI Kart Cup (Quali + start vd race)

Back to racing...

Racing in 2012, it wasn't that much fun for me as in 2011 or 2010...

I didn't drive that much either, I lost the fun in karting a little bit. wich is a shame!
Every time I drove, I lost the rythm to push every lap, most of the time I wasn't happy with my times/ results... So I took a little break.
For a few months I didn't drove at all...

Untill a few weeks ago, I entered a race at JPR from Karting4Life, a double sprint race in both directions..
It was great to see the guys again! The race wasn't that great though, the kart wasn't all that but I gained a few places, the second race was the most disgusting race I ever entered. Someone of the organisation drove me 3 times off the track... This was too much! I drove into the pit with only one thought: "I'm going to extend my break a little longer, this isn't my thing anymore."

2 Weeks ago, some of my friends invited me to come along for a drive, again at JPR. Without any pressure (these guys are way faster than me...) and bit for bit I started to enjoy the feeling of that steering wheel again.
Maverick at the track Version 2.0, I found the pleasure again.

So we entered the "end-of-the-year" race at JPR, just for fun, no pressure, just to measure ourselves with the best in Belgium (and Holland with the talented Boutens brother and sister).
Unfortunately, the material wasn't that good that it used to be...
In the training heat I only managed a 44.1, where Jef posted a very fast 43.1! Loïc realised a 43.75.
That's a whole second that Jef was faster than me, never happened before... So the race was going to be a lottery.

Our first cart was a medium engine with no grip at all in the front. Jef took the start and was able to drive a 43.6 in his stint. (0.5s slower than in training?), I drove the second stint with a kart that had a rather good engine but was hard to make a left turn. (But it's a left turning track, so not that big of a problem)
Directly I drove below the 44's with a 43.3 as best-time.
Loïc finished the race for us with again a medium kart. (best-time 43.1)
Normally he can measure himself with C. Verhoeven who realised a 42.71!
We came in P9 at the end, not bad... Average, but happy with the result...

Too bad that the diff on the karts is too big to be competitive...
A shame for a karting who used to be that good...
I hope that the new engines in january will bring something better!

But for me the most important was the feeling afterwards, hanging with the guys again, have a (few?) beers, my girl at the track...
I really enjoyed it, feeling good with my stint, being with my mates...

C u soon guys ;-)

#onelasttour

Not very often did a hashtag mean so much for the whole dance scene...

Het heeft even geduurd om een verslagje te maken, maar wauw, was me dat een feestje!

Zelden zo content geweest om tickets voor een concert te hebben bemachtigd.
SHM is sinds ze samen zijn, één van mijn favo "bands" geweest.
Afzonderlijk volgde ik enkel Axwell.

Dan terug naar de avond zelf, Otto Knows (van de bekende meezinger "Million Voices") begon al om 18.45u met wat het voorprogramma zou zijn. Helaas was er toen nog geen "kat" in het Sportpaleis te zien.
Wij waren wel op tijd en konden ons zo al vrij goed positioneren.

Tegen een uur of 9, is de zaal toch al vrij goed gevuld en komt de sfeer er goed in!
Als dit een waardemeter is voor wat nog gaat komen, het sportpaleis was er klaar voor!

Afsluiten deed Otto Knows met een bekende remix:

Dan ntauurlijk even wachten tot de hoofdmacht van de dance-scene hun opwachting ging maken.

Filmpje van hun opening: (amateurbeelden van Youtube):

Met Greyhound was de toon al meteen gezet en de keet ontplofte.

Alle toppers passeerden de revue (In my mind, Calling, ...), in hun SHM club-versie, of voor de One Last Tour nog even aangepaste remix. Daardoor was het geen "even snel al onze succes-platen draaien en weer weg show", zoals wel eens durft gebeuren met sommige DJ's.

Het hoogtepunt werd bereikt tijdens "Don't you worry child" (met bijbehorende sit-down).
Al was dit natuurlijk niet het enige hoogtepunt! 2u15min lang was het één groot feest, ze zijn het dak van het sportpaleis nog aan het maken.

They came, they raved and we loved it...
(en ze zullen gemist worden)

#Onelasttour

PS: Alledrie hebben ze al wel een afspraak met het Vlaamse publiek op Tomorrowland 2013!

Counting down...

One last tour...

And the world stopped turning for a few seconds.

They came with great ambition, fantastic music and they will leave a huge gap behind.

Swedish House Maffia made history in the dance scene.

I'm so glad I can go watch them on their final passage in Antwerp (Sportpaleis) with my brother!

(These aren't my vid's or my pic)

We'll see them for a great party at December 1th @ Sportpaleis Antwerp!

Not just your average sneakers...

SUPRA Vaider

Absolutely fabulous

The thing about a helmet design

Or there are more things to a helmet design than you think...

What makes a good helmet design? Each and every helmet with any design has a personality, an identity.

Is it a bought motorcycle-helmet with a fabric painted design or a completely self-tought and by a pro handpainted design.

It intreges me what goes around in the head of the painters to make some designs really shine/ come alive.

 I've seen a lot of designs over the years and no helmet is the same. (Except for some copycats, wich I don't understand at all or fabric painted helmets.)

The interpretation of a design starts with an idea, with a bundle of thoughts.

How do you make it work? By being an artist.

Some helmets are truely a work of art.

Some take the word "art" very seriously.

Helmet by Bell Helmets Europe (pls don't copy)

But art has many ways of telling it's story.

Do you want it to express your identity, who you are?

Or does the helmet tells a story of it's own?

These are for me the most important stones to build a great design.

A fantastic example of the second way of making a helmet work is the latest work of KoopKustoms. 

Geert has made a Batman design for the Las Vegas Special 2012 and wow, what an amazing job he did!

Over and over again he makes true art on a helmet.

This helmet has a 90's Batman cartoon design over it and that says it all.

With crazy details and a wonderfull finish, this is one of the craziest helmets I've ever seen.

Design and painting by KoopKustoms (pls don't copy)

The design is so great because it'so original. The idea was great, unique.

The elaboration on itself, is just out of this world.

This is a fantastic helmet design!

The other way of making it work, is that the design is an extension of who you are.

(The following sentences are my own ideas, my way I wanted my helmet to be.)

For my own helmet, that's where I started with the design.

I want it to be one of a kind, different than the others, be special on it's own way.

But not too shiny, not that step too much.

This had to be my identity on the track.

A bit different than usual, but without exaggerating.

That made for me a great design.

There were many ideas, many thoughts, many ways of telling what I wanted.

You can honour your idols, put in a funny thought, a crazy detail.

But it did'nt feel right. (I'm not going to explain the design of my helmet, it's not that interesting for an outsider.)

It all came together when I met Marcel from TjelloCreations.

That was the moment when I realised that these guys are artists.

You give them your thoughts and they distille them to a design that really comes out.

Painted by TjelloCreations (Copy and you will be punished!)

So how do you now you have the right design for you?

you'll realise it everytime you're watching it.

You will be smiling.

Red Bull Big Air Antwerp

One of the pics I took during the try outs of the Red Bull VW Big Air World Cup in Antwerp on friday.
Crazy event for the city of Antwerp at a great scenery.
The old harbour docks are the background of the jump.
Congratz to Seppe Smits for taking the win in his home town!

Back to bloggin'

Haven't used my Blogger for a while...
Many reason's for that, very little are interesting.

I made this to write about my hard diet a couple of months ago.
But I'm going to change it's subject so I can use this as a blog for my photo's and to write about my karting adventures...

Hoping to pick that up again in 2013, the past year wasn't that fun karting-wise.
Really lost the fun in it.

And when it's not fun any more, you can better take a break.
Was a bit hard though, to see some of the guys not for a while...
And that's ofcourse the Traxxis team.

Maverick