Ollie Bearman may need to reconsider his summer break plans again – to come back to the small Swedish town of Varberg, where he already spent a few days ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Back then, his family vacation derailed after Bearman discovered a local karting track – a typical rental go-kart place you’d expect to find on the outskirts of a little town – next to the place he was staying at.
The joking suggestion from his family members that he’d need to beat the lap record turned into a three-day mission, which involved – according to the F1 driver himself – taking fuel off the go-kart, cooling the engine with a leaf blower, taking some bodywork off to save weight, and even someone slipstreaming him on the straight – until he finally broke the previous record.
“He should be in F1!” Bearman laughed, talking to journalists in Spa, about the then-anonymous-to-him driver who held the record for Varbergs Gokart before Ollie turned up.
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
That guy, Elton Zevenwacht, a 23-year-old local, wasn’t in town when the F1 driver let his obsession ruin a family holiday. But the news reached him quickly.
“I had no idea – until Christian Andersen, the owner of the track, sent me a photo of Oliver and the lap record board,” he laughed, as Motorsport.com reached out to him while he was on his way back to Varbergs Gokart. “I was away that week, so I couldn’t come and try to beat it right away. But I’m going to try to beat it tonight.”
And beat it he did. While Bearman was busy taking P7 in the Belgian GP’s sprint qualifying, Zevenwacht was heading back to his local karting track.
A couple of weeks ago, Bearman managed to become the first driver to break the 29-second mark, setting a time of 28.97s during his vacation – shaving a tenth off the previous lap record – and Zevenwacht responded on Friday night with 28.95s.
“I’m a competitive person, too,” laughed the Swede. “But it was just really fun for me to hear that Ollie came to the track and had to work hard for the record. And with all these tactics – like cooling the engine and changing tires and stuff. But I respect that! I have no bad feelings or anything. It’s just really, really cool that Ollie had to work for the lap record.”
He also took his chance to respond to some of Bearman’s light-hearted claims. While speaking to the media on Thursday, the Brit suggested that the previous lap record holder must weigh “20 kilos” or that the time was set in more favorable conditions in the spring – “when it’s like minus 20 there”.
“That’s how he did it, I think. That’s my excuse!” Bearman quipped.
“Christian called me when he saw your article,” Zevenwacht told Motorsport.com. “So, it was really fun to read.”
“It’s amazing, really. I follow Formula 1 every weekend – from like 2017 – and I haven’t missed a race on TV since. And I was also following Ollie from when he first jumped in for Carlos Sainz.
“I’m just a Formula 1 fan. So it was really, really cool to find out that I had the chance to kind of compete with him on the same track. And also that he had to work for the lap time! It’s a very cool feeling.”
“But when I set the lap record last time, it was in a so-called ‘Le Mans race’, where we raced two hours. And I think I was like one and a half hour in, and then I got the record. I wasn’t going for it. It was a 29.07, I think, and it was with eight other karts on track. And I just got the lap time. It was in August, in similar conditions.
“And I can add to that – I read that he also said like, ‘he should be in F1 or he’s 20 kilograms’ – my weight is like 60 to 65 kilos. So I’m not 20 kilograms!”
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Zevenwacht’s undeniable advantage is that he, of course, knows every inch of his local track – yet, he’s never raced competitively in his life. Having his own business, which offers local homeowners exterior and roof cleaning, he occasionally shows up at the local kart track.
“When I have the time, I try to visit Christian and do some laps. I haven’t raced in any competitive category. The only thing I’ve raced in is rental cars. But I’ve always had a car interest and always wanted to race competitively in karting. But I never had the chance.”
Such a chance may never occur for Zevenwacht, but there aren’t many amateur go-kart drivers who can claim to have beaten an F1 driver’s record at any given track. Zevenwacht now can.
Until, of course, Bearman – now inevitably – shows up in Varberg again…
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