She apparently ran a bed and breakfast near the track with her husband after her hardcore professional racing career was over and by all accounts she was an absolute treasure to stay and socialize with if you were staying in the area.
RIP.
https://www.am-tiergarten.de/de/hotel-am-tiergarten-nuerburg...
I had never seen that video and it made me laugh out loud about the idea of being passed by a van. That sort of thing has happened to me twice, and each time, I did laugh out loud.
The first time I was driving a Prius over, and then down the Tehachapi grade in the middle of the night. I was maintaining 90-95 mph. I got passed by a U-Haul van. Hahahahaha. I love it.
And then I was on the two lane road from Tecate to Ensenada. Standard mountain driving. Don't remember the speed exactly but I was definitely going double the speed limit, driving a Tundra. I got passed on a blind curve by a full size Mexican passenger bus. Once it was over I laughed. Can you imagine the people in those front seats?
So boy that video brought back the memories.
So a passenger van is only 50% slower than the best-in-class. It's probably only 20-30% slower than your typical "fast car".
Life is so quixotic. Sabine's passing deeply saddens me. The idea of her vibrant personality dealing with cancer is so dissonant. Though I guess I can choose to see it as provident that in this case, her inate bubbliness was a tool that hopefully gave her a leg up during the more miserable moments of the journey. Perspective I guess.
I'll be headed into work in just a few minutes. Every time I overtake someone in my F150, I'm going to yell "faster , faster, get out of my way" in my best German accent.
“LOOK! There are enemies!!”
RIP Sabine, loved her brilliance and sense of humour.
Comedy isn't math. Counterpoints look good on paper but Clarkson understood that counterpoint quickly becomes compromise. Adding a female presenter would also be dangerous. The image of three oldish guys chasing a younger female around a track, or across europe, would be dangerous. Top Gear doubled down on the blokey behavior and that lack of compromise made the show what it was.
She had a sparkling, exuberant personality and the world is a richer place for her having been in it.
Edit: Falls hier jemand des Deutschen mächtig ist, sehr unterhaltsam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRBLix7DVGw
