Recep Demir drives a BMW M6 with 500 hp. But he only takes it out of the garage on Sundays.
Image: Sebastian Lock
The car used to be the status symbol par excellence. In times of the climate crisis and the turnaround in traffic, that has changed. But what if it is symbolic of everything someone has achieved? A trip with a sports car driver.
So, says Recep, now he’s warm. Put your hand, which has a thick ring on it, loosely on the handlebars. Look over with a mixture of curiosity, decency and routine, for as long as only one dares for whom 200 kilometers per hour is pure relaxation. Then he looks down, presses a button, says, as if he were reading the nutritional values from a cereal box: “500 hp.” And pulls through.
The road is clear, it’s Sunday, the only day Recep drives his sports car. The engine purrs very happily. Two, three seconds, I don’t count that exactly. It shouldn’t be obvious that I’ve never driven a 500 hp car. Then he slides over to the right. When I was on my way to him, Recep had written: “Just arrive slowly and safely, please!” Thumbs up. As if he knew what he was talking about, knew that arriving safely is not a matter of course.