Thieu Hezemans
Thieu Hezemans, father of seventies touring-car ace Toine and grandfather of today's GT racer Mike, was responsible for introducing Carel to the international racing scene. The two met during Carel’s service in the army. Stationed in Oirschot, near Eindhoven, he got acquainted with the Eindhoven car dealer who was racing at Zandvoort on weekends. Hezemans was responsible for selling Carel his first Porsche.
Thieu (real name Mathieu) mainly raced Porsches in national and international races between 1952 and 1958. He developed a few cars of his own design based on Porsche and Volkswagen parts, one of which was nicknamed Strijkijzer ('iron'), because of the wedge-shaped body that resembled a traditional flat-iron.
After his career he started one of Holland's first karting tracks in Vaals.
The car they shared in the 1956 Le Mans 24 Hrs.