Motel Maarsbergen
Founded as a means to subsidize his Ecurie, the motorway hotel along the A12 from Utrecht to Arnhem also functioned as the team’s headquarters. Between races Carel’s Chevy Impala was usually found in front of the motel, with a trailer carrying his Porsche. The motel also boasted a petrol station, and the team’s garages were located right behind it.
Rien de Bruin was still a teenager when he worked at the motel during 1963-’64. “I used to do the nightshifts all by myself, ran the petrol station and was also given the task to guard the two orange racing cars standing in the shed behind the motel. Very often Carel would visit late at night, filling up his big American car, doing a bit of chit-chat. He was always accompanied by a fine-looking lady…”
In the late fifties, the A12 to Arnhem was in the process of being widened into a motorway, and De Bruin had a grandstand view from his elementary school, located right besides the main road. While the intersections were waiting to be completed Carel made good use of the empty second set of lanes. “Our teacher would tell us to keep quiet when the 8000rpm noise of his Porsche would grow louder and louder. ‘That's Careltje coming round again!’ The sand road from Maarn to the Estate was also passing our school, and we used to see Carel a lot as ploughed his way through the sand in his green ex-army Jeep.”
Motel Maarsbergen today (photo by Mattijs Diepraam, taken November 13, 2004)