There was little left of her voice, the adrenaline took over and she couldn’t swallow a bite. But according to Ria Bijvelds, it was all worth it. Yesterday she organized a parade of Dodge RAM trucks on the TT Circuit in Assen for the Guinness Book of Records. It resulted in an official world record.
Ultimately, 761 pick-ups paraded around the Asser race track yesterday afternoon, breaking the record of 451 that was set in Arlington (Texas, United States) in 2015. A day later, Bijvelds is beaming from ear to ear. “No expense has been spared, we have had no damage and everything went smoothly. What more could you want?”
She thinks the best part is that a relatively small country like the Netherlands has been able to take the world record from the United States, the country where the Dodge RAM is produced. “That makes this world record very special,” says Bijvelds. “But we’re not going to do this again next year, we’re not that crazy.”
The daughter of a garage owner was born with a love for cars in Erp, Brabant, where she was once asked whether her garage could also import cars. “That was a 1986 Dodge Charger,” she remembers. We will arrange that for you, she said. After one Dodge, another followed. “And so the love grew,” she explains.
The Brabant garage owner is now an official RAM dealer. “That involves a lot of trust,” she knows. Not least because a Dodge RAM is not exactly an average vehicle. “That’s exactly where my energy lies and that also led to the record attempt in Assen. With the help of social media, the circuit was full of RAM trucks.”
Organizer of the world record attempt or not, Bijvelds will not make a cent of it. All income flows to American Sunday, which often organizes car events at the TT Circuit. But that doesn’t bother her. “The solidarity of all RAM people, that’s what I was after. All that enthusiasm was so contagious. I couldn’t have imagined in advance that it would turn out like this.”
A logical consequence of the record is that the Americans have already set their sights on revenge. Bijvelds laughs about it: “Just let them come,” she decides.