26th March 2023, TT circuit Assen, The Netherlands: The second edition of the “Hart voor autos” (heart for cars) is a fact. With over 2500 show cars displayed, with the appearance of several Dutch icons, and twenty thousand visitors, it was a great success. A car event with only one purpose; to bring the car enthusiast together!

Text Benjamin Wefer

Picture Benjamin Wefer, Willem van Lamoen, D’angelo Look

Video Willem van Lamoen

Hart voor autos is a stand-alone automotive news platform (within the 402 automotive organization) from the dutch car scene. It is a platform for automotive news, videos, vlogs, and driving experience, and since last year it’s own car event. After a successful edition at Breda airport, the organization chose to hold the second edition at the home of Moto GP: TT Circuit in Assen.

The car event is dedicated to all car enthusiasts, no exception! And the dutch car community responded to this call! The roads to the race track were already quite busy in the early morning, with several show cars on their way to the event. The show paddock had a variety of brands for every type of petrolhead: from Volkswagen Polo with body kits to the newest Audi RS ABT or a Mclaren.

Several car clubs reserved a spot on the paddock, including car club StreetGasm. The club is a well-known name in the Dutch car scene and joined forces with the Hart voor Autos organization and influencer Dutch Performante to raise 60.000 euros (with several auction items and donations from the crowd) as a donation for the Wilhelmina Children Hospital. This donation will help the hospital build a wheelchair-friendly playground for the kids.

Walking the paddock was being in car heaven for many Petrol heads, but Hart voor autos was more than just a car show. That’s why all owners had the opportunity set some laps during the free drive sessions.

Free drive Session GTR Lesie enjoying the Free Drive Session

For the ones looking for more adrenaline rush, the grandstand was the place to be for some quarter-mile races. Once again, Leo “The Burnout King” Honders was giving the start signals to the competitors, and the start/finish part of the track (in front of the grandstand) was converted into a quarter-mile race track. Seventy-five participants entered the race, from day-to-day cars to supercars. One of the cars at the starting line was a ’94 Honda civic driven by Maruli van Haastert. But don’t let this “stock” poker face fool you. This baby is a 1000+ horsepower AWD drag car. Even a Porsche Techart GTstreet RS or a Lamborghini Huracan Performante was no match for this sneaky stock-looking civic. Maruli took the win and left the crowd amazed by his achievement. Second place went to Glenn Hage in his Audi RS3 Quattro came in second place and Nathan Songsuk in third place in his BMW.

For the ones looking for some close-up action, the Proudwheels stage was the place to be for the traditional rev battles and Burnouts. And if you were looking for car accessories, there were several stands for all the good stuff your car might need.

The Hart voor Autos car event was also host to the Dutch Time Attack Demo. In the  Dutch Time Attack, competitors race against one another to set the fastest lap during a session. This weekend it was an opportunity for competitors to test their cars, and about eight competitors came out of winter sleep to test. Among them Ronald van Wooning in his Honda S2000. Who set a time of 1 minute and 47 seconds. Remarkable is that this is the exact lapse time from last October. Also, Bart Teeninga came out of hibernation and six a seconds improvement in his time from last October (2 minutes and 5 seconds in October 2022).

Ronald van Wooning Bart Teeninga

Near the end of the day, all spectators concentrate again on the grandstand for the Hour of Power. Several cars entertain the public by revving their engine (which is extremely loud and with flames shooting out of the exhaust pipes) and doing burnouts. Also, Tim Coronel put his Dakar rally car into action by doing some donuts. With some Live music from DJ Mental Theo & DJ LaJune, the hour of power was a combination of everything.

Tim Coronel doing some donuts DJ LaJune

A fire show from the Speedfactory Coyotegirls and a pass from Gerd Habermann’s jet bus were like icing on the cake to finalize the hour of power.

Hart voor Autos car show was a spectacular car show with a lot to offer, including several Icons within the dutch motorsport: like Tim Coronel, Robert Doornbos, and several other influencers. Next Hart voor auto event is already planned: 19th august at Breda Airport, make sure you don’t miss it!