The MX-5 Miata of the Month from

February 2000

Kitty and Michiel Werkman

kitmich@tref.nl

Congratulations to Kitty and Michiel Werkman on the selection of their Miata, as our February
Miata of the Month!

Hi to all MX-5/Miata fans! We are Kitty (36) & Michiel (40) Werkman from Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

We think we use our 4^th consecutive MX-5 the way the Mazda designers intended it to be used. For maximum "topless" driving in rallies on exiting mountain roads as well as just for fun on challenging race tracks.

After ten years in three different MX-5’s, a Mariner blue, aLaguna blue and a classic red one, we switched back to our favourite colour blue and now proudly own the Innocent blue 10^th anniversary model that, with its 6 gears, is quite suited for our purposes.

In the early days we always loved classic British sports cars. However, we never bought one ourselves because they can be so unreliable and we have no technical background at all.

With our love for that kind of cars we also take interest in the great classic car rallies like the famous Mille Miglia and the Historic Tulip Rally which are organised for vehicles older then 20 years or so.

Luckily we met some people who did not mind letting us participate in our brand new ‘classic’ MX-5.

That’s how we were able to experience these events from within, and apart of the driving fun we very much enjoyed the competitive but very amicable atmosphere of people who share the same passion. In the numerous rallies we participated in we learned a lot about how to navigate correctly in completely unknown areas.

A few years ago after a nasty car accident with his Honda CRX, Michiel decided it was best to learn more about car handling at the Dutch Racing School at the nearby (ex F1) racing circuit of Zandvoort in Holland.

The extra driving skills he acquired there later were frequently used while driving the MX-5’s on world famous

F1 circuits like the old and new Nurburgring in Germany, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium as well as the German Touring Car circuit at Zolder in Belgium.

In the rallies as well as on the circuits we tested the road holding capacities of all our quite standard MX-5’s to the limit with Michiel as the driver and Kitty as the speed loving navigator.

The only modifications made to our car were Bridgestone performance tyres, special Koni shocks and a high flow KN air filter. With this package we more then once showed some Porche drivers how beautiful the back side of the MX-5 is styled!

Because Holland is almost as flat as a pancake and the roads are very overcrowded we like to travel to the more quiet Italian, Swiss and French Alps as much as we can.

It is on the smallest and steepest of mountain roads where our MX-5 and we come to live! The mountains can’t be high enough and we only select the day to day route we travel according to the maximum number of hairpins!

In the last 10 years we now own the MX-5 we have travelled almost each and every challenging mountain road in Europe and we still can’t get enough of it!

With extended knowledge of the best mountain roads to drive on with the MX-5 we wanted to share our passion for sportsmanlike driving in the MX-5, and in 1996 organised a classic car rally-like tour ourselves for all our friends in the Dutch MX5 Club. The famous Dutch MX-5 Challenge was born! 

This very first time our friends were able to experience the fantastic road holding capacities of there MX-5’s themselves and they could also test there own navigational skills in a long, tiring and eventful weekend in the French Alsace.

Because of the enthusiasm of all the participants we went on organising the popular event in which only a strictly limited number of teams can participate.

As time went by the Challenge grew to be a international event with non-Dutch competitors.

In September 1999 even two German and one Swedish team will take part in the week long Alpine Challenge from Spa-Francorhamps to the tough roads of the famous Monte Carlo rally near Monaco.

For the 5^th Challenge in September 2000 we already have some new plans to offer our old and new MX-5 friends. A week long rally that starts of in a relaxed atmosphere via the French Elzas, The German Black Forest to the Swiss Alps & Lakes. Then to the Mont Blanc in the French Alps and south of Lake Geneva through the Jura Mountains. Back to the roots of the first Challenge. There will be a very tough grand finale! 2 days of navigational horror on special stages using several different kind of navigational systems with the finish in the north of the Les Vosges region in a luxurious hotel.

Well, that’s our story of a couple that likes to share their love and joy of driving the MX-5 with fellow enthusiasts. As we might meet on the road sometime, never forget to wave back!

Kitty & Michiel

Previous Miata of the Month Winners

Will you be next?