A ‘Horny’ season – Interview with 178 Ruud Van Kuijk

Ruud is a driver that was probably slightly overlooked when it comes to the Caged Awards. Nathan took the time to speak with the Team Horny driver to learn more about his racing exploits and to discuss his brilliant 2023 season.

Ruud is from Dongen (NL), a town on the Dutch-Belgian border; in between Warneton and Emmen. Ruud tells us it’s quite far from the track; ‘240km for each, pfff”. The dad of ‘2 great kids and lovely wife’ said that his friend heard about bangers in Belgium, so in 2004 they went Warneton to take a look, and since then, has become passionate about Bangers. ‘The moment I set foot there, I was hooked!’ After reflection and a year of waiting, he decided to have a go himself, having an outing in Bangerstox at Warneton with his mate. ‘After a few races, we started to paint the car yellow and began thinking about a team name, Team Horny was what we came up with after a couple of drinks,’ he laughs. It was the start of a new team, Ruud’s brother joined him and then there were then 7 of them in the team. The team is more oriented towards crashes rather than the racing. ‘We mostly enjoy wrecking our cars over the racing side.’ In 2011, Ruud decided to take the plunge and take his a step up into Bangers.

Now moving on to Ruud’s 2023 season, where he completed in all of the Emmen fixtures, 7 of them all Volvo powered. ‘We always had a thing for a Volvo. I raced 23 Volvo 440’s at Warneton in the past, they’re cheaper and easy to repair.’ At the start of the season, the Dutch driver had absolutely no goal of mixing it in the championship standings, he in fact wanted to slow down because many of his friends had stopped racing. The Season Opener saw Ruud secure a lot of points and his car survived, so he used it for the next meeting. Ruud then opted for a BMW 316 in the Unders, where he had a lot of fun, before guesting for Team KWA at the annual Unlimited Teamrace. After the Blue Oyster meeting, Ruud was at the head of the championship with 209 Stefan Mijnheer not far behind, meaning that the Oliebollenrace, the final meeting of the season, would be decisive. Stefan went tactical, with team mates available to take out Ruud. It worked in the first heat, where Ruud did not finish the race and Stefan took first place. Everything then came down to the last Alcomers, where the two drivers went head-to-head with only one point difference in the championship. They ended up being the last two cars running after a chaotic race. ‘We were also the only 2 cars left running, what are the chances of that!’ Ruud was over the moon to finally take the win and ultimately the Emmen Points Championship. Interestingly enough, Ruud also brought along some company on the day, building 3 cars for the meeting. Joining him, was his brother Robert and friend Danny, who had both slowed down in this sport. ‘They were a big help! Both had never drove an Unlimited before, but they helped me out well on the day.’

The win of the points championship carried a place for the 2024 World Final. Ruud has quite surprising experience for a Dutch driver, having already participated in 2 World Finals, in 2015 & 2016, where he brought a nice Ford Granada on both occasions, and has already competed at the Rookie World too in 2013, and with experience at Warneton on the tarmac for 10+ years shows he knows how to be quick on the tarmac. I asked what he had planned for the World Final, and he confessed that it was a little early to know but the two World Finals where he competed he came with Ford Granadas. ‘I don’t know yet, but the other 2 times I used a granada with the same paint-job so we will see’ Maybe an old rusty Volvo as we are familiar with, or a smart granada? Time will tell, but I’m sure he’ll use it properly!

We end the discussion on the thanks that Ruud wishes to make his wife who never complains as he says, ‘she never moans about all the time in the garage’, and he’d like to thank the mechanics and all who help, but there are too many to mention. We thank Ruud for taking the time to speak with us, and wish him the best for 2024!