Little Girl Mathilda and Mathilda Racing Team – Seat

“I’m still not sure, but when I’m older I might want to be a race car driver”. She’s only seven years old and her name is Mathilda, the same name as the team her father competes with – Mathilda Racing Team. She has been smelling petrol fumes since she was an infant baby. Her father, Michael Paatz, has taken her to several races he has participated in over the years since she was born. He admits that at first he was “terrified” when he realised he was “pushing a baby stroller among the boxes, thinking do I really want her to be running around a place like this when she’s 3 or 4 years old?”

But the years passed by, and “everyone pitched in to look after her”. Today Mathilda is right at home in the boxes. “What are these buttons for, dad?” “You use them to talk through the microphone” “And what about this one – what’s it for?” “That’s the starter button. I don’t use a normal key like the other cars”. Mathilda’s curiosity has no bounds and her father is happy to have her with him when he competes. They make the perfect couple.

 

Today is one of the most sought-after events on the calendar. We are at the legendary Nürburgring circuit, which is hosting the 24 hours on the Nordschleife loop. The weather is bad, with heavy rain showers and intermittent hailstorms, but the participants do not mind. And there’s Michael racing for Mathilda Racing Team in his SEAT Leon Cup Racer in the TCR category. Before the race begins father and daughter give each other a big hug. She wishes him good luck while admitting with pride that “he’s the fastest one out there”.

Michael meets up with Mathilda when the race is over. She climbs right up into the car, puts on the helmet and looks at everything carefully. Michael knows that Mathilda is thinking about becoming a race driver, but maintains that she will have to make a decision like that when she is between the age of 10 and 12, when she’s a bit older “to properly think things through”. At that time, he says that “if she wants to go ahead with it then it’ll be all right. I know the risks and don’t think I’d be against it”. In this family, the generational succession seems guaranteed.   – See more at: http://seat-mediacenter.com/en-stories/videos/from-baby-stroller-to-racing-car/?v=t&p=1&overview=0&overview=1#sthash.54QIRtbN.dpuf