On Walter Rohrl, OVERDRIVE's 200th issue and...

It felt like the end of the world. It might sound a little dramatic, but I really and truly was beginning to wonder at that point whether the whole planet was going to implode, or explode, or whatever it is that is meant to happen when it all goes kaboom.

You see, we’d set out in the wee hours of the morning, while it was still dark, heading from Berlin to Bavaria. My bleary eyes registered the six-hour driving time that the navigation indicated. And with each passing kilometre, even with a fairly engaging conversation to help keep my mind occupied, there was growing within me this feeling of great dread. It was in part due to the fact that I was wondering whether real life could allow for such things to happen - ring Walter Rohrl, ask whether you could visit him at his house in Bavaria, agree upon a date to do so, and then …