Hello, Final Gear.
I wasn't a member of the Final Gear forums until tonight, and I've only discovered them recently (some five years ago) when local car-related websites and Facebook pages went crazy about a bunch of car enthusiasts who took a Zastava 101 to the Nürburgring race track. (I'm from Croatia.) Somehow, with some bad personal circumstances happening during the summer of 2014, I've started reading the forums, and for a long time, I haven't visited any subforums other than the Post Your Car one, because I found those alone inspiring enough for me to somewhat solve some of my personal problems.
I didn't really know who Viper007Bond was for a long time after that, until I started reading other subforums as well. I learned more about who he was when he announced that he was diagnosed with leukaemia, however, I can't exactly remember when that was. Since then, I was hoping he'd win the battle, more so because my grandfather fought with cancer and won his battle.
This thread has been a roller-coaster of emotions, and the final news make me sad, however, in a weird way, knowing that he left some legacy and that he will be remembered by many leaves me feeling... I really don't want to chose the wrong words for this, but it makes me feel warm around my heart, knowing that his life has influenced so many people in such a positive manner.
I know it's a bit weird to register onto a forum just to express my condolences, and I've been meaning to register here for quite some time, but I always found reasons to postpone it. Well, not today. I just had to express my feelings somewhere, and I felt it was most appropriate to finally register here and say what I felt a need to say. I'm sorry if I made a wrong move, but I just went with my gut feeling.
I'm not really good with making my thoughts concise, so I'll try keep my post short. Rest in Peace, Alex. You never met me, I never met you, but your forums helped me find myself in this mad world. Reading about people driving interesting cars and their adventures with them kept me entertained in the uneasy times, and it was always fun to get to know more about episodes of Top Gear after watching them. What you've created has certainly helped me.
Also, this post:
is what kind of inspired me to register tonight and share my feelings. I didn't want to waste my time postponing the day I register here and get in contact with people who have inspired me. More so when you have an actual reason to post. And again, big thanks to Alex for creating this site, I hope your legacy will live on with this site.