Yet, beyond FF1600 and F3, De Vliegende Hollander’s progress suddenly stalled.
Son of a de Meern car breaker, van Kouwen’s gentle persona, boundless enthusiasm, tireless work ethic, insatiable appetite to learn and intense loyalty endeared him to everybody he met.
Banned for autocrossing a VW Beetle with his cousin, when it was discovered they were only 15, Gerrit topped a Zandvoort circuit course a year later alongside police drivers.
Winner of a Marlboro-supported Crossle 32F FF1600 drive, the Dutch motorsport governing body granted an exemption, enabling him to race before holding a road licence.
In 1982, having bought two engines from David Minister, he earned the first of two successive Dutch and Benelux championships in a Van Diemen, guided by Kees van der Grint of Barron Racing and Bridgestone fame.
In September 1983, Lola’s Mike Blanchet loaned him a T642E ahead of Zandvoort’s EFDA Euroseries decider. He thrashed Harald Huysman and Manuel Reuter to win by almost 30 seconds in the rain.
With Festival aspirations strengthened, van Kouwen entered two Champion of Brands precursors, finishing third first time out and winning the latter.
At the big event, second in his heat and third in the quarter and semi-finals looked promising. Alas a holed radiator thwarted his final charge while lying fourth.
Re-armed with a Lola T644E for 1984, van Kouwen defended his European crown and won six championship rounds in Britain with Danny Blundell’s Fleetray Racing team.
Utterly invincible at the Festival, he pulverised strong opposition at every stage and scooped a £5000 jackpot as the first driver to lap the old Indy circuit inside 49s.
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Given a leg-up into British F3 with a Pegasus Motorsport Ralt-VW RT30 in 1985, he won three rounds from four in a sensational July/August spell.
Ironically, he improved to fourth in 1986, despite splitting from the equipe mid-season, soon after a Thruxton victory. That he scored no further points on transferring with engineer Trevor Foster to Swallow Racing’s sister car remains a mystery.
A BMW Nederland M3 touring car programme was ineffective against Ford Sierra RS500s, which he subsequently raced. Spasmodic German F3 outings added little to his CV.
Despite his racing stars waning, van Kouwen remained besotted with the Formula Ford Festival – which he missed only twice, in COVID-torn 2020 and during his stoic battle with illness. His power of recall for Festival statistics was phenomenal, Mastermind standard.
On his pilgrimages to England, van Kouwen always met up with Minister, for whose engine business he proudly assumed a role of brand ambassador, helping later generations of ambitious racers when Graham Fuller took over its management.
He would always bring supplies of stroopwafels, the Dutch biscuits with which the beguiling youngster had persuaded Fiona Webb at Brands to let him test his FF1600s exclusively in lunchbreaks or after hours.
“Gerrit was a very special person to so many,” said Fuller. “He’d do anything to help and we became great friends.
“Even when I visited him in Holland in December and he was so ill, he remained so positive. There was no self-pity.
“He had secured his beloved family’s future and planned his funeral service, so all he wanted to do was chat about the golden days of Formula Ford, where his sporting legacy lies for all to see.”
Devoted to his British wife Suzy, their children Sian, Ethan and Ellie, and granddaughters Rylie and new-born Olivia, van Kouwen will be remembered as a humble achiever and fantastic bloke!
Van Kouwen's funeral is due to be held on 5 February at midday UK time and is being livestreamed at arvideo.nl/gerrituk and can be accessed with the password gk
