SAP Community Hobbies Series: Legos, Motorbikes and Vintage Cars

[Pierre_Col]

Hello SAP Community,

My name is Pierre, and I'm 62 yo.

I worked as a Senior Director, Product Communications at SAP, first for SAP Intelligent RPA as Head of Communications then for SAP Build as the oldest member, by far 😉, of the Product Communications and Enablement Team, with wonderful colleagues that I miss. 🩵

Since April 2025, I'm not actively working for SAP anymore, as I was lucky enough to be eligible for the Voluntary Early Retiring Plan launched by SAP in 2024. On one side I really miss the wonderful colleagues I was working with, but on the other side I'm very happy to have more time for my hobbies.

So I’d like to share a bit about my hobbies as a part of the  SAP Community Hobbies series.

First hobby: building Legos

I have always loved building things with Lego: my brother Jean-François and I got our first Lego set when I was 5, and throughout our childhood we played Lego a lot, with our father guiding us. We built houses, castles, and also vehicles with the electric motor etc.

Then in 1978, at age 15, I discovered the first microcomputers, and I turned away a bit from Lego to code my first computer programs.
You will find more about my beginnings as a progammer in the blog post Blog it Forward – Pierre Col I published exactly 6 years ago.

It's also because I love building from scratch that I was very happy to work for SAP Build: this low-code + pro-code solution allows business users and developers to very easily build applications, automated processes, and websites.

For Christmas 2024, my youngest daughter offered me the Lego Porsche 911 set: 1458 parts, to build either a Turbo or a Targa. I have completed the building in a few months:

I like this activity very much, because building Legos really helps me relaxing.
To be continued!

Second hobby: riding my vintage bikes

You will understand that I'm a petrolhead. 😉

First, I have always been into motorbikes, because my father was a biker.

From Norton...

In 1973, when I was 10 yo, he sold the Norton 88 I've ever seen in the garage to buy a magnificent  '1970 Norton Commando.

And every morning he was driving me to the high school, on the way to his work. You can easily imagine how proud I was...

My father always kept this bike in his garage, riding it until he was 75 yo. When I was visiting my parents, I regularly did some small tours on the Norton to keep it up and running.

When my father passed, almost 4 years ago, in accordance with my brother I inherited his bike. I did not ride it since then, and I will spend some time this Spring to restart it and ride it again in the countryside around Lyon...

You can hear the wonderful sound of the Norton Twin roaring here:

... to Honda...

In 1981, my first motorbike was a Honda 750 Four. With 67 hp for 220 kg, it was for me an incredibly powerful bike. In 1987 I bought a Honda CB 900 Bol d'Or which I still own:

I lent it in 1997 to an uncle living in Grenoble, he stills ride it but as he is 75yo now I imagine that he won't ride it for very long and I should get the 900 Bol d'Or back in my garage in a couple of years.

... and finally to Ducati

Since 1997, I ride Ducati motorbikes. It started with a 916, then I had a 350 Mark3 Desmo, a 900 Supersport, a 998 S, a Desmosedici RR and a Panigale 1299 R Final Edition. Yes, I really like fast red bike made in Bologna!

The Panigale Final Edition, with 209 hp for 168 kg, was the most powerful and amazing bike I'ev ever ridden. Indeed, even if it was a MotoGP replica with a V4 engine revving up to 14,200 rpm, the Desmosedici RR was not as efficient as the Panigale...

And I really enjoyed the very light and agile '1973 350 Mark3 Desmo I had during a few years, riding it on teh road as on tracks:

Unfortunately, fancy bikes attract thieves: bought in 1997, my 916 was stolen in 1999. My 998 S bought in 2002 and my rare Desmosedici RR #282 bought in 2007 were stolen in 2011. And my Panigale 1299 R Final Edition #322 bought in 2017 was stolen in 2023.

After some bastards stole my Panigale, I refurbished my good old '1994 900 Supersport which I bought in 2000, and lent to a friend from 2004 to 2019. I'm really enjoying riding this light (180 kg) and powerful enough (80 hp) bike on the curvy road in the hills, one hour northwest from Lyon:

Third hobby: driving my vintage 911 Porsche cabriolet

In 2011, right after insurance reimbursed my stolen Desmosedici RR, a good friend of mine decided to sell his 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 cabriolet. It was the same car that hank Moody was driving in "Californication", but in better shape, with 135,000 km on the odometer. 😉

We quickly had a deal, and since more than 14 years I enjoy riding this vintage car, in any weather condition. I just passed 180,000 km and it works perfectly fine. According to my mechanic, my Porsche could reach 250,000 km without any trouble, and as I drive less than 5,000 km per year, for sure it will survive me:

As my wife will be very busy in May 2026, I decided that I will do a "5,000 km in 3-4 weeks" road trip across Central Europe in my Porsche 911: I will pay a visit to my former colleagues in Walldorf, Berlin and maybe a few other cities in Germany before heading to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland...

Feel free to say hello if you would like me to pay you a visit, between May 1st and May 23: I will be more than happy to let you drive my Porsche in your neighborhood! 😊