If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar / A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…

It moved him to within one goal of Thierry Henry's 34 in 2004 and Henry - honoured with a statue outside the stadium on Friday - rose from his seat in the stands to applaud Van Persie.

“It changed Gable from a heavy to a comedian in It Happened One Night. It changed Jean Arthur from a marshmallowy ingenue to a hard-boiled wise- cracker in The Whole Town's Talking.”

On straights speed would quicken to what was apparently the maximum allowed on this stretch, 140 k.p.h., or 87.5 m.p.h., and then one would see the track disappearing ahead round a sharpish curve, for there are some of 35 and 40 chains' radius on this side of the summit as well.