FIA European Finals
Press Call, Marble Arch (London), Wednesday 6th September
Coverage by Eurodragster.com
The FIA European Finals Press Call was this year held underneath the famous Marble Arch in London. Barry Sheavills, Leif Andreasson, Anders "Charlet" Karling and Martin Bishop had their race vehicles on display, and newly-qualified Top Fuel driver Tommy Möller was also to be seen hovering in the background.
Anders Karling has had a busy week, and will have been in the UK three times in four days by the start of the race. He and crew member Kristan Merlid brought the trailer and motorhome from Denmark to England via Hamburg and Harwich, arriving on Monday and then going home to Sweden. Anders flew in to the UK this morning for the Press Call and is going home again tonight, and will be flying back to the UK tomorrow for the race.
Anders' primary sponsor is of course Harley Davidson, who are sponsoring the FIM Supertwin Top Fuel class at the Finals this weekend. By way of celebration, Anders pulled two burnouts to wow the assembled media, starting underneath Marble Arch and almost running out of road on his first go. The TV crews and other media were clearly impressed by his performance.
Leif Andreasson was also scheduled to start up his Top Methanol Funny Car. The body was taken off the car and the engine was started, but not until two trumpeters had blown a fanfare for the benefit of the media. The trumpeters stayed where they were as the car fired but they soon moved when they got the methanol fumes! Leif's warm-up, with the obligatory rev build up and throttle blips, brought a round of applause from everyone present.
I had a chance to speak to Leif about this weekend's race. The FIA European Championship is more or less a formality; it is not mathematically impossible for current second-place runner Micke Kågered to catch Leif but he would have to rely on just about every disaster possible striking the Andreasson Motorsports team.
I asked Leif if he thought that events at Gardermoen had affected the outcome of the FIA Championship this year. "The only real difference for us is that we would have won the Championship at Gardermoen if the race had continued", he said. He is not approaching this week's race in a complacent mood, though. "We're here to make our best effort to win the race, and to run a good time and speed", he said.
Leif is of the opinion that the 250 mph barrier will be broken in TMFC this weekend, and by more than one racer. With 500 km/h - a fraction below 250 mph - already done and dusted, this is the next benchmark. I asked Leif if US guest tuner Randy Anderson would be with the team this weekend, but Randy is unavailable. On the subject of the USA I asked Leif how Santa Pod compares with USA tracks, now that he has raced on both. "The track surface at Santa Pod is as good as tracks in the US", said Leif, "and that has a lot to do with Kjell Petterson's track preparation skills". So is Leif returning to the USA to race? "We're working on it, but I can't give you a final answer yet", he said.
Leif has a lot of fans in the UK, and a lot of Scandinavians are headed for Santa Pod this weekend, so I asked him if he had any message for them. "We're very happy to be back at Santa Pod", he replied. "We hope that the Kamasa Tools Green Machine will set a new record, and hopefully take home the FIA European Championship title. See you all at Santa Pod, when you stop by our trailer to buy our new T-shirts!"
Barry Sheavills was kept busy with the media, and not unsurprisingly seemed to be getting on very well with the two young ladies whom Harley Davidson had brought along to pose with the drivers and their vehicles. After the parts attrition at Super Series 4 there was a slight concern that the new parts for Barry's and Andy Carter's cars might not arrive in time for the Finals. "The parts are here", said Barry, "but they're not on the cars yet".
Tommy Möller was very happy with his licencing runs on Sunday. I complimented him on his last pass when the car got way out of shape and he pedalled and corrected. "It's not very easy", he replied.
To find out more about the Harley Davidson/Screamin' Eagle Performance Parts deal I had a word with promoter Keith Bartlett. "I've been working on this deal for about a year, getting them interested in the FIM/UEM European Championships" he said. "This year we've done a deal for them to sponsor the Supertwin Top Fuel Bikes, which has enabled us to raise the prize fund and travel money for racers in that class. The object of the deal from Harley Davidson's point of view is to introduce Harley Davidson owners to their own line of performance parts, which are marketed under the Screamin' Eagle brand. I'm very grateful to Ray Pinto, Harley Davidson's European Marketing Manager, and Steve Earnshaw who is head of UK Marketing, for their help in arranging this deal. I am absolutely delighted to have the Harley Davidson name and brand associated with drag racing - the Screamin' Eagle brand and drag racing are a perfect match".
Eurodragster's FIA European Finals coverage is planned to continue tomorrow (Thursday) with a report from Santa Pod Raceway as racers arrive and set up their pits. Assuming we have access to a phone line this will be posted late afternoon or early evening. See you then!
Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com.