Carl Rosenblad… Who? Le Mans – the longest day… Never a quiet moment! – Eje Elgh, the man behind the team Il Professore – A man of many talents Working up an appetite – The Swedish Smorgasbord… Dear Friends! I wish you a heartfelt welcome to the Rosenblad Racing Magazine. Life starts at 320 km/h It is a very exclusive magazine as are you, dear reader. You can not even buy this magazine! Therefore you got to be very special. The magazine is in its second year of publication. Our fi rst issue came into being just one year ago. It was printed in Swedish and circulated in Sweden only to important people like you at the Swedish STCC- races. I do not think I am bragging if I say it was a success. Therefore we are now taking a bold step. We are producing the magazine in English – or at least our version of English, Swenglish! It is quite a challenge. However, as I sit here behind my computer trying to live up to being Editor-in-Chief or something as prestigious, writing this piece, we are just one week away from the fi rst race in the ETCC – the race at the legendary Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. When you read this – the Monza race is history. Anyway, there are a good many thoughts Sveneric Eriksson racing through my head right now. What will the season be like? – chief writer for Rosenblad Racing Magazine… Will I stand a chance to some good placings in the Michelin Cup for privateers? Will my BMW be equal or better than the Alfas – bar the This man is one in a million. A rare species who is considered a walking ”Encyclopedia Motorica”. works cars? There are ten races to go and the fi nal one is in far away What he doesn´t know about racing and four- Dubai in October. wheel competition, is simply not worth knowing. The LG Super Racing Weekends are being run very professionally. With an unquestionable experience and having As you will fi nd out in this magazine it is already a success story. lived and worked alongside all the ”giants” he´s an undisputed A fair part of this success stems no doubt from the fact that the well authority. He´s worked with almost all the great names in Swedish motor sport. Author and writer of articles – in print as well as on known TV-channel Eurosport is heavily involved and is following up the Internet. The man´s done it all, and yet he grasps every new the Series in detail. This means that millions can sit at home and watch challenge with remarkable enthusiasm. A journalist? – No way. I´m what happens at some of the most well known circuits in the world. at writer and columnist. And I dare say it certainly beats working! It also means enormous exposure for our partners which certainly is no mean thing at all. As a conclusion I would like to say that I really look Rosenblad Racing Magazine has been produced by Signalera forward to take part in the European Touring Car Championship and advertizing agency in Lund, Sweden during Februray–March 2004. the LG Super Racing Weekends with Crawford Racing´s BMW 320i. Editor-in-chief/publisher: Carl Rosenblad Project management: Pälle Arelund/Kristoffer Börjeson Art Direction: Jens Martin Best regards Illustrations and original: Jens Martin/Mårten Gleerup Texts: Sveneric Eriksson, Pälle Arelund Printing: Roos Tryckeri/Sundbyberg, Sweden Photo credits: Carl Rosenblad Tomy Welam/Bilsport, Kalle Riggare, Samir Al-Khalili, Per Backman, John Brooks, David Legangneux, Fredric Björkwald, Kristoffer Racing Driver Börjeson, Tobias Wickström, Tommie Goldhammer and Cesare Casale. and sometime Editor-in-Chief Rosenblad Racing Magazine is distributed at ETCC race tracks and via sponsors throughout the 2004 season. PS. Maybe it can be of use to you to know some basic Swedish which can Loads of thank U:s to everyone who has contributed to the making come in handy at times? Heja Carl! Means ”Go,Go,Go, Carl!” Plattan i of this magazine. mattan! means ”full throttle.” Kör så det ryker! Means ”drive like a man For news and information, please visit: www.rosenblad.com posessed and let the tyres smoke!” 3 Carl Rosenblad? Who? He is a fi ghter. He just loves challenges. To stretch frontiers. To fi nd out if he can make it. His motto is: Never give up! Sveneric Eriksson sat down with Carl before the start of the 2004 season. He invites me to his small but very modern offi ce in the center of Lund, a well-known old Swedish and once Danish city in the very south of Sweden. A lot of silver-ware and racing memorabilia gives away that this offi ce is occupied by a racing driver… I switch on my tape-recorder and ask how a typical working week was looking like in, say, February. CR: Oh, back then I had a lot to do. Unlike what many think it is after the season closes until it starts again I do most of the work. Daily business is carried out from my offi ce here in Lund where I´m running a nine-to-fi ve ”shop”. In February it was a matter to close all sponsor and partner- ship deals and on top of it all it was in February we decided to switch from STCC to ETCC which really put everything on its head! As I always want to have full control over my situation and my sponsors, I am amassing more work than I should. I am responsible for the design of the car´s decora- tion, team clothes, any printed matter as this “We have never, ever given up yet magazine, posters, cards, you name it! I am also – so we won´t start now” doing our Internet-site as well as press-material. This year I also updated the infrastructure of the McLarens chef Ron Dennis team. On top of that I have my fi tness training which is very important to me. 4 SE: What will life look like in June then? CR: Hahaha! Just look at Schumi! He has won a number of titles since he became a CR: June is more fun! Actually a lot more father. No, I think if the day comes when I leisure time which is needed between the am not prepared to give hundred per cent races in order to be able to do good results. – due to any circumstances – I will quit. Main interest in June circulates around Le Mans 24-hours which means June is a pretty SE: What is it that motivates you to race hectic month. A number of sponsor activities in a premium class like the ETCC and the are normally also included in June. I try to famous Le Mans and other big races? run my ”summer-house offi ce” in the garden of the summer-house proper a few hours CR: The competitive instinct must be stimu- a day. The ”offi ce” is a very Swedish little lated! It is like poison to compete. wooden house of really It does not matter what it I discussed Mount Everest diminutive dimensions is. I have always competed. several times with the but it is equipped with From cutting cole-slaw in late Göran Kropp ADSL and wireless network school (which resulted in among other things! Probably a most unique a shortened fi nger!) to the Paris-Dakar Rally. ”play-house.” The interest in cars was always there even if I played football and took part in other sports. SE: Would that mean hobby and work goes In the end I went for cars and motor racing. hand-in-hand? International motor racing is very stimu- lating. Famous circuits, different cultures CR: Well, racing in STCC or ETCC for that and different people. On top of that I must matter can not be regarded as a hobby any admit I really like travelling. longer. It is a very serious business. However, still very fun. I am very strict when it comes SE: If you were not a racing driver, what to my private life. I prefer to split my private would you do? Offi ce hours even for racing drivers… life from the racing. A lot of people say they are living with racing 24 hours a day. CR: Motorsport in some form. If you do not SE: Le Mans is the world´s most legendary I will not have it that way. It is stretching accept motorsport for an answer I would race, possibly together with the Indy 500 and family-life and one certainly needs to change like to compete in some form. If that would Monaco´s Grand Prix. What does Le Mans roles and be ”a complete civilian” sometimes. not be possible, I think I would like to be mean to you? In any case if one wants to keep the motiva- involved in media in one way or the other. tion until retirement! Preferably television. The technique, the CR: A lot. It is the week in the year where I atmosphere and the people at the Swedish take time-out from my very stringent safety- SE: Are there any confl icts between Carl Channel 4 where I do some bits and pieces, Rosenblad the private man, the businessman is very encouraging. Actually, I like to talk in or the racing driver? front of a big audience. CR: Of course, it happens! But I think my SE: You and your friend Hakan Roos took discipline is good when it comes to choose part in the Paris-Dakar Rally two years ago.