For the 2010 TV-production, Chris Courteyn Video Productions, based in Belgium, is appointed to do the job. The company specializes in fast moving motorsports and have produced the Rally Championships and European Rally cross Championship for many years. Utilizing the latest technique available and skilled editors, producer Chris Courteyn gets the job done. 2009 was the first year for Chris working with Drag Racing and he takes the challenge of documenting the fastest motorsport on earth and at the highest European level, very seriously. Working closely together with TV-producer Chris Courteyn and his crew and acting as director on site is Keith Bartlett. With many years in drag racing as track owner and championship promoter, he knows the sports aspect of Drag Racing as well as having commercial aspects and viewers perspective in mind.
Speedgroup as administrator for the European Drag Racing Championship is coordinating the TV-production and have this year taken a more active part in the format of the production. The aim and task to please all parties involved is not always easy. Speedgroup CEO Michael Gullqvist provides some insight to the facts and challenges;
SG: The 2010 TV-production covering the FIA/UEM championship.. What are the thoughts behind it? Is it produced with the hard core fans in mind or to attract a broader public?
MG: 2009 was the first year Speedgroup was involved in the TV-production and we learned a lot from that. The first thing we did after the 2009 season was to form a group of people that looked through the previous production and had an input on what needed to be fixed. The production involves a large number of details and we have found that there is no way of getting it right without a detailed instruction of what we wish to achieve. This is something we are still working on, but that will be finalized before the Alastaro event. We did a lot of changes at the Main Event by adding several more cameras, having live editing equipment on site at Santa Pod and a team of professional hosts/interviewers. There were also several story lines produced in the first program to make the show more interesting. We are currently evaluating the production from the Main Event and we have identified some things that will be changed for the next event. We want to make a show that attracts a broad public, but we also want to make a good show for those who knows a bit more about drag racing. The championship includes an exciting battle between teams that fights hard for every single run and the results of the competition itself needs to be very clear. I’m sure we can still make a great show for the broad audience, even if we include some hard core details.
SG: There are very specific formats when it comes to TV-productions you have to consider and decide on. For 2010 decisions were made to let the format consist of 2 x 52 minutes programs covering each FIA/UEM championship round. Can you tell anything about what the reasons are to go with that specific format?
MG: Last year we made a single 52 minute show from each event, and it was impossible to fit the important ingredients in that short time. The intention this year is to show first round of eliminations in all classes that have full fields. Classes with not full fields will have the first round cut out and there will be no bye runs in the production.
