Marten Hansen

ALMS

Marten Hansen — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:18:53 +0000

After the Ferrari event I went to Silicon Valley for a business networking event and also to an interesting seminar. It’s a great evening and I met a lot of interesting/smart people. I’ve had an idea of a new partnership model for a while that might fit the motorsport industry and after the event I felt very excited and confident about it. So the following week I spent some time researching, I still do and after this summer some major changes might happened !?! The summer is coming up and I start looking into how I will spend it. The second half of the week I prepared for the American Le Mans weekend at Laguna Seca! After the race my friend and I went to Santa Cruz to just relax on the beach, it was much needed !

Ferrari

Marten Hansen — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:41:31 +0000

This past weekend started of not bad at all by attending to a Ferrari event that included 458 Challenge cars, 599XX race cars, a Ferrari Formula 1 car from 2003, a Ferrari valued to $6million, Ducatis and much more. It’s fun to see some familiar faces from the last time I did a Ferrari event but the high point was to hear and watch the Formula 1 car on the track – Amazing!

Sunday wasn’t a bad day either after we decided after breakfast to head down to Silicon Valley, just south of San Francisco. Where we visit couple of venture capital firms and then went for a great lunch at the famous Santana Row in San Jose. Also looked a little bit around the area to see if it could be a potential residence for the future. But before we went back we stopped by at Tesla Motors showroom where they displayed their new Model S. I’ve to say; I was really impressed about the car and to listen to the company’s future. Last year I test drove the Roadster in Las Vegas on a race track and was impressed by that experience! I can go on and on but this is where the future is heading. The Model S is a great handling five-seater luxury sedan with numbers like 300miles of battery range, 0-60mph in 4.4secs, luggage space twice as much of a Chevrolet Tahoe and a lot of extra feature at a starting price at $50,000 is impressive!

Summer is here?!

Marten Hansen — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:42:15 +0000

When I come back from my trip from Los Angeles and the race track, it’s been very intense. It’s always important to follow up but still keep working on the ongoing projects. When it’s time for the weekend I had a great surprised/relaxed day around San Francisco just hanging out. Had a great lunch right next to the water in Sausalito, across of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was really a summer weather so ice cream was of course mandatory! We also met this random parrot on the street!? then went to the beach and an art museum, had a little more food and suddenly it’s late and dark outside. These relaxing, spontaneous days are just the best! On Sunday we went on a long hike and did some swimming!
I kept up the follow week with intense work and on Wednesday I met this man who was curious if I was from Scandinavia. I said –Yes, Sweden. He then told me he got invited to go to Sweden the end of this summer to visit the Koengsegg factory!! Very random and we had a long conversation about the supercar manufacture and everything else regarding Sweden! The other day I bought an audio book of Steve Jobs biography. I have been thinking of buying the book for a while but realize listen to it when I’m driving is much better than just listen to the radio. I do find it very interesting so far…!

Long Beach Grand Prix!

Marten Hansen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:25:25 +0000

Last week was pretty crazy. Beginning of the week was all about planning my 6 days trip to Los Angeles for the Toyota Grand Prix at Long Beach. I was there for a specific meeting. It’s my first time at Long Beach and also to an Indycar race. Long Beach is the American version of Monaco GP. I was really impressed about the whole event regarding the different series, being very fan friendly, the expo and of course the whole surrounding of a downtown street course race. I don’t think I’ve been to a racetrack where there is a swimming pool and palm trees right behind the hot pit!

My time off the track was spent with my friends who lives in the area, It’s always fun to catch up! One of the best part was the fast sightseeing tour on the classic twisted route on Mulholland Drive up north of downtown Los Angeles!!

Ski weekend!

Marten Hansen — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:52:04 +0000

After the wonderful day at the race track I changed back to my street clothes, jumped in my street car and drove up to Lake Tahoe! Because a ski weekend was planed with my good friends!! A great way to spend time with some friends I haven’t seen for at least four months! California is pretty amazing, drive a race car at one of the worlds finest race tracks and right around the corner is Napa Valley. 45min west is a beach and a big city, 90min northeast is a mountain range where you can ski, hike, camp etc. once again –Pretty amazing! And while up there we didn’t have much to complain about; walking distant to the gondola, amazing view from the top, nice weather, and most important of all -I didn’t brake any bones!! It’s kind of funny, I’m from Sweden but I cannot ski! (Somehow I still have a Swedish citizenship!!) But I picked it up pretty fast and still had a great time! Next week is lined up with good meetings and time at the race track!

Home Sweet Home !

Marten Hansen — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:14:07 +0000

I’ve been in California for a week now and it feels so great! Great to be back and spend missed time with my friends and co-workers. On my third day in California I got invited to a weeding which was perfect to catch up with everybody and just enjoy the special day! After the weekend it’s time to catch up with some work, I had four meetings that went great! Then on Friday I got invited to come out to the track where 2 NASCAR’s and one Ford GT stood parked ! Good to see the crew again, 72F/20C warm weather and of course drive some race cars – Great Day!! I’ve also been busy with mixing up my work out; been to the gym, played some soccer, did some rock climbing and little bit of cross fit as well! I hope you guys will have a great weekend !!

NC – GA – DC

Marten Hansen — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:23:14 +0000

There have been couples more trips after I got back to Charlotte. Went with my sponsor to Atlanta, Georgia for meetings. I’ve been to Atlanta one time before but this time I had a much better experience! One afternoon we drove to Stone Mountain, which is the world largest granite mountain with the single largest sculpture in the world. It’s a symbol of the civil war. I had never heard about it before but it’s very cool to see and experience it!

We spent a total of four days in Atlanta with great success and then headed back to Charlotte again. On the same day I continued all the way up to Washington DC with my friends! Woke up early the next morning to continue working were we left off from my last visit. On my last day I took the day off to meet my friends and do some sightseeing! Having great warm weather and visit couple museum and my favorite part of DC, Georgetown! Now I’m on my way to California, pretty excited to be back!

Shifting up!

Marten Hansen — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:05:08 +0000

There have been a lot of traveling lately but it really hit me on my way back from Washington DC. So I flew from DC to Atlanta where I had a connection flight to Panama City, Florida. On that flight there were a young lady asking if it’s okay to trade seat because she really wanted to sit next to her fiancé. Of course I said, we traded boding passes and wished each other a good trip. I looked on my new boarding pass and saw that my seat now was 2A !!! Sometimes it will reward you by being helpful to others! Anyway, I arrived to Panama City had dinner and went to bed early. Next day at noon we decided we will be more effective in Charlotte, NC so we jumped in the car started driving. Met up with a friend in Atlanta for dinner and at that moment I realized – I was here less than 24hrs ago !?

Back in Charlotte I’ve had good success from my meeting in DC and now keep working on this route! More information will come! The other day me and my friend become witness when a Lamborghini got total in a single car crash on the street, crazy! The driver was okay even though it’s a major incident. Last Sunday I got invited to a basketball game, my first! It’s a lot of fun and good entertainment!

7 more states!

Marten Hansen — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:11:46 +0000

The last two weeks has been a lot of traveling not much sleep! First we headed out to New Orleans, Louisiana for couple of meetings and that weekend it’s the Mardi Gras. They told me you’ve to experience at least once and now I’ve! Next stop was Panama City Beach in Florida to research and prepare couple upcoming events. Who say No, to warm weather and mile long white beaches!! Where I only spent two days because I had a meeting in Washington DC. The meeting went great and hopefully we can add an additional race to the schedule!

ALMS

Marten Hansen — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:04:42 +0000

The sleep was necessary, slept for 16hrs when we finally got back to Charlotte ! It has been nice to be based for couple of days to catches up with some work and also get better routine on my workout. Even mixed up the workout the other day by supporting my friend who will do a charity marathon, 26miles with 35Ibs backpack this summer ! We did 10miles nonstop with 35Ibs and I can tell you –That’s a good work ! So good that the cold and fever I’ve been fighting, felt it’s time. Been sick for the last couple of days. Unfortunately I missed the American LeMans test days at Sebring, FL this week but the guys keeping me posted and I think ALMS is the series to follow this year !