Successful visit for General Manager of Mercury Racing

Erik Christiansen, the General Manager of Mercury Racing, has had a brief but very successful visit down under.

Erik has just spent several days in Australia before going to New Zealand to attend the General Assembly of the UIM, the international governing body of power boat racing.

“Australia is an important performance boating region for Mercury Racing,” he said.

“I enjoyed seeing the facility, meeting Mercury Racing dealers and experiencing the world of ski racing first hand. I look forward to when I can visit again.”

When he was in Australia, a one of the stops for Erik was Mercury high performance dealer Race Marine in Melbourne, where he spent time with owner Simon Isherwood and the team.

“We were absolutely thrilled to have him here,” Simon said.

“When he walked into the workshop he saw one of our boats (Sapphire with a QC4V 1350) and said there was a picture of it on the wall at Mercury Racing back in the States. That was a big buzz, to know they have our boats on their walls.”

Before Erik took up his current role less than a year ago, he was Mercury Racing’s Director of Engineering and headed up the 25-person team which designed and developed the QC4 1350hp and 1100hp engines.

He also led the development of Mercury Racing’s 850hp, 1075hp and 1200hp high-performance sterndrive engines, and was part of the design team for the legendary Mercury Verado outboard.

“Our application of the Mercury Racing products is very different to in the US and Europe. Erik said when he designed the 1350 he never envisaged putting it on a 21’ boat like we do. Over there they have them in 40’ boats in pairs.”

When in Melbourne, Erik also met key Mercury personnel at the company’s headquarters at Dandenong before spending part of his weekend at Ski Racing Victoria’s Point Score 2 event on Lake Charm where he met plenty of racers.

“I think he was rapt with the number of Mercury Racing engines he saw,” Scott Brown, Mercury Marine’s Service Manager VIC/TAS said.

“He was surprised it was so strong so I think we opened his eyes a bit.”

Before he flew to Auckland, Erik said he’d be trying to come back to the Australia office regularly to keep in touch with local developments.