Flaklypa Grand Prix ( Pinchcliffe Grand Prix in English ) is a stop motion animated Norwegian Film, in which a bicycle repairman, against all odds builds his own racing car, competes against the biggies and eventually wins the race. I had not heard of this film before, till I did a bit of research on Christian Von Koenigsegg, the founder and CEO of Koenigsegg Automotive AB, the Swedish high performance fast cars manufacturer, based at Angelholm, in the Scania County, Sweden.
What is the connection between the Norwegian Film and Christian Von Koenigsegg would be the question many would ask. The connection is quite incredible. When just 5, Christian, a highly impressionable child, saw Pinchcliffe Grand Prix. The film inspired the young kid no end and he started to harbour an ambition of creating an automobile on similar lines as shown in the film. As the child grew, the ambition became stronger and stronger and took shape of a seering passion, which would later fuel Koenigsegg Automotive AB.
Christian was not the ordinary kind. He always looked to question status quos and bring about improvements in existing practises particularly related to the technical or the engineering side. He had a flair for innovation and at a very young age came mighty close to winning a patent for flooring boards. Though he studied Economics at the Scandinavian School of Brussels, he still wandered around looking for making things better all the time. However his passion for developing and manufacturing fast cars remained critical to his thinking, even though it was dismissed by many as a rather stupid idea.
The plan looked seemingly improbable. It was hugely expensive and no one with nothing in hand had ever achieved anything similar before. There were also big players and exclusive pedigree against whom Christian had to compete. It was an impossible task and an insurmountable challenge. Instead of backing out Christian wanted it and he did not take a step back and in 1994 at the age of 22 the Koenigsegg Automotive AB was formed.
To build his car Christian, on an extremely tight budget, went through a heap of information about similar cars. Read realms of technical information and studied the subject in utmost detail. As told by Christian Van Koenigsegg, he went through a long period of just Bread and water but never lost hope and kept his passion burning. His perseverance was absolutely relentless and in 2002 eventually after a long struggle of 8 years Christian sold his first car.
Since then, Koenigsegg the brand has developed and inspite of large players like the Bugati, Ferrari etc it has been able to make a place for itself. Christian Von Koenigsegg has continued to innovate and has several patents to his name in the industry and has produced one of the fastest cars available on the planet. The production of the cars including the engines is completely in-house. Just a mere thought that the worlds most expensive cars are built in your backyard, would give the Koenigsegg family great heart.
My interest in cars, a documentary which I saw on National Geographic pertaining to Koenigsegg and this massively motivating story of Koenigsegg Automotive AB managed by Christian, just 49 now, and his wife Halldora, made me write this blog. You can achieve anything in life, if you are determined to do so, if you are unrelenting in your pursuit, if you listen to your heart and not to the nay sayers and if you do not rest until the goal is attained, is a lesson learnt.
The Almighty knows what all I am going to achieve, but I have taken the first step , I have started….and I am on my way.
Very informative n of course impressive 👏