During the 1996 Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort Jos Verstappen did a couple demo laps in his Arrows Fa17 on the circuit. Partly the reason that many tickets were sold for the event. It was a huge success and Power Horse, at that time Jos Verstappen’s sponsor, believed they could use this as a PR-stunt for themselves. The idea was to bring the Arrows FA17 and Jos to Scheveningen. Have him doing several laps on the boulevard. Like in the 1920s and 1930s when sprint races were held a couple of times. However, the demo-run, was cancelled only days before the event would happen.
During the weekend of the Belgium Grand Prix the CEO of Power Horse Netherlands told the Verstappen page, and the media, that an event was planned on the boulevard in Scheveningen. Jos Verstappen would do several laps on the boulevard the 15th of September 1996. This event was to be held to promote and introduce the Power Horse energy drinks that were yet to be introduced in the Netherlands. Today you cannot buy them by the way in the supermarket either.
It was for 99% sure that Jos Verstappen would appear in the Arrows FA17. Besides the Arrows demo run some other race cars would appear as well. Around the event, people could win a lot of prices the biggest price was an all-paid VIP-trip to the opening race in 1997 at Albert Park. Well, no one won that price or any other price. The event to introduce Power Horse never happened in Scheveningen eventually.
Only four days before the event would happen on the boulevard in Scheveningen Power Horse had to “cancel” the event for the moment. It was not certain why this was. Yet, another day would soon be communicated. So that the fans could see Jos Verstappen do his demo runs in the FA17. There was never a new date set. Therefore, it never happened and I believe it is a miss for the fans and the company.
I was six when Jos drove for the first time with Arrows. I cannot recall seeing Power Horse energy drink in the supermarkets I visited in those days. Neither in later years, the first time i got myself a can of Power Horse was in Hamburg back in 2017 when I was there. If you ask me, there could be two reasons why the demo never happened.
Verstappen crashed badly during the Belgium Grand Prix in 1996. In September the Arrows team was still investigating what caused the crash with Verstappen’s car. One of the tyres came of the car. Ricardo Rosset had this as well during a test session. As well, Jos was still not fully recovered from the incident. Another reason could be that there was not really a market for energy drinks. in the Netherlands.
