Flat out to Monza.

Lada truck at Magny Cours

New Lada being loaded on the truck, ready for Monza

We stopped here for a coffee in France

Heading towards Mont Blanc

New truck graphics for RML/Chevrolet team

I am too busy with my work to write my blog so I will just leave you with a few recent pictures. Normal blogging services will be resumed shortly.
Sorry.

Winter returns to Hungary.

The Zengo team have been in contact to let me know that despite the snow, they will not have to worry about their racetruck and the new Honda car struggling to get to Monza. The team have left the truck in Italy after the recent test session. This was obviously a very good idea as you can see from the pictures that they sent to me.
The weather in Hungary has taken a turn for the worse with major snowstorm and violent gusts of wind forcing thousands of people to spend the night in their cars or roadside buildings after being stranded on major Hungarian motorways. Snowdrifts up to 3 meters (10 feet) high and strong winds blocked off major roads across the country Multiple crashes across the M1 and M7 highways between Budapest and Vienna led to the traffic jams. Today, rescuers cut across guardrails to allow vehicles to leave the jammed highway onto makeshift roads. Army and police tanks were being used to help the rescue efforts. Some 5,700 cars were stranded on the roads and queues were over 12km long.
They do have some concerns for the travel arrangements for the junior team which is racing in the ETCC at the same event as the WTCC but the Hungarians are used to dealing with big snow falls. As we all know, you cannot predict the weather 100% but I hope that all of the Zengo team will arrive safely in Monza next week. It is going to be a great, season opening race with 25 cars on the grid, new teams and last years world champion, Rob Huff in a car that he is going to have to drive hard to be at the front.

What does a Truckie do for his money?

I would like to tell you a story from a Truckies point of view. It is a story of what we do to earn our money and live the lives that we lead. It is a story that I have had to shorten due to the many tasks that we do and also because there is stuff that I am sure I will forget to write down. We have become Truckies in the motor sport business as we have decided that being a mechanic, an ordinary truck driver or any other job is not for us. It may be our destiny in life or maybe we don,t want to sit in an office all day. Whatever our reason, this is just some of the stuff that we do in our job, every year.


If you are one of the many people who tune into Eurosport,s excellent TV coverage of the WTCC, you have it easy. Preparing to watch the race means turning on the television and sitting down on your favourite sofa or armchair. But it is not as simple as that for us.
The WTCC teams will have been getting ready for this since the car was returned back to their factory after the last race. Incredibly, even if it is a race in our home country, we will have team members working for many hours before the event preparing the cars. And when we have the "flyaway" races, using container freight, we will have spent even more time. Cars will be stripped down and some preparation work done before the cars are loaded up and sent to another country. When they arrive at their next destination, this pre-race work will be continued until everything is perfect again. Accident damage must also be dealt with and this is guaranteed to make teams very unhappy due to the extra workload.
Gone are the days when the truck rolled up to the garage, two cars and and some toolboxes were taken off, and away we went. It is not unusual for the race car transporters, which we use for the European races, to average 30,000 kilometres each as we drive through Europe. Depending on the size of our team, we may have only one truck but most teams have two. Last year, Chevrolet even had three trucks!!
Each team obviously has its own transport crew who are part of the operation of taking equipment to a race. Regardless of our job, either as a truck driver or assistant, once we get to the race, we are part of the team over the race weekend.
The race mechanics will have a four or five day round trip (Wednesday-Sunday) a 'Truckie', as we are known, may have to drive out and return with his transporter, so we will spend between eight and ten days going to a race and coming back. All of these has to be done within the laws of the EU Drivers Hours Regulations which anyone who drives a truck must adhere to in Europe.
With all the travelling it would not make sense to have to have small diesel  tanks, and the refuelling bill can be rather high. A tank takes 500-600 litres, and can cost on average 800-900 Euros, Some of the trucks can have a second fuel tank which can take the total fuel capacity to 1500 litres. With such large amounts of diesel, we can travel from the factory around Europe without needing to refuel. Sometimes, this helps keep the costs down for the teams as we can fill up with diesel in a country that is cheaper than where the team is based. In 2013 the prices across Europe do not vary so much as they did 5 or 10 years ago but if we can save some money, it all helps.
Racing in your home country should be easy but ironically all the teams, have to go through the same complex packing procedure for their home race as they do for races in the further flung reaches of Europe like Hungary, Portugal and Italy.
Then there are other complications the fans never see; when we race in Morocco and Russia in 2013, each truck has to have carnets for every single item on board - that is basically a detailed manifesto of the contents. Since the borders in Europe are now open, we can move from Germany to Italy or Hungary to Slovakia without needing a carnet. We do not have to stop and wait, for a long time, at the borders while our paperwork is checked by customs officials. This is much better for the Truckies and for those of us who can remember crossing borders before the European Union was formed, we would not wish to return to the old days.

Then there are the "flyaways", as they are known in the WTCC fraternity, (Brazil, USA, China, Japan and Macau). A team will typically use one or two containers. The bill for transporting that around the world will run to thousands of euros for each team. The teams freight operations are handled by Weitracon and DHL. After the last race in Europe, containers will arrive at the circuit and everything that was transported in our trucks is put into the containers. Some teams construct a mezzanine floor in their containers so that equipment can be packed away whilst the car or cars sit safely underneath. Any additional freight which the teams want to send can be taken to Antwerp, in Belgium and shipped at a later date. The Yokohama tyres are shipped on a staggered time basis to each "flyaway" race. Air freight services are also available but at a very high cost. The WTCC is not Formula 1 and we just do not have their big finances and sponsorship to pay for this.

The container freight is hardly as simple as putting it on a ship from A to B. Hundreds of tonnes of freight has to be loaded and unloaded. Everything has to have customs clearance and then it has to be transported from the container port to the paddock. The operation is extremely complex and whilst delays happen and ships have been late arriving at their destination, we haven,t missed a race since the WTCC championship started.
Teams must ensure that every single part for the car is available and for it to work perfectly, if a car is to get through two days of practice and qualifying and then the race on Sunday where the points are earned.
For that reason there has to be more than one spare for almost every single part including engines. We also have welding equipment, fluids for the cars, repair jigs and thousands of nuts, bolts, cable ties and electrical supplies. Allowance has to be made, too, for the fact that every racing driver could have an accident or several accidents and damage the bodywork. More spares are carried for the difficult and dangerous street circuit of Macau where the crash barriers are so close they are just asking to be hit. Spare splitters and front and rear wings are essential items in the freight along with spare parts for almost every eventuality.
Anyone who has seen a race team at an airport may have seen team members standing in line at the airport to check-in carrying things that looks suspiciously like a heavily wrapped drive shaft, suspension parts or steering racks. Anything that is not in the containers has to be hand carried to the races by whatever means possible. Sometimes these parts are newly updated or rebuilt items which have come from the teams factory. I have had many a strange encounter at airport customs when you are questioned about why you are carrying parts of a race car as your luggage.
The quantity of parts is so vast and they all have to be accounted for. To make sure they are not too old and close to failure some parts also have a "life" which is basically a "use by date". These include driveshafts and suspension parts which are safety critical items.
The freight has to include tools, generators, compressors, 3 phase electrical cabling for the garages, lighting marketing equipment, sensitive test equipment packed in foam-cushioned boxes, the public relations materials, promotional items, team clothing and overalls, maybe a fridge and definitely tea and coffee making facilities.
When race teams first started using purpose built, race car transporters, they probably carried about 2 tonnes of equipment. In 2013, our trucks can carry 20 tonnes. Today the size of the trucks is determined by the governments and the roads. So instead of getting even bigger trucks, teams just have more of them.
In days-gone-by equipment would be packed into a truck until it was full and then the next rolled up to the door. For the last 30 years transporters have become tailor-made affairs, designed down to the last centimetre to take the cars, with the surfaces where the wheels rest also used as worktops. On each side are cabinets packed with spare parts and consumables. Such is the need for space that some trucks have special "belly lockers" underneath the transporter.
Loading and packing a truck has become a science for a very good reason. This is the responsibility of the Truckie. If a special part is needed in the middle of qualifying it is no good someone having to hunt around in a trailer for an hour. Every part has to be within easy reach in case the worst happens, and it is normally the Truckie whose job is to make sure it is not only there but also to know where exactly it is stored.
The amount of preparation that goes into a season of travelling is staggering and the operation of packing and travelling is only the beginning. Once the race car transporters arrive they have to park up into their designated parking area behind the garage. Then the unloading operation can begin.

The image that the teams want to convey to their sponsors, fans and the TV crews begins with the setting up of our garages. Some of the heaviest and largest boxes that the teams carry around the world contain special boarding that is erected to create false walls and partitions for working and private areas in the depths of the garage. This boarding will have very expensive graphics showing the team logos,etc and great care is taken to avoid damage during the many times it is erected and taken down again. Flooring for the garages is another large and bulky item that must be carried around to each race. The teams attention to detail includes concealing from view all cables on the floor. The construction of the garage may include the installation of an overhead gantry system to take air hoses and electric cables. In the garages we connect televisions so that we can see the timing system display and live television feed from Eurosport. Surprisingly, no-one has any sound coming from the television. We have all the information that we need and don,t need to hear the commentary from Eurosport,s Martin Havens. Large repeater aerials are erected on top of the trucks or placed on top of the garages to enable communication with the team radios, the cars and drivers. All of this communication system must be tested before we use it. Dedicated radio frequencies are used so it does not interfere with the police or emergency services. The teams, the TV crews, the FIA, the organisers and the circuit personnel will all have radio communications so the airwaves are very, very busy.
And all of this happens before the cars go onto the race track. If you all think that the Truckies just drive nice, big trucks and go sightseeing like tourists when we visit so many countries each year, please think again!


                                   But the view from the paddock can be very pretty at times.

Cold and wet testing in Europe

Munnich team at the Slovakiaring.

All over Europe, the WTCC Truckies have been driving along the various motorway roads to enable the teams to complete their pre-season tests. Snow has made driving difficult in the mountains of Spain and also through southern Germany and Hungary. Our trucks and trailers are show pieces for the team that we work for and it makes you cry when you see them covered in dirty water and salt which we cannot avoid in winter time. When we arrive at the circuit for testing, put your warm clothes on and get out the hosepipe and brushes and start washing them off. Whilst this is okay in a warmer climate, it hasn,t been fun for the guys who have been testing in colder climates like the Slovakiaring and Monza.

Bamboo at Rockingham

Meanwhile in the UK, The Truckies from RML and Bamboo have been testing in the cold and damp conditions at Brands Hatch and Rockingham.
This season will see some new and different trucks in the paddock from Munnich, PBRacing and the RML trucks with their new colours.(I am waiting to be sent some pictures). Despite talking to the Spanish Seat teams, nobody is sure whether they will have new colours and graphics but I will be first at Monza with new pictures so keep following my blog.
It will be interesting to see how the Munnich team manage to transport 3 cars and all their equipment in 2 trucks. I think they will struggle for space inside the trucks. The new teams that start in WTCC see how the other teams garages are set up and very quickly start buying more garage equipment and boarding. But they never seem to think how they will transport it all safely and without damaging anything
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The cost for using the trucks in Europe just goes up and up. Diesel and AdBlue prices are rising and the road tolls for the motorways have been increased. I have not sat down and tried to see how much more money we will have to spend this year, but at a guess, it will cost upwards of 2000 Euros per truck more than in 2012.
My least favourite place to go to, Morocco, looks set to still go ahead and I have been hearing so many stories about driving to Russia. Plans are still being made for these two races so I will bring you more details as I get them. As a Truckie, I look forward to the more challenging places that we visit but the uncertainty will also put grey hairs on your head.

                                                                    Zengo and Honda in Italy                                    

The Worlds Fastest Race Truckie

My certificate

For a man who is very, very happy driving a truck at 90kmh, I also love things that go fast. I have built and raced drag bikes and I still mess around with motorcycles in my spare time. And to work within motorsport for so many years has allowed me to be close to some truly amazing cars and motorbikes.

Unfortunately, to go ridiculously fast takes alot of money, which I dont have!!!!!!!!

For the last two years, I have been very interested in the British Bloodhound SSC project who are aiming to make a vehicle capable of 1000mph (1600kmh). The technology that is being developed and used to achieve this is quite amazing and I am fascinated by it. I have seen the full size model that they built and it is a work of art. The team hope to be in South Africa, at Hakspeen Pan, towards the end of 2013. Whether they will be ready to make an attempt on the World Land Speed Record is unknown. People who have been involved with the project or who have donated money, will have their name put on the tail fin of the car so I would like to thank the team for adding my name to the tail fin and for giving me the chance to be the fastest "Race Truckie". I have also been given a nice certificate which I shall frame and hang on my wall.
I wish them all the best in their attempt and I am looking forward to being part of this crazy but brilliant adventure.

Love your truck

The truck is parked over the inspection pit in the floor

It is time to give our trucks some love and attention so we set off through the snow and the wind that is sweeping across Europe to take them to be serviced. An oil change, new oil and air filters are needed. The braking systems are inspected for any wear and tear and the garage will be checking all the other fluids. Then it is on to the rolling road to have the tachograph checked and calibrated. 90kmh is the maximum speed that we are allowed to travel at. This 90kmh limit is so frustrating and I think that the when the limits were set by the laws, trucks did not have the superb braking and steeering systems that they are fitted with now. It would be quite safe to allow trucks to travel at an extra 10kmh. But.........THE LAW IS THE LAW.........and I can not see it being changed so I will stop moaning about it.

The dirty air filter for the engine is replaced

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The terrible weather has meant that the roads are covered with salt, to prevent ice forming, and the trucks are covered with dirty brown coloured deposits from this. They certainly do not look as beautiful as they do when they are parked at the race track.
We have checked and repaired all of our garage equipment and it is ready to be loaded back in the trucks, ready for the first race in Italy. We have some last minute testing in Portugal before then and I am personally looking forward to some warmer temperatures. I HATE THE COLD WEATHER.

The cab is tilted forward to allow the mechanics access to the motor

Goodwood Festival Of Speed 2013

F1 race trucks at Goodwood

 If you live in the UK, take some time out on the 12-14th July and make your way to Goodwood. If I were to sit down and plan my perfect event, I really don’t think I could come up with something better than the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It has everything- cars, motorcycles and a huge variety of old cars, a chance to get up close with the cars and you may see some being tinkered with by men in white overalls, an array of classic aircraft, plenty of live music to listen to and it,s an ideal chance to wear tweed and a proper hat. Count me in!
To accompany the good music, great food, there are some fantastic displays of the latest creations and rally cars kicking up more dust than you’ve ever seen. As well as the many invited drivers there will be cars and motorcycles from each of the world's major motor sport disciplines, past and present, including championship winning cars from Formula 1, Indycar, the World Rally Championship, Superbikes, NASCAR, World Sports Cars and Touring Cars.
This year, Goodwood plans to recapture many of the outstanding Festival of Speed moments from the 1993-2012 era, with some great cars from the USA and elsewhere around the world. Their owners have promised that they will bring them to Goodwood for a not to be missed return to the UK, And to complement the cars, some famous car/driver pairings will also be reunited. Organisers say they hope to show off the newly-completed and running Bloodhound Land Speed Record car on display just days before its trip to South Africa for the land speed record attempt. The Bloodhound car is powered by a Eurojet EJ200 engine, as used in the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, plus a Falcon hybrid rocket. A Cosworth CA 2010 Formula 1 motor pumps fuel to the rocket and provides power to the car’s electrical and hydraulic systems. This is the car that I really want to see!!!

I’ll briefly summarise the event just in case anyone reading this isn’t aware of why and where this festival is held. It takes place at the Goodwood Circuit in West Sussex, which ranked alongside Silverstone and Brands Hatch as one of the UK’s premier international motorsports venues in the post-war years. In the late 1960s the owner of the circuit, Lord March, declined to provide the famously fast circuit with the chicanes that the FIA required and so the track fell into disuse. The current Lord March carried out a restoration of the circuit in the mid-1990s and since 1998 Goodwood as relived its glory years at the Revival. With the track and its associated structures perfectly restored to their 1960s appearance dozens of period racing and sports cars are gathered there to re-enact a vanished era of motorsport when it was glamorous rather than rampantly commercial.
As it looks like I will have some time off before going to Brazil, I intend to catch up with some old Truckie friends and have my eardrums rattled by some fantastic machines and soak up the atmosphere from past and present. Buy your tickets online and find out more about Goodwood Festival of Speed here:
http://www.goodwood.co.uk/festival-of-speed/welcome.aspx

Some thoughts for 2013

The world is still in a big financial crisis and the costs of racing, around the world, continue to spiral upwards. It has just been announced that the Auto GP series, which accompanies the WTCC at some events, has decided to cancel their race in Russia due to the very high costs for the teams. This is totally understandable. The Russians are keen to expand their involvement with international motor sport and I can see the marketing value of the WTCC and also the Superbike series. The cars and the bikes do resemble something that you can buy and use on the road. An Auto GP car does not. The Superbikes were there last year and the crowd attendance was quite good. Maybe having Lada back in the WTCC will provide a crowd as big as the 70,000 we had in Hungary last year. The World Superbikes are racing in India in 2013, do you think that this might be the next new venue for WTCC ???
I have written before about my dismay concerning the event in Morocco. The huge costs to the teams and the fact that I just do not see which part of the population, the WTCC is being marketed at. There is talk that negotiations are in place to try to help the Truckies avoid "some" of the unnecessary aggravation which we encounter in Tangiers docks. Driving from Tangiers to Marrakesh is actually quite pleasant and easy. Traffic on the roads is minimal. I just hope that any teams who drive through Latvia to Russia, do not encounter the queue of trucks that you can see in this video made on the way to the Superbikes race in 2012.

The cost of driving a truck around Europe is also on the increase. Germany has decided that they are now going to extend their toll system to include dual carriageway roads. Portugal's toll system still seems to be causing problems for the Portuguese drivers but still does not recognise non Portuguese number plates. The UK government are thinking of introducing a toll system for trucks and when you read how they are going to implement this, any teams in the UK will have comply. Considering that so many countries in the European Community seem to be striving to have the same set of laws and regulations, how come each European country has different types of truck tolls and so many different ways of collecting it? The EEC Directive which governs the Truckies driving hours, seems to be ever expanding and is liable to burst under its own weight of new sub-regulations which it keeps adding every year. There has even been talk that Germany "may" be looking into the viability of Digital Tachographs and it was them that designed the bloody things!!!! I do think that this is just the opposers of the Digital system voicing their opinion, albeit quite loudly. A new exhaust emission class is being introduced for trucks in 2013. We will now have Euro VI(Euro 6) and while this should not affect race teams, who generally use quite new trucks, it is evidence of the increasing costs of moving these race cars around the world. Older trucks are already excluded when driving through certain parts of Europe if they do not meet emission laws.

The start of the WTCC season is still over a month away and we have to get our trucks inspected soon for safety checks. There is still some talk about new teams appearing for 2013 and whilst Honda and the new Rene Munnich Seat team (ALL INKL.COM) have been already been testing.

Winter plans.

Now we have got all of our equipment back from Antwerp, we have had chance to make a list of things that need repairing or need replacing. Whilst we all pack and strap everything in the trucks securely and drive our trucks carefully, the container freight is out of our control and the containers can have a very rough journey around the world. Minor damage to wheels on toolboxes or packing boxes is almost unavoidable and we always have to replace some of them every year. The trucks and trailers are also due for their inspection checks so a trip to the workshop is the next thing that we need to do.
Yesterday, I drove to Silverstone to talk with some old Truckie friends and also get some up to date information on Russia. We have been looking at the many various routes that we can take for the first WTCC visit to Russia. There are several ferries that will take us to the port of St Petersburg where we should be able to clear the customs, relatively quickly. The other options of driving overland through Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are also available to us. As these countries are in the European Union  there are no customs checks, but we will still have to clear customs as we go into Russia. Some of the Russian border crossings have a ticket system to help the drivers. When you arrive, park your truck and proceed through the customs when your number is called. Unfortunately, the crossing point at Terehova, near Zilupe, which is on the most direct route, is also a very, very busy border crossing and has no ticket system. Further north, there is another crossing at Grebnava and whilst the distance in kilometres is more, we may be able to cross the border quicker due to less traffic.

There is a very helpful website http://www.vid.gov.lv/default.aspx?tabid=9&id=5784&hl=2# which shows you the waiting times at all of the border crossings from Latvia to Russia
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The WTCC teams will be driving to the Moscow Raceway from Spain, Italy, Germany and other countries. Due to the complexities of border crossings, road tolls for the trucks and also the condition of the roads in some Eastern European countries I think everyones options are quite limited. A "fixer" to help your truck through the customs process and language barriers is a worthwhile consideration. If you search for Latvia/Russia border videos on Youtube, you can see what we MIGHT have to deal with.
AND WHEN THE RACE HAS FINISHED, WE  HAVE TO CROSS THE BORDER AGAIN. I cant wait...hahahaha.
Figures released for 2012 show that around 90 people die every day on Russia’s roads and the figure is showing no sign of reducing in 2013. Accident reports are flooding the news on a daily basis. The driving habits in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are nearly the same so we will have to use all of our skills to avoid any accidents.

Before I leave Silverstone, I take the opportunity to drive past Bamboo Engineering and take a picture of their race trailers outside their workshop.

 

A cold day in Belgium

Europe in winter time and the wind and rain is depressing. I am at the container warehouse in Antwerp to collect our sea freight, which has finally arrived back from Macau. DHL and Weitracon are here to help the teams again as we unload the containers and put cars and equipment, back into our trucks.

STR loading one of their race cars

Yokohama, Special Tuning Racing and RML are here at the same time. I ask the RML boys if they have any idea of the teams plans for the 2013 season. Everything is just a rumour with nothing being finalised yet. It will be a shame if they do not make it back into WTCC. I have known them all for so many years and I will miss the camaradrie and friendship. Yokohama had a busy time due to the fact that they had over 2000 tyres to load into their trucks. We are so lucky that most of the races are in hot countries and when you pick up a tyre, it feels compliant and soft. With the 2 degree temperature in Belgium, they now feel as hard as a rock.
Lunchtime arrived and we drove the short distance to a cafe in the market place and devoured the huge portions of french fries and mayonaisse that the Belgiums are renowned for.

Lunch !!!

  

The start of the season is a couple of months away and the list of teams who will be competing is not yet complete. Unfortunately, the Arena Ford team, seem to be struggling with finances and calls to their truckies have gone unanswered, so I do not know what is happening with them. The WTCC paddock is a very friendly environment and I know that the Ford team members were well liked and respected. The working environment in the WTCC means that you may travel on the same roads, see each other at different airports and stay in the same hotels and of course we work at the same race track. You get to know people very quickly under these circumstances and while we are all here to work, personal friendships are also made. And when a team stops racing, you really do feel that you have lost some good friends. With my new look blog, I have decided that I do not want to simply repeat what I did last year so in 2013, you can expect some interviews with various team members and other people in the WTCC community. I will also be highlighting the jobs of some of the other truckies who work in the support races that make up a WTCC weekend.
A competition is being being planned with various prizes up for grabs. But I will have to look into the legal implications of this first.
My trusty camera will be in action again and I hope that after practicing my video editing techniques, I will have something that I can post on You tube.