Macau 2013

The WTCC truckies may be missing their trucks and the driving but Macau is always a special time for us all. A magnificent end to the season and also a lot of damaged racing cars. This is not good for the teams who were looking to sell them as we have new rules and regulations for next year.
Weitracon, DHL and the hardworking, local Chinese staff, ensured that the containers were loaded up and cleared from the paddock within 24 hours of the last race finishing. The WTCC teams are getting very good at packing all their cars and equipment into the containers. We have so many fly away races and most of the teams have had quite a few years experience using the containers that it is not such a difficult task anymore. But it is still a sweaty job in the heat and humidity of Macau.
Many of us will be looking forward to a well deserved break towards the end of the year but there is also a lot of work for the teams who are building new cars for next season. I will be continuing with this blog so keep checking back here to look for new stories and information.
Do not forget that if you click on the pictures, most of them will open in a larger size.
Also, you can click on your countries flag at the top of the page and use Google translate to change my English into your language.

Day 1 in Macau

The Yokohama tyres are unloaded.

Day 1 in Macau

Honda get the garage ready.

The Nika Racing Chevrolet.

RML getting the garage ready.

Roal garage Day 2.

The view from the MST Timing office in the new Macau race control tower.

Zengo do a bit of cleaning on Day 2

Oliver Ronzheimer  practicing before his stunt show on race day

Cleaning, cleaning.

Nitrogen for the tyres is delivered. Day 2

Time for the drivers to listen to the Boss.

Inside the crowded RML garage.

Repair time.

Electric cold air blowers and a charging station for the wheel nut guns.

Engstler team member "loves" his pink car.

Free advertising for me. Thanks.

Tuenti Racing get the garage ready.

I have to end this with an awesome video that shows the Macau circuit from a motorcycle riders view. They reach speeds of 180mph. These guys are the real heroes of the whole Macau race week so please watch it.

Video by Franky19racing







                                                             

Definitely not a Race Truckie.

This is "How not to transport a racing car".
Please watch this video, taken at Macau this year.

I do not think this driver will get a job driving any of the WTCC trucks and I suspect he will not be working at the Macau GP again.

Video by DG

French government suspends "Eco-tax"

 OCTOBER 29th 2013. The prime minister of France has announced that the planned environmental tax on trucks has been suspended after mass protests in France.
Eco-tax was being developed to charge all national and foreign vehicles over 3.5t for use of the entirety of the country’s principal highway network currently not tolled, plus a certain number of secondary roads. The French government said, “As soon as trucks start to use smaller roads as a way of avoiding payment of Eco-tax, it is likely that more of the secondary network will be included and tolled,”

This tax issue in France could have meant even more expense for the WTCC teams who are forced to use the French road networks. My blog is all about the logistics of the WTCC teams and it is these sort of taxes that the Truckies and the teams need to be aware of. We already have so many different taxes and tolls to buy as we travel around Europe and this would have been one more. I am glad that the French people have seen sense and stopped this as soon as it was started.
You can read more about the truck taxes here. http://racetruckie.blogspot.com/2012/04/taxtaxand-more-tax.html

The French have a long history of protesting when they do not agree with things. There is a very interesting story concerning Alain Prost, the French Formula 1 driver.
When he won his first championship, in 1985, it was a victory for him, not for France. He
was driving an English-designed car with a German engine and living, self-exiled, in Switzerland.
Prost had left the French national team two years earlier following a bitter dispute with Renault management. He had won nine races for Renault, become the first Frenchman since 1927 to sweep the British Grand Prix, and was within two points of the 1983 championship.
But he was outspoken and knowledgeable and complained of flaws in the car design and team organization. Renault made sure that this was written about in the French press, and in April 1983 outraged workers in Prost's hometown of Saint-Chamond marched on his house and burned his prized white Mercedes. Within days, Prost had packed up his wife, Anne-Marie, and his 3-year-old son, Nicholas, and moved to Switzerland.

SO BE CAREFUL AND DO NOT UPSET THE FRENCH.

My walk to work in Macau.

I have to start this with a special mention to Tom Boardman who only just missed out on a pole position in Macau. Tom was doing so well in the first qualification session but just missed out after he was moved into position 12, just as the session finished. For those who follow the WTCC, the starting grid is reversed for Race 2, so position 10 becomes first on the grid. Tom has been a supporter of my blog since I started.
ALL of the teams help me so much to bring all this information to you, but it is so good when a driver and team produce something special like this. I have included this photo of the television timing screen to show you just how close the team were to shocking the rest of the WTCC paddock.

Yukinori Taniguchi gets comfortable and fitted correctly for his Chevrolet Cruze with Nika Racing.

Macau is unique for me as it means that I can walk to the race track rather than driving a car. So I have done some photos of my walk. Some of the photos were taken on the way to the race track and some are when I come back to the hotel. But I have arranged them so this is how you would see the buildings, roads, etc.

Near my hotel.

The neon shop signs illuminate the walkways.

Passing one of Macau's casinos

I am just about to enter the shopping area.

Opposite the Macau College.

The Golden Lotus Square.

Walking near the overpass to Fisherman,s Wharf

One of the collection points for free buses to the casinos.

Close to Fisherman's Wharf and some demolition work to the "fake" volcano.

Looking toward the Reservoir Grandstand at the circuit

The walk towards the Ferry Terminal Building

Arriving at one of the entrances to the paddock in Macau

I will be posting some more Macau pictures soon but I hope you can see how lucky we are to be working with the cars and to be working in Macau. This place is unique and I feel very privileged to be part of the racing here.

Unfortunately, Taniguchi hit the Macau wall during the first test session.

Will it go in the truck?

We need wider trucks to carry these 18 inch tyre monsters. Fat Truckies beware. Strapping these bad boys in the truck will require a racing snake or a Truckie with small legs so they can move around the car when it is inside.

TURN UP THE VOLUME !!!!


Video by NM2255

WTCC Qualification....Something to consider?

The 2013 WTCC race season is almost over. I have arrived from China and the paddock area in Macau has the Formula Masters (china series), and also Audi R8 and Porsche Asia cars, occupying the garages. The underground parking area is also full of the local touring car teams. Some of the motorcycle teams have arrived much earlier than last year and they were also busy unpacking the bikes and equipment. My passion for Macau comes from the fact that it is a unique street circuit, has a long history and provides some thrilling racing. The paddock area does get quite crowded on racing days but maybe that adds to the atmosphere of Macau. The WTCC containers are arriving from Shanghai and we expect them to be unloaded, complete Customs checks and be in the paddock next Monday. The Yokohama tyre crews are already here and working as they are supplying tyres for many of the cars who are racing here.

There has been a very good article posted on the web concerning the qualification process for the WTCC. You can read it by clicking on this link....
http://www.touringcartimes.com/2013/11/05/wtcc-qualifying-is-it-working/
Whatever process is sanctioned by the FIA, will always mean a lot of work for the teams but I think there are some very sensible ideas contained in this article. Anything that keeps our championship interesting has got to be a good thing.

The use of vacuum cleaners in the WTCC garages may be a common sight next week. As the teams flooring is still in the missing containers, we have the offer to have a carpet on the garage floor. Rain is forecast for latter next week and some of the garages have sloping floors. The carpets may get very,very wet for the teams who decide to do this.

Last year, we had a car driver and a motorcyclist die but I know that they would be happy to see that the 60th Macau Grand Prix is still as strong and well supported as ever. For me, Macau means work and a chance to see and meet the motorcycle riders who really make you realise just how exciting this race track is.

                                                                                    Didier Grams at Macau 2011                                                Photo/ GCS

                                                                                  Michael Rutter                                                                        Photo/  S.Davison

Shanghai Pictures and container update.

The Bamboo Engineering pit wall stand gets new graphics

It seems that the missing containers are somewhere between South Africa and Singapore.
WILL THEY MAKE IT TO MACAU? We shall have to wait and see.
Some teams had brake parts in the containers and were forced to bring brake discs and brake pads with them when they flew to China. They will have to do the same when they come back for the last race in Macau. Some teams are also missing some wheel rims but they have made arrangements to cover this for Shanghai and Macau. Unfortunately there are also some parts of bodywork for the cars, all of the garage flooring for the teams, catering and cooking equipment as well as the tyre fitting equipment and some promotional clothing.

The Great Firewall of China that protects the Chinese internet from the rest of the world is upsetting all the Facebook users in the teams, as well as my blog. Some of the teams are staying in a hotel that use a VPN in Hong Kong. But this only works on the cable broadband, in the hotel, not on the wireless. With a VPN, you can access all of the sites like Facebook, YouTube, etc.
My friends from Polestar Volvo are straight back into the swing of things. They know all of the technical and scrutineering procedures. It is like they never left the WTCC.
My drive to the circuit takes me 1 hour and the driver of my minibus is crazy. Chinese driving styles are unique. I suggest you have a search on YouTube and check it out for yourselves. Yesterday, we narrowly missed a dog that was on some suicidal walk across a 4 lane highway. I hope the dog made it across but my instincts tell me otherwise. We were also treated to the sight of a lorry that had a big bag of gravel fall of the back because there were no straps to secure the load. And a car decided to try to take a 40kmh bend at double this speed and he disappeared down the embankment. I see more "action" on the Chinese roads in 5 days as I probably see all year in the rest of the world.

Nika Racing start building the garage.

Zengo tyre man has a new helper !

Tuenti Racing on Tuesday

Engstler tent inside the garage.

Iveco leading truck gets a clean up.

Thed Bjork and Volvo are in town.

The Chinese internet police are doing their best to stop me writing my blog again so I am having to use the internet connection on my mobile phone. It is not cheap for me but at least you can see what the WTCC teams are doing in China.

Thed Bjork,s Volvo at the airport, Shanghai.

Yokohama are the tyre supplier and one of the main sponsors for the WTCC but for some unknown reason they have not been allocated a garage and have not been allowed to erect a tent in the paddock, behind the WTCC team garages. It is almost a 200 metre walk for the tyre men from RML to come and fit their tyres. The CTCC race is also being held and the tyre supplier for them is Kumho tyres. They have been given a garage next to all of the CTCC teams. The Chinese obviously give first priority to their local championships. We also have the Maserati Trofeo race and their tyre supplier is Pirelli and they are set up right next to the Maserati tent structure.A very poor arrangement must be surely be changed for next year.  Each WTCC tyre and rim weighs approximately 16kg. And each tyre trolley can carry 8 tyres. So each tyre man, from each team, is having to push 128kg of tyres, plus the weight of the tyre trolley, almost 150-200 metres to the tyre fitting tent. It is a lot of hard work for these guys and I feel very sorry for them.

A view across the Shanghai circuit 30/10/2013

Honda assemble a tyre trolley.