Gomme di merda !!

My apologies for the title of this post(google translate it). But I am only quoting the Italian truckie who was unfortunate enough to have this happen to him.

Damage to the trailer after tyre was replaced

Overall, this year, we have all been pretty lucky with truck breakdowns. Previous years have been worse. But punctures are unavoidable and when it happens, we all hope that we can stop the truck as soon as possible. Having 50 kilograms of rubber and wire, flailing around at 90KMH, causes serious damage. The pressure inside a trailer tyre can exert a force of over 10 tonnes when it explodes. Because the bodywork of the trailers either wraps around the tyre or totally encloses it, when a puncture happens, IT,S GOING TO BE EXPENSIVE !!!!

Damaged suspension air bag

After leaving Portimao. Portugal and driving up through Spain, my unlucky Italian friend had this happen to one of his trailer wheels. The bodywork of the trailer, the wheel rim and the suspension air bag were all severely damaged or broken as you can see in the pictures. One of Barcelona,s finest truck workshops was called and repairs were made before he could continue back to Italy. It is not just the driver who is delayed when this happens. With the car and equipment due to be sent to Antwerp for container shipping, this puts extra work on all of the team due to the delay in returning back to their factory.

The aftermath of the tyre failure

As we are no longer racing in Europe, the truckies work will now revolve around the many containers that are on their way across the Atlantic ocean. Next stop for us will be Brazil.
I will try to keep you updated with any testing that teams will be doing in Europe and hopefully not have to post any more pictures of damaged trucks and trailers.

A video of some of the Truckies

I have spent a long time messing around with pictures, etc to bring you all this video.
My blog is a homage to all of them and many other unknown truckies who have helped all of the teams.
As we are no longer racing in Europe, you will not have much chance to see these handsome fellows driving around but here they are in glorious technicolor.

                   Sit back,watch and enjoy..........................I expect this video to go VIRAL !!!!!!!!!

WTCC container loading

A sunny morning in Antwerp and trucks of all different types have arrived at the massive building that will be the starting point for the loading of the containers, ready for the next five, overseas races. Race trucks, general haulage trucks and a car transporter are here to bring the tonnes of equipment which are essential for the WTCC races.
We meet Ralf  from WEITRACON and Holger from DHL in the hotel the night before. Our start time of 0800 hours is confirmed for the next morning. Ralf has been involved with all freight business for the WTCC, for many, years and coupled with Holger and DHL,s global coverage, we are in very capable hands. They have been in contact with the teams for a long time before the events in Antwerp and are familiar faces in the paddock. All of this, just to ensure that the container loading happens efficiently and quickly and that all carnets and associated paperwork are in order for the countries that we are due to race in.

Nail gun and container seals

The containers are monitored on their journey around the world by an electronic box in each container, monitoring GPS location, any shock or unnecessary vibration of the container, temperature, humidity and even G-forces. When the containers are stacked on the deck of a ship, very high in the air, they can be subjected to G-forces caused by Parametric Rolling. This is thought to occur during specific wave height and cycles that can generate extreme roll periods and place unexpectedly high loads on the containers and the goods inside them. DHL can check in real time what is happening to the precious cars and equipment. Hopefully, our containers will not be on a ship like the one in this picture...........

Monitor box for the containers

  
Ratchet straps, a nail gun for securing the wooden chocks around the tyres of the cars, container seals for security of the containers after they are loaded, are all essential items. As are the very helpful warehouse staff who are keen to help us with fork lift driving and general lifting duties.
Some trucks are loaded inside the building and some outside in the yard. Ralf and Holger have their hands busy, monitoring the loading and answering any last minute questions that we may have. The Auto GP series will be at a few of the overseas races and they have completed their container loading, earlier in the week.

Auto GP car in a container

Sunred SEAT cars

Proteam truck drives into the building

And starts unloading.........

Ford team in the yard

Our time in Antwerp is coming to an end, four hours later and we are ready to leave. The other teams are working hard to finish and over the next 24 hours, every one of the WTCC teams will have done the same as us.

What do the teams do when we are waiting for the next race in just over one months time???????????

Well, testing of the cars is an ongoing process throughout the year for those teams who are lucky enough have the money to own a test car. Two teams are in the process of building a test car for this year and another team is building an extra car to use in one of the overseas races. This will have to be taken by air plane, by DHL, at a later date.

Tyre trolley and packhorse boxes ready to go into containers

We now have to drive back to Calais,France and return to the UK. But when we arrive at the port, we are greeted by the sight of one of the ferry boats moored up and going nowhere.
Yes, even the boats breakdown!!
Normally, there are four boats an hour, travelling between France and the UK. Now there are only three and all of the vehicles are having to wait even longer to cross the water. We have to wait over 2.5 hours and this means that when we arrive in the UK, we will hit all of the evening rush hour traffic and any chances of getting home quickly are gone.

One of the teams had a tyre puncture after leaving the race in Portugal and had some catastrophic damage. I hope to bring you some more details as soon as I can.

Travelling home

Garage door with decal graphics, Portimao circuit.

The European rounds of the WTCC are now over. We close down the door of our garage as the evening sunshine in Portugal starts to fade and head back to the hotel. Tomorrow will be the last long journey that the teams will undertake before we have to fly to all the races.
My decision to start this blog could not have been more badly timed. We are not going to be doing so much driving. Unlike previous years when we started the season with fly away events, then came to Europe and then finished off the season overseas again, this season is totally different. I will try to keep my blog as interesting as possible for the remainder of the races but I refuse to rename my blog, RACE TRUCKIES, WITH NO TRUCKS, ONLY CONTAINERS.......

We now have to drive to Spain to catch the ferry back home and a 0600 hours start is needed. This will give us plenty of driving time. As Portugal is in a different time zone from Spain, we will automatically gain one hour as soon as we go across the border. Driving along the coast road to Seville, we then head north towards Salamanca and then north east towards Bilbao. I have made a reservation to stay overnight, at a large motorway service area, approximately 80 kilometres from the ferry port. To get there, we actually have to drive past the motorway junction to Bilbao but it only takes us 15 kilometres out of our way and we know that there is plenty of space to park the truck and it is in a good secure parking area with CCTV. We have met another one of the trucks on the last part of today's journey and he decides to follow us and stay at the same place. We are so conditioned to following the shortest, most direct route when we drive anywhere that it always feels strange when we deviate from this. But as I have mentioned before, we are in a 16.5 metre long race truck and you just don,t park these anywhere! We have enough driving time, to get to Bilbao, as we have two drivers but the other truck has only one. There are some places a little bit closer to the docks but the problem is where do we park safely? I am sure we have chosen to stop in the right place!
The ferry is due to leave at 1000 hours the next morning. We leave the service area, take a detour towards the mountains and rejoin the motorway to Bilbao. Just over an hour later, we are waiting at the docks.

Trucks in Bilbao docks

It doesn,t seem like there are too many cars and trucks waiting to go on the ferry but we have a long wait and are some of the last vehicles to be loaded on the boat. This will help when we arrive at our destination. The way that the boat is loaded means that last on, first off.
HAPPY DAYS!!!!

I have had more chance to speak to the truckies and find out some more information regarding problems that everyone has encountered whilst driving this year. We have had punctures, suspension failures, brake and clutch failures, trucks damaged when tyres have exploded. An air compressor broke on one truck. A broken windscreen and lights. We have had stowaways in Morocco. Multiple encounters with police forces in many countries. Problems at customs borders. Damaged trucks whilst going on and off ferry boats.

BUT NOBODY HAS HAD AN ACCIDENT.

I think that this is a testament to the good skills of all the truckies.
Countless thousands of litres of diesel have been consumed by these trucks, the engines have used many litres of engine oil and a considerable amount of tyre rubber has been deposited on the many thousands of kilometres of European roads that we have all driven. On top of this, we have collectively paid, several thousand Euros in road toll charges. And all of this, just for the WTCC.
The ferry leaves Bilbao docks and heads out to sea. The truckies now have to get back to their teams factories and start preparing tons of equipment, ready for the container loading, in Antwerp, next week.

The ferry back home.