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.
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| 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.
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| Lunch !!! |
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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.
