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.