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| Somewhere in Hungary. |
From the border to the Salzburgring is approximately 300km so I set off with the rain falling heavily. Traffic around Vienna is slow but I am moving and the rain decides to stop. The Go Box, which we must use to pay the Austrian truck toll, tells me that I need to put some more money on it. Luckily, there is a big service station just before I turn off the motorway towards the race track. I take the Go Box into the services, pay some more money, and I am ok to continue my journey. We had telephoned the Salzburgring to let them know that we were on our way and when I arrive, I have to wait a short while before I am let through the gates, across the race track and into the paddock. Job done and definitely easier than in previous years. I think that, in future, I will always leave the Hungaroring on the Sunday evening.
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| Lada tyre man. |
A lot of my spare time is spent on the internet, writing my blog, reading news and generally surfing the web. I am always finding something of interest and I recently found a news article on the dangers of driving.
You might view your daily or weekly commute to work as nothing more than a routine part of your day, but new research suggests it is fraught with danger. The hidden dangers of commuting to work have been highlighted by various governments. As my job involves driving, technically, I am commuting to work. I risk injury 32 times a week and 0830 hours is the most dangerous time for me to be on the road. Government figures state that I take 1600 risks which could result in serious injury to myself or others.
Personally, I have not had any accidents for a long time and my driving licence is clean. No speeding fines or anything else. As we drive in so many different countries, I find it very interesting to see how peoples driving habits differ in all the different countries. Some countries are just crazy. China is unbelievable for bad driving habits and there are apparently over 350 deaths, every day, on their roads. Spain has about 15 deaths every day. But danger could be waiting for me around the next corner. The perils of driving so many kilometres around Europe and also when we drive hire cars at the fly away races puts me in a very high risk category, probably more than a racing driver. Unfortunately, my high risk job does not pay high risk wages.
When I started my blog, there was nothing being written about the logistics of getting race cars and equipment to the track. Now, I am finding that even some of the teams are including pictures of the trucks and trailers as they race and test at tracks around the world. Maybe my blog has made them realise that the Truckies are an integral part of any team. It is amazing how many team members have no real understanding of the Truckies job. They may wave goodbye to us when we leave the factory and the next time they see us at a track, somewhere in Europe, the cars and equipment have magically come out of the truck and been placed neatly in the garage.
So I am very pleased that we are now being recognised by the teams and if they post only a couple of pictures on their Facebook or Twitter sites, it is a more than they were doing a few years ago.
Never forget the Truckies!!!
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| Keys to all of the garages,Hungaroring |