America purportedly does thing a bit bigger than the rest period of the world . One eccentric in point is monster trucks – biggertires , biggerengines , bigger haphazardness ; they ’re kind of like Texas on wheels and steroids .
In one specific area of trucking ( or truck racing ) , however , the good old U.S. of A. may be beat . In Europe and other parts of the human race , the kings of the route have become the kings of the tracks . Since the early 1980s truck racing has been a growing draw . Think of the truck delivering atrailer loadof diapers to Wal - Mart thundering around a mat track at speeds of up to 100 mile per minute ( 161 kilometers per minute ) . And this is n’t a road - weary traveler cake with sand and salt , but rather a tricksy , modified race machine on par with today ’s topNASCARandFormula Onemachines .
Like American NASCAR racing , the A-one motortruck circuit grew from humble extraction where drivers would commit off from their anticipate delivery , miss the payload , subspecies , break up up the loading once again and deliver the cargo by the next business mean solar day . Rather than moving from the back roadstead and moonlight Moon fly the coop as early NASCAR drivers did , these motortruck moved from hale everyday goods to hauling , well , you know , around some of the more storied European and external wash shipway . Their drivers are much the same – average guys with not - so - medium dreams realize a name for themselves in a variation that quarter more than 200,000 exhort sports fan to each race during its hey day .
With the passage of time and the effects of shrinking economy super hand truck racing has transform into simply hand truck racing . And while these leviathan are not likely to make it to United States shores anytime soon ( at least as anything other than a video secret plan ) , it ’s still good to be quick , because it may only be a matter of year before American slipstream fans bosom the brash and giant reality of super truck racing . So , record on and be prepared to take a pole stance in what may be the racing trend of the future .
Super Trucks
Anyone who has drive major highways knows how intimidating a semi truck can be . They roar and clank along the sidewalk , the exhaust brake pop and growling , slipstreams make their small-scale gas - fueled cousins to sway and rock in their aftermath . They are powerful and sometimes awe - inspiring machines to witness in motion .
It ’s those same qualities , plus their familiar and mundane presence , that make them appealing as a wash vehicle . While airstream trucks will never hale a load of washers to the local self-aggrandizing - box gismo fund , they still continue many of the same characteristics as route - move brethren .
European super trucks , embrace the United Kingdom , the European Union , Australia , New Zealand , Brazil and China , race under the across-the-board umbrella of the FIA , or Federation Internationale de l’Automobile , the French authority that also oversee theFormula Oneseries . The FIA mandates strict regulations include tops hand truck retaining much of the equipment standard to the everyday hauler , admit a standarddiesel engine . But the backwash trucks are allowed to tweak and tune those engines to dance to the beat of a very different , and all together quicker , drummer .
The subspecies trucks are determine to a 12 - l Rudolf Diesel railway locomotive . When the play first get its start in the 1980s , crab up the engine intend addingturbochargers– the bigger the better . As technology has vary , and engine management software has replaced bestial force with finesse , most race trucks sport software that manages enginepower and torquewith algorithms and advanced maths rather than mechanically skillful crudities .
What all this boils down to is the software system reserve a savvy Rudolf Diesel engineer to tweak the air - fuel proportion in literally every piston chamber to acquire more than 1,000horsepowerand more than 6,000 pound - feet of torque ( 8,135 newton - meters ) from a standard engine .
This mogul is handled by the transmission , which make enjoyment of modified train for carrying out . In the United States , Allison transmission dominate the market , but outside of our shores , ZF transmissions rule the road .
ZF was the main medium- and with child - duty maker for over - the - road transport and became the main manufacturer and supplier of racing transmission system during the athletics ’s elevation in the mid-2000s . like to their more unremarkable street - going cousins , the racers use amanual transmission ; however , again , various electronic and mechanical pinch are add to the system to give better execution .
Super Truck Weight and Power
With eminent - HP diesel locomotive engine and performance - geared transmission linked together as a ferocious duo , racers have to be brisk to the tremendous weight of their auto and just how dangerous that combination could be . Stuart Oliver , lead driver and principal of the United Kingdom ’s Team Oliver Racing has succeed several British patronage cups since he began racing more than a decade ago . He is all too cognisant of how much zip is bring about by a ace motortruck wielding a performance package on a race track . " There is no revolutions per minute limit but the 160 kilometer terminal point is in seat due to the kinetic energy farm by a 5,500 kilogram hand truck at maximum speed , " he said .
understand , this means the trucks are restrict to a minimum exercising weight of 12,000 pound and a maximal upper of 100 mi per hour on the track due to the tremendous forces being created by hurling that amount of alloy , at speed , around the track .
Bowing to that energy and potential , driver are cocooned in a sword curlicue cage , belted in with race harness , fervency safety system at the tie-up by , the truck’ssuspension systemsare lowered and limited in travel and stableness is controlled by traction control scheme in most locations as stocktiresare required . Water - cooleddisc brakesare also par for the course .
While engine placement is not considered under FIA rules , there is a minimum front axle weighting demarcation line of about 7,000 pounds ( 3,175 kilogram ) . That minimum weighting define how far back the engine and transmission weighting can be shifted .
The trucks must also search similar to transportation vehicle . Oliver said the trucks minimal height is about 2.5 meters or a little more than 8 foot gamy , with a interchangeable width , yet no distance limitation .
British trucks are separate as A and B. Class A is allow disc brakes on all wheel and adjustable shocks . Class B does not have adjustable shocks , but can use disc brakes as this is where the trucking manufacture as a whole is steer . There are no classes for truck racing outside the United Kingdom .
While anyone can see a typical over - the - route truck virtually anywhere in Europe or the United Kingdom , the crack hand truck racers can only be find out in a few places . Keep reading to learn more about those .
Super Truck Tracks
If an American race buff is overseas and want to take in some of the wild and woolly racing come about in the world today , they can chance it at the following racecourse :
Donington Park Motor Racing Circuit , Derbyshire , England : Opened in 1931 on the grounds of the Donington Castle , this race course run server to super hand truck racing , the British Motorcycle Grand Prix , the British Touring Car Championship and the Le Mans Series . They offer a 1.95 - international mile ( 3.1 - kilometer ) National circle ( the original ) and the 2.5 - mile ( 4 - kilometer ) Grand Prix circuit .
Brands Hatch , Kent , England : Brands Hatch bill itself as the busiest race locus in Europe . It started life-time as a filth bike track in 1926 and now plays horde to World Superbikes racing , and the World Touring Car Championship , to name a few outcome . They put up an Indy circuit that ’s 1.198 miles ( 1.927 km ) long , and a Grand Prix circuit that ’s 2.3 miles ( 3.7 kilometers ) long .
Le Mans , Le Mans , France : This storied track plays server to the 24 - hour Le Mans endurance wash and has been a racing locus since 1906 . truck take to a smaller section of the 8.3 - international mile ( 13.4 - kilometer ) class .
In addition to those lean above , there ’s also theTT Circuit Assenin the Netherlands , theJaramarace circuit in Barcelona , Spain , Misano World Circuitin Italy , Circuit Zolderin Belgium and several other track in England as well as come forth tracks in Brazil , China , Australia and New Zealand .
So now you know where to go to keep an eye on super trucks compete , up next find out which motortruck producer you might see competing when you get there .
Super Truck Manufacturers
Truck racing is a truly external variation with venues and number one wood nationalities from around the globe , and the trucks themselves are a melting skunk of makers ' label as well .
In his metre on the cartroad , Stuart Oliver has ascertain many truck makers hit the pavement , ranging from Mercedes to Renault , with the German - based MAN AG leading the pack . British raceway truck driver Carl Brookfield say he sees similar machines in his backwash but added Ford , Foden , ERF , DAF , Volvo , Scania , SISU and Seddon Atkinson to the manufacturing business leaning .
In the United States the full-grown movers and United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing in the truck humankind are Freightliner and Peterbilt for the trilled stock , Detroit and CAT for the engine and Allison transmissions providing motivative force to the wheels .
The credit of the United States in the motortruck racing mix is because while super truck racing once made a launching in America , it at last failed ; however , it ’s still potential to see some super truck action in a few piazza here .
Super Trucks in the United States
Mike Ryan , astuntmanand race driver , had tackle most of the on - wheels challenges available in the United States . In 1997 he pick up the furious joy of racing bragging rig , and at no less of a position than the famed Colorado Pikes Peak International Hill Climb . " This is a savage beast and citizenry dig seeing it , " said the 52 - twelvemonth - one-time California indigen , who also run a racing andrace safetyproducts business . " People just do n’t know when , or if , the truck is conk to tip over or go flying into a ditch . "
The 2009 season will mark the 87th climbing time of year at Pikes Peak . Several hundred racers , as well as thousand of spectators , will take to the course to watch driver pilot their machines up several thousand vertical feet of switchbacks , hairpin turns and straights that give new import to " strike the wall , " before strain the finish at more than 13,000 feet ( 3,962 meters ) above sea tier .
Ryan has taken 10 wins and set six records at the annual competition . He presently drive a hand - built , black Freightliner Cascadia powered by a 1,600 H.P. Detroit Series 60 married to a 5 - pep pill ZFautomatic transmission . His other hand truck is a Mercedes Benz OMLA 501 R V6 , 12 - litre from the Mercedes European Super Truck Team . The transmission , an Ecomat 5 - fastness sequential , was especially modified for European racing . " I think I ’m the only guy ( in the United States ) with two of these hand truck racing transmissions , " Ryan articulate .
While James Jerome Hill go up for the trucks is kick downstairs to a manifestation sport because of deficiency of competitors , it still draws a huge bunch . And the very affair that draws the crowd , the Brobdingnagian size of it and the implausibility of taking a gravid fishing rig up a big mountain , is what give Ryan the advantage . " This truck handle like a pipe dream , " he said . " I can see far up the road than any of the other drivers … I’ve got the ripe ass in the firm . "
Super Truck Drivers: Driving the Fast Rigs
Many people see racing as just going around in circles – fast . sound easy , proper ? This is far from the the true . Drivers are take in to racing by the challenge offered , both mental and physical , and to see if they have what it takes to take the chequer flag .
Truck racing drivers are no unlike from Formula One or NASCAR drivers – they ’re out there to prove themselves , truck driver just use a heavy machine to do so . Indeed , driving those car was once characterize by a guest driver at a British truck sports meeting as " driving an apartment block from the 6th base . " And fit in to the composition on the BTRA Web site , the Edgar Albert Guest driver was hooked after his first trial , and that come-on is a vulgar theme among the drivers .
Stuart Oliver said he recruit hand truck hie to mix job with joy . He was in the road transport industry and want a chance to stretch his wooden leg , so to speak , and that reaching has lasted 11 class . " Still to this day I ascertain it demanding , exciting , and challenging , " Oliver said , adding belt along the motortruck ask the same mental and strong-arm skills as drive a race cable car .
Carl Brookfield put down racing , he say , when his encephalon tell him he could do better than some of the guys on the caterpillar track . He was also a openhanded equipage number one wood who , like Oliver , want to mix business organisation with joy . Brookfield was capable to obtain an engine presenter , locate a ruler Quran and pop progress a motortruck from what he ascertain in the pits at one of the races . " We were foolish , " he say . " It may be just truck racing but all racing is a science . Now we keep changing bits , then go back to the track to test it out . This is n’t material you could buy over the counter a lot of the time so we contrive and test to the best of our budget . It ’s a lot of fun . "
And just as of import as equipment is the will to win . " Well , that and speed and track place , " Brookfield added .
The STRANA Story
Mike Ryan ’s interest in the mound climb , as well as the allure of super hand truck racing , lead him to attend some of the with child races in Europe . " It was an incredible affair , it was outselling the Formula One , " Ryan said of the crowds look the tops hand truck race .
He said most hoi polloi here and in Europe could pertain to the truck , they saw them every day , while the Formula One railroad car were more like spaceships . That familiar temptingness , conflate with the foreign thought of a dissolute truck appealed to most people . " I mean , I go to Pikes Peak ( with my team and motortruck ) and it ’s like I have star power . I intend I ’m a fat 52 - year - old guy driving a motortruck – that ’s not headliner powerfulness , but that ’s the king of the truck , " he said .
In 2001 , the power of the truck rush estimate in the United States grow and he became involved with the emerging Super Truck Racing Association of North America , or STRANA . STRANA organizers brought together Class 8 trucks – big fishing tackle without trailer – and competed in races as the Tonka Super Truck Celebrity Challenge . The races fell under the American Le Mans Series endorsement , rather like European wash trucks devolve under the FIA . raceway were held at Road America in Elkhart Lake , Wis. , and Road Atlanta in Ga. Demonstration race were also held at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville , Ontario Canada and at Laguna Seca in Salinas , Calif.
He added , the fun may have had staying power if itstarted like NASCAR , from drivers with little money and heavy ambition – grow the mutant in a raw way like they did in Europe and Britain . " But it was just too much too fast , " Ryan said .
United States Super Truck Racing
Will super trucks roar in the U.S. again ? Yes , the potentiality is there to rise the sportswoman . Carl Brookfield say America was a adult nut to collapse ; even famous European singers have a hard time make believe it to crack stardom here in the States . And just try doing it by send 20 trucks from Europe to the United States to compete in a series that very few Americans are even aware of .
" It ’s difficult , " Brookfield say . " But some of the hand truck racing car go to China and drive in local events , they just use local trucks , and that may be an selection . But the two - week shipping clock time for a truck to get to the United States would leave a big gob in the racing calendar . "
Stuart Oliver is in agreement with Ryan in that the mutant would be potential , and profitable , if grow right . " It ’s just a showcase of advance circuit track rush to the U.S. road transport industry , " Oliver say . " Truck racing could be used in the U.S. the same as in Europe – as an excellent brand and product photo platform for the U.S. hand truck manufacturing industry . "
For Ryan , who ride in many of the STRANA demos and airstream , this would be a modification he could definitely live with . " It ’s just a lot of play , " he allege .
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