British Truck Racing – Pembrey May 2015

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Brutal British Truck Racing

Round two a smashing weekend at Pembrey Circuit

I arrive at Pembrey circuit, just after the days test session  the sun is still out and its oh so peaceful as I cycle around the track. As Im heading into Hatchets, I smile and think how many crashes will happen here in the next few days?
The answer is better explained by saying every truck had damage, some will need a little TLC and others, new doors, cab and side panels, the racing was epic its the best I have seen the race trucks perform at Pembrey. The top four in class A are so close together in terms of power and driver ability the resulting lap times are within a second often half a second, the crowd was clearly captivated and it grew and grew all weekend until on Sunday BARC announced it was officially the largest ever attended event at the circuit!

Jenkins is leading class A, with Mat Summerfield firmly in second place and narrowing the gap between him and Dave.  B class is led by Steve Powell with 2nd pace held by Luke Garrett who’s getting better and faster!
We are off to Thruxton in 3 weeks, the fastest of all the uk circuits the trucks race at. can’t wait for my church visit 🙂

Favourite Photo of the weekend,  Mat Summerfield on two wheels as he and Stuart Oliver collide.

BTRA Brands Hatch April 2015

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2 EX Jochen Hahn FIA Race Trucks Now in The BTRA

The closed season of the BTRA was full of the usual rumors about who has what new race truck and who will be driving it. By the time of the first event at Brands Hatch many people already knew, I knew that Ryan Smith had one of the Ex Fia trucks as Id put together a sponsorship proposal for his team and I knew that Dave Jenkins had bought the other Hahn truck, along with the A spec race engine package.

Sadly Chris Levett has decided not to race in 2015, the speedy Renault is now in the hands of Stuart Oliver who’s given the truck a make over badging it as a Volvo. The new owner had a mixed weekend or racing and crashing finishing in 3rd place.

Triple Champion Mat Summerfield was in what looked exactly like his old truck, however its undergone some heavy modifications to its air intake system, suspension and electrical systems.

The two Ex Hahn truck were as expected quickest, but it was Ryan Smith who was the faster of the two, with his truck appearing to handle somewhat better than the MAN in black’s. The usual attempt to get three race trucks around paddock hill bend was tried and this time Smith ended up in the gravel, fortunately with out major damage.  The gravel on paddock hill was to be the place for many damaged trucks over the weekend Stuart Oliver, Ryan Colson, Ryan Smith and a huge crash that saw Andy Lovenbury’s Sisu (Boris) actually fly! Obviously that didn’t end well, and now most of the front end is no longer attached.

B Class was dominated by Steve Powell, who won sprit of the track as well as all of his classes races. New comer Jo Eason had a great weekend gaining the same points as her husband Wayne Eason. The truck that everyone was most pleased to see was Ross Garrett’s being driven by his son Luke, the family had obviously spent considerable time and effort lovingly rebuilding Ross’s racer to an exceptional standard not only does it look immaculate it was one of the fastest in its class. I’m sure we will see Luke winning races very soon.

Mat Summerfield’s weekend panned out well, even after the penalties that other drivers received were miraculously rescinded when they behaved well in the next race. The triple championship winning truck and driver were in joint 2nd place, right up there with the fia trucks!

My Favourite photo of the weekend, Steve Thomas in his newly painted MAN – the hue of the yellow is amazing! It almost glows.

 

BTRA round 3 Thruxton

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Thruxton is one of my favorite tracks to work on, the BARC are now used to me and as they  know that I work for British Truck Racing they allow me special privilege on track
when the race trucks are out. This not just results in some outstanding images, it means I get to go to Church. That of course is the name of a corner on the circuit , so called as there
is actually a church a few hundred meters away. A quick 3/4 lap of the circuit in the course car gets me to the post and I have a chat with the marshalls about whos driving the worst.
I get my camera setup with a 70mm lens and tuck myself down low next to the track as the trucks come round for the first race lap.

I get a few of the shots I need and then a truck cuts in on the corner right where I am, much to the marshalls amusement I run !  I’m a big chap and its very rare that I run
the marshalls are laughing as apparently i’m using  only  letter words.  Brilliant,  Ill do the same again next year !

The racing as usual is tough on the trucks – its a flat out track, hard on tyres, brakes and above all hard on the mechanics that service and repair the damage.
Mat Summerfield takes a big hit in the side from  Stuart Oliver so a busy saturday night for both teams, my evening is spent with a great friend who after 3 years finally comes to watch the racing
and it turns out she knows a few of the regular supporters. Sunday the MKR has its first mechanical failure, fortunately it was on a part of the circuit that has a huge run off as the steering failed
no other trucks involved, no one hurt.  Best photos of the weekend  one of mat and a brilliant one of steve rothery the background is the crowd and the truck is billowing a huge flame !

British Truck Racing at Pembrey Circuit Wales.

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Round two of the British Truck Racing

pembrey-truckracing

Sees the btra teams at Pembrey Circuit Wales and there is  warm sunny weather  what a great place to be !
Some of the teams arrived early and took advantage of the practice sessions on the Friday, with Stuart Oliver being at the track most of the
week to make a promotional video. Whilst making the film, he was able to get in a lot of solo practice and set up his truck for the race meeting.
Although with all that practice, his driving standard left much to be desired.

The MAN in front was Steve Thomas, his driving was outstanding he collected 3 race wins and two fourth place finishes, scoring equal 44 point along with Chris Levett.
Mat Summerfield and David Jenkins both had a difficult weekend, although Summerfield collected enough points not to drop lower than 2nd place on the championship.

Division two, was just as exciting to watch the fight and want to win is just as strong as division 1. Graham Powell (Renault-Mack) –  had a brilliant weekend taking maximum points (50) with a clean sweep of five wins.
Clearly he has spent a lot of time rebuilding his truck after brands hatch with outstanding results! Ryan Smith in his sisu and Steve Powell (Foden) were shaking up the points table. But it was Simon Reid (Iveco) – on the podium in four of the five races, who left Pembrey leading the Division 2 series.

 

I cant wait for Thruxton next month!

British Truck Racing @ Brands Hatch

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Mat Summerfield A fantastic season opening weekend of British Truck Racing at Brands Hatch sees Summerfield Truck Sport, pick up 3 wins a second and third place.
After the points are totted up the team also takes the annual Sprit of the track award in memory of Roger Brookfield.
The racing was the best I’ve seen for years, easily as good as the FIA European Truck Racing.

The new season sees an addition to the MSA rules  where a driver “will be judged to have left the track if any wheel of the vehicle either goes beyond the outer edge of any kerb or goes beyond the white line where there is no kerb” this proved to be something of a problem to The MAN in black as he was penalised in every race for exceeding the track limits. Chris Levit makes a return to the series, in his quick MKR Renault, its a great looking truck! Chris who had been pre season testing in Spain, drove well at Brands Hatch picking up just one point less that Mat Summerfield.  The racing this season is going to be very close!