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Millington viewpoint
Page 68
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Whatever your views on truck racing, it's here to stay and the transport industry must learn to live with it, reports Jack Semple
THE M1 southbound was blocked solid when part of an estimated 80,000 crowd tried to get off the motorway to attend the Donington Truck Grand Prix, It was a massive turnout, on Sunday. September 30, clearly far more than the police had bargained for, despite warnings from the organisers. But was it a huge success? Opinions of those who were there varied from unreserved enthusiasm to wariness about where it was going to lead.
The event itself should have been much better for spectators, but Donington simply couldn't cope. Thousands of people who waited two hours just to get there from the motorway five miles away could hardly get near enough to the track to see anything, and I heard several say they would never be back.
But there seems little doubt that truck racing standard tractive units racing round a track at up to 90mph is here to stay, whether or not we want it, and here support is qualified. First the positive points. It provided a good day out the weather was fine for a very large number of people. Most of the people there seemed to be drivers, or motorsport enthusiasts, with quite a few "bikers". There were a lot of families, and children.
Trucks will get a lot of publicity from the event, with film to be shown on television later this year. Most people in the industry at Donington believe it will show them in a good light.
Michelin's Chris Rogers said
of the lorries: "People will be able to laugh at them, be entertained by them."
"Instead of shaking their fist, people will give them a friendly toot as they go down the motorway. They're the lifeblood of Britain," said Barry Lee, four times Hot Rod champion, who was driving a Mitchell Cotts Mercedes.
He couldn't believe how easy they were to drive and he's raced JCBs and tanks. Neither could rally driver Andy Dawson, who was driving sideways on reverse lock after rain on the Saturday practice session. "They're so safe," he added.
And they were quiet too. Donington regulars who are half deafened by cars and motorbikes each weekend couldn't hear the trucks at all!
Many of the competition trucks were parked out in the entrance area for the public to look at. And they were very obviously almost all in regular service, like the garish pink MAN run by Independent Express on trunking duty, or Barry Lee's Mercedes which left on Monday towing the Goodyear trailer to the European Grand Prix. Several makers said they had learned a bit about brakes and tyres, because the racing had speeded up the testing process.
It was great fun also for the people in the industry the manufacturers, the fitters who worked on the lorries, and the drivers, including several owner-drivers. And the Bataille Roadrunner stunt, as in the TV advertisement, went down well.
But: if it had rained, the Grand Prix would have been a disaster. It would probably have had to be cancelled and at one point heavy rain was forecast for the middle of the day. A failure to cancel could have resulted in something far worse. The amount of rubber on the track would have made it like a skating rink.
Not everyone is convinced that the public will take to the spectacle with the same enthusiasm as people who already like trucks. And there are fears that the grand prix razzmatazz will encourage the boy racer element in the industry.
Tony Royer, chief instructor with local hgv driving school J Coates, had mixed feelings: "It creates an interest. But it is far removed from truck driving on roads and perhaps gives young people the wrong idea. I don't like to see trucks being illtreated," he added.
It's not really much like driving a lorry through London, he agreed, even if you do have to anticipate what's happening ahead of you.
There are now six grands prix planned on an annual basis in
Europe it seems certain that the British event will run again. More are likely to follow influential observers from Sweden came over and were convinced "We must have one in Sweden," several told me.
What that leaves you with is a European circus. The more formal it becomes, the more competitive it will be. Leyland, which shocked Renault when it won in France last summer, appeared to have the grand prix ball firmly in their hands and to be running with it as hard as they could. With the new Roadrunner 7.5-tonner much in evidence, they played the role of the major host manufacturer very well indeed. And perhaps they may hope for some spinoff in a way they never really achieved from sponsorship of Alan Jones Williams Formula One car.
But other makers are already showing signs of baulking at the potential cost, and are not fully convinced that the idea of truck racing is something they want to back heavily. One thing seems likely. The event at the end of last month was probably the most fun, because some of the novelty and enthusiastic innocence will be replaced by stronger competitiveness and commercialism in future.
Whether one thinks the spectacle at Donington is good for the industry and those who work in it is a matter for perso nal opinion. But no one doubts that it will have an effect. Planners and organisers should keep that at the front of their minds.