Motorsport Trucking to Portimao Portugal

Sgt Bilco · Sep 26, 2021

You'l note on a couple of pics the burnt grass and they have had a few big fires down here this summer as it's been so hot.

Temp is in the mid 20's as we pull into an empty circuit. We are a day early so again we check into the race circuit hotel, and chill out.

Sgt Bilco · Sep 26, 2021

The hotel on the circuit is cracking and a great view over the circuit. We will be here for just over a week which can't be bad

Time to relax with a couple of cold ones and wait for the rest of the Pirelli guys to roll in tomorrow.

Tough gig this and is that a pool down there??...............

Doc · Sep 26, 2021

Looks great.

Sgt Bilco · Sep 26, 2021

Monday 20th September

First things first and it's time to give the trucks a wash and brush up. Motorsport is all about image and even though a couple of the trailers and one of the trucks are past there best you have to try. All we have here is a tap so it's out with a hose and brush to hand wash 3 artics in 30c heat.

They are wrapped in a matt black carbon effect livery which I'm not a fan off but comes up OK.

The DAF is new so is virtually spotless and Harry's Scania comes up lovely. Not bad for a 6 year old truck but it hasn't done a lot of hard graft over the years. The old Scania is what it is and you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Sgt Bilco · Sep 26, 2021

The Pirelli guys all turn up so it's time to unload and set the garage up. The trailers are loaded with all the tyres, dry and wets, and all the paraphanalia for a weekends racing from tyres machines to the coffee.

oblertone · Sep 26, 2021

Two things; I can't believe the tyres were loaded on to the floor, why not on moveable racking ? Secondly, where are the pictures of the three tractor units on the circuit :nenau

Sgt Bilco · Sep 26, 2021

oblertone said:
Two things; I can't believe the tyres were loaded on to the floor, why not on moveable racking ? Secondly, where are the pictures of the three tractor units on the circuit

You need all available space and you would lose internal height with a moveable floor. For European work, you have a max height of 4 meters so you need all teh volume you can get. The tyres aren't particularly tough so dragging them on a moveable floor woul cause all sorts of damage.

I'd love to get the truck on the track but they won't let me

Sgt Bilco · Sep 26, 2021

It might be interesting to a few of you to see the view from the drivers seat.

The steering wheel has the usual functions of volume, phone answering and cruise functions including the intelligent cruise features to keep the distance the same to the vehicle in front.

Left stalk is the indicator and wipers and the right is the engine brake and gearbox modes. The gearbox has 3 modes with auto ECO, auto ECO off and manual. For normal driving you stay in eco mode for economy but when pulling away heavy or smaller roads or hill/mountains you may want to turn the ECO mode off as the engine will rev more between changes and give you more momentum. Manual is useful for lots of conditions and I like to use it just bore a hill where you can drop down a gear or two to get the revs up so when you start climbing the truck is in the torque band early. As soon as you are climbing and pulling hard I put her back into non ECO and the electronics do the rest.

The engine break has 3 modes with 1 being very gently slowing to 3 where you can get to a stop without touching the foot brake. Ideally, you use all 3 settings instead of the footbrake to keep you moving faster and more economically. You'll often hear a different engine note when a truck is slowing and this is the engine brake working.

Not all trucks have the 3 gearbox modes and are set in ECO and boy oh boy are they slow!!

The other pic is the rest of the cab with the usual array of for hill hold, hand brake, gear selector, diff lock, lights, air con, sat nav radio etc etc.

I've also attached a couple of pics of what I cab see from the drivers seat.

snelly · Sep 26, 2021

Sgt Bilco said:
It might be interesting to a few of you to see the view from the drivers seat.

The steering wheel has the usual functions of volume, phone answering and cruise functions including the intelligent cruise features to keep the distance the same to the vehicle in front.

Left stalk is the indicator and wipers and the right is the engine brake and gearbox modes. The gearbox has 3 modes with auto ECO, auto ECO off and manual. For normal driving you stay in eco mode for economy but when pulling away heavy or smaller roads or hill/mountains you may want to turn the ECO mode off as the engine will rev more between changes and give you more momentum. Manual is useful for lots of conditions and I like to use it just bore a hill where you can drop down a gear or two to get the revs up so when you start climbing the truck is in the torque band early. As soon as you are climbing and pulling hard I put her back into non ECO and the electronics do the rest.

The engine break has 3 modes with 1 being very gently slowing to 3 where you can get to a stop without touching the foot brake. Ideally, you use all 3 settings instead of the footbrake to keep you moving faster and more economically. You'll often hear a different engine note when a truck is slowing and this is the engine brake working.

Not all trucks have the 3 gearbox modes and are set in ECO and boy oh boy are they slow!!

The other pic is the rest of the cab with the usual array of for hill hold, hand brake, gear selector, diff lock, lights, air con, sat nav radio etc etc.

I've also attached a couple of pics of what I cab see from the drivers seat.

For folk that have never even sat in a rig like this the photos are great; it's hard to show just how much space and comfort you have for a days work; i tend to use mine in just drive most of the time and leave the Eco alone unless i'am on an empty night run or something like that and i have to say; i'am not getting the 12s to the gallon; your good sgt; tell em about the bunk and the fridge also

. I flit between the electric mirrors on the Actros and the standard mirrors on the Daf; and for me the standards just shade it because of the perspective you see; i may change my mind in winter when i have to hang my arm out of the window to give em a scrape;

; as for the platooning ; there are times when i'am just rolling and my speed starts to decrease gently without relising for a short while; easily remedied with a lead foot tho. Just a quick one; was'nt there restrictions on heavies in Northern Europe running at the weekend; or has everthing changed again?
Great thread by the way; :beerjug:

Doc · Sep 27, 2021

Inside of that wagon looks better than some cars.

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

Doc said:
Inside of that wagon looks better than some cars.

Very comfy, roomy, smooth and quiet :okay

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

After set up, it was straight into tyre fitting. Now I've never really done this so it was a steep learning curve. Pirelli had 4 guys there and with us 3 drivers we made up a good old team. There is a really art to this and I got the job of blowing up the tyre until the bead secured then handing it on.

Pirelli supply the tyres to all McLarens and this weekend has all models there. There are GT4, GT3 and customers own cars so a real selection.

The days consist of a mixture of free practice, qualifying at the end of the day a race.

Each of the GT4 and GT£ have to have 3 sets of slicks and there are 24 cars so first job is to get the wheels in, strip the old tyres off and put new ones on.

30c heat and 5 hours of none stop fitting later we got it all sorted. Back to the hotel and a few cold scoops were in order :beer:

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

I'll not bore everyone with pictures of tyre fitting on a race day but it's all action one minute and then a period of tidying up and sorting. We kept a nice clean garage.

This gives time to have a mooch about and look at the cars in the garages. Having never really been into McLarens, it was great to have the run of the place, talk to the mechanics and se what they are all about.

Great spot for the pit garage as well.

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

These are 720 Senna's which are a full fat 720bhp and unrestricted beast. They have a real howl to them as the hammer down the straight and almost sound like a race car should as the standard ones are very mooted. They run at around £1.5 million and are basically toys for the mega wealthy.....and they are plenty here!!

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

I got the chance to squeeze myself into one which was an interesting experience. As a 6ft 16.5 stone lump it was quite a feat of body movement. The guys in the workshop ran a book as to how long it would take for me to get out and the term "it was fucking tight" sums it all up. Anyway, hell of a bit of kit.

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

Lots of McLarens on show and god knows the value of all this kit which is all trucked down. There were 10 trucks bringing cars down and another 6 full of all the other stuff needed make this all happen. The amount of money is staggering and a lot of it just seems wasteful but the great and the good need there brows mopped.

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

A few more gratuitous shots of expensive cars.

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

Sunday 26th September.

So after 5 days of work it's time for the last race late on Sunday. I have to some movies on the phone which I'll download when I get home.

The cars do 30 mins then change drivers so it's all go for the team. The red and white Mclaren belongs to the Crown Prince of Bahrain who owns 90% of McLaren and is a half decent driver.

landmarkjohn · Sep 28, 2021

Interesting report. Nice work if you can get it!

Sgt Bilco · Sep 28, 2021

landmarkjohn said:
Interesting report. Nice work if you can get it!

It's rare it's this good and I've already been booked for next year

Motorsport Trucking to Portimao Portugal

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