For those who take an interest in such things, I'm off to Monza in Italy this week for the European GT4 championship.
The mighty Mustangs are making a bit of a name for themselves in the European rounds and we are looking for some good results at the weekend. This comes off the back of a win at Donnington last weekend so the team is on a high.
I don't often stay for the whole race weekend but Monza is a place I've always wanted to go so I'm looking forward to having a good look around as well as helping the team out whilst I'm there. Also, getting back home from here and returning Sunday morning to get the truck is a bit of a nightmare so it's the easiest thing. Quite what they will get me doing is anyones business but stay tuned.
As I'm at Monza all weekend I can hopefully show you what happens during practice, set up etc etc
OK. here we go.
It's really a fairly easy 3 day run down to Monza so me and Harry set off at 2pm on Sunday with teh plan to get to Calais and be parked up at about 10pm. This would give us two long but easy days to Monza.
The big R730 V8 Scania's are all loaded, fuelled and ready to go. This in the one I'm driving this weekend and she's loaded to about 36 tonnes GVW.
Quite a good looking truck if you are into things like this.
First problem of the day is an airline has fractured on Harry's trailer so after a bit of a drama getting off the motorway, we called breakdown and sat there for 3 hours whilst the guy came out a fixed it. You can't move anywhere with no air pressure in the system and the parts which failed cost the princely sum of £24.00 plus vat!! The most annoying this is the trailer had just come from an inspection where a few brake chambers were changed and the brakes were checked thoroughly. It was one of those things which could fail at anytime and at least it wasn't have way down through France or pissing down with rain.
The trailers are very low and believe it or not, there is a mechanic under there muttering under his breath!
Job sorted and it was off only to find teh M40 at a virtual standstill. Where the feck are all these people going on a Sunday.
The M25 was horrible and just to pile on the misery, teh M20 was shut whilst the remove the blocks and cones from operation brock but don't get me started on that utter disaster zone.
Down the M2 and into Dover down the hill for a change.
We cleared customs at Motus in Dover which took the usual 30 minutes to get a stamp on the Carnet. It's quicker than the place we normally use at Sevington where some of you may remember from earlier trip reports it can take hours!!
Nowhere to park for the night as it was rammed so we headed to the port.
Got booked on the 23-45 ferry by Mr Happy who seemed pissed off that I'd interupted his netflix watching. At least the port was quiet so no waiting around to long.
Onto the ferry which can be an utter nightmare with these very low trailers as you can see. Harry's trailer barely clears the ramps and mine is the same. We have to raise teh air suspension and the trailer and alter the rear suspension on the truck to get the height right to avoid damage to the trailers which can cost an eye watering £300k plus.
The mighty Mustangs are making a bit of a name for themselves in the European rounds and we are looking for some good results at the weekend. This comes off the back of a win at Donnington last weekend so the team is on a high.
I don't often stay for the whole race weekend but Monza is a place I've always wanted to go so I'm looking forward to having a good look around as well as helping the team out whilst I'm there. Also, getting back home from here and returning Sunday morning to get the truck is a bit of a nightmare so it's the easiest thing. Quite what they will get me doing is anyones business but stay tuned.
As I'm at Monza all weekend I can hopefully show you what happens during practice, set up etc etc
OK. here we go.
It's really a fairly easy 3 day run down to Monza so me and Harry set off at 2pm on Sunday with teh plan to get to Calais and be parked up at about 10pm. This would give us two long but easy days to Monza.
The big R730 V8 Scania's are all loaded, fuelled and ready to go. This in the one I'm driving this weekend and she's loaded to about 36 tonnes GVW.
Quite a good looking truck if you are into things like this.
First problem of the day is an airline has fractured on Harry's trailer so after a bit of a drama getting off the motorway, we called breakdown and sat there for 3 hours whilst the guy came out a fixed it. You can't move anywhere with no air pressure in the system and the parts which failed cost the princely sum of £24.00 plus vat!! The most annoying this is the trailer had just come from an inspection where a few brake chambers were changed and the brakes were checked thoroughly. It was one of those things which could fail at anytime and at least it wasn't have way down through France or pissing down with rain.
The trailers are very low and believe it or not, there is a mechanic under there muttering under his breath!
Job sorted and it was off only to find teh M40 at a virtual standstill. Where the feck are all these people going on a Sunday.
The M25 was horrible and just to pile on the misery, teh M20 was shut whilst the remove the blocks and cones from operation brock but don't get me started on that utter disaster zone.
Down the M2 and into Dover down the hill for a change.
We cleared customs at Motus in Dover which took the usual 30 minutes to get a stamp on the Carnet. It's quicker than the place we normally use at Sevington where some of you may remember from earlier trip reports it can take hours!!
Nowhere to park for the night as it was rammed so we headed to the port.
Got booked on the 23-45 ferry by Mr Happy who seemed pissed off that I'd interupted his netflix watching. At least the port was quiet so no waiting around to long.
Onto the ferry which can be an utter nightmare with these very low trailers as you can see. Harry's trailer barely clears the ramps and mine is the same. We have to raise teh air suspension and the trailer and alter the rear suspension on the truck to get the height right to avoid damage to the trailers which can cost an eye watering £300k plus.
Last edited:
