And once again Smolensk

31. December 20102010 was a very eventful truck racing year, especially the second half of the season. That’s why – compared to the first half of the year – twice as many news reports can be found on our WebPortal „truckracing.de / truckrace.info“ in the second half. And in many cases it was about the event „Truck Battle Russia-Smolensk 2010“, the first ever FIA circuit race being held in Russia. And even now – almost half a year later – we still receive email requests and comments concerning the Smolensk event, many of them offering criticism and expressing astonishment.
After all, back then many a long-serving truck racer had also been astonished about the – in some ways – rather unusual attendant circumstances. Annoyed and stressed out, particularly after the long and difficult journey and the tedious border controls at the checkpoint Terehova/Zasitino – where they had had to wait between eight and eleven hours – they were taking an overly critical view at the round in Smolensk.
But during their return journey one week later, when the same border controls in the opposite direction took only a fraction of the time, even the harshest critics calmed down, because somehow it really made them proud that the first official FIA race in Russia had been a round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship.
But yet a lot of questions – which are posed by the visitors of this WebPortal, too – remain unanswered. For instance, there aren’t any official statements up to today with regard to the question by whom and at what date the circuit had been homologated. In the run-up to the event it had been said that such a homologation would have to be carried out by an independent commission 90 days prior to the race, and the panel would consist of at least one representative of one of the other approved FIA circuits and, of course, employees of the company in charge of the project planning and construction works. At least it is known that none of the architects of the German company Tilke in Aix-la-Chapelle – the engineers-office in charge – was on site for the homologation. And at that time many truck racers had uttered: “They expect us to put up with this; they would never have put Formula One through that ordeal”.
But that was at a time the motorsports enthusiasts around the world didn’t know yet what would be in store for the Formula One pilots at the circuit in South Korea two months later. Compared to that the Smolensk event was a piece of cake. And that at the FIA Gala in Monaco some days ago this very Formula One round was awarded with the title “best motorsports event of the season” leads to the assumption that the FIA persons in charge meanwhile set quite different priorities, so that the homologation of the Smolenskring is no longer even of marginal interest to them.
But why were the truck racers drawn to Russia?
For years on end the companies setting the tone in the FIA ETRC, i.e. Mercedes Benz, MAN and Renault, had been claiming that the future lay in the east and that a round of the ETRC should take place in Russia. But then Mercedes, one of the strongest advocates of this thesis, withdrew from truck racing. In 2008, which was a year of crisis worldwide, the Russian automotive market – and particularly the commercial vehicle sector – almost collapsed. And Russia seemed to become even less attractive for foreign manufacturers when in 2009 the import duties for motor vehicles were increased significantly in order to protect the domestic industry. And at first this measure taken by the Russian government seemed to be successful in a way.
True, in general the sale of trucks in Russia decreased by about 60 percent (in 2008: 121,000 – in 2009: 48,000), but while for instance Kamas, by far the largest truck producer in Russia, reported a drop of “only” 48 percent, the foreign manufacturers most strongly represented on the Russian market – Volvo, MAN and Scania – were hit especially hard with a decrease of more than 75 percent. The percentage of foreign manufacturers on the total market had plummeted from 41.7 % (2008) to 28.7 % (2009).
But in the first quarter of 2010, the sale of non-Russian truck brands had grown by 41 %, and in the heavy-duty truck sector (more than 16 tons) even by 87 %.
And in September Prime Minister Putin announced that he would further increase the import duties for motor vehicles step by step in order to induce foreign companies to extend their productions in Russia in the future.
But these companies were already well-prepared to do so. Since mid- 2009 Volvo Trucks in Kaluga not only produces their own brand but also Renault trucks. Moreover, Renault Trucks plans to manufacture medium sized Renault trucks in the factory Amur in Yekaterinburg. Back in April Scania put their Russian assembly plant into operation, and Mercedes Benz Trucks as well as their subsidiary Fuso formed a joint venture with the Russian marked leader Kamas, but the Daimler concern already holds a share of 11 percent in that company, anyway.
And this is profitable for the companies, because the import duties on complete vehicles are four times as high as on automobile components which are later assembled on site. That’s why western manufactures are now again much more interested in the Russian market. And, seen from this angle, this puts a different complexion on the involvement of MAN and Renault Trucks at the Smolenskring – and explains also their large interest in a round of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship taking place in Russia.
And finally let’s get to the frequently posed question as to why the circuit is named after Smolensk, although the city is far apart from the track.
And indeed, the pilots, team members, journalists and officials who did not stay in the paddock but spent the nights in a hotel in Smolensk, had to travel 102 km by bus – and that was only the outward journey. Smolensk, with a population of some 320,000, is not only the biggest and best known city in that region, having a history of more than 1200 years, but it is also name giver of the administrative division Oblast Smolensk – comparable to a government district in Germany. With an area of around 50,000 sq km Oblast Smolensk is almost twice as big as both German federal states North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate combined, but has a population of less than a million – in comparison with a population figure of 22 million in the two above-mentioned federal states. In a country as large as Russia the idea about what’s long distance is quite different.
And what’s more, the town in close vicinity of the circuit, where we bought groceries in the shops and on the market place and whose people had welcomed us with great effusion, is called Veskhnedneprovskiy – which is probably not really a great name for a race track with ambitions to establish itself internationally.