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Safety in Truck Racing

Safety in Truck Racing

24. November 2007This year’s season is not closed yet, after all the FIA has not reached a decision up till now, who will eventually become European Champion 2007, but nevertheless the truck racing community – especially the technicians – focus already on 2008. There will not be any major changes, but all the same, because of the wider choice of engines there will be various possibilities for certain trucks. Many things are explicitly determined in the regulations and thus are checkable. But other things continue to be in the grey area, and one of them – aside from the exasperating matter in regard of the black smoke – are the safety requirements. And this affects mostly the older vehicles and, unfortunately, as a rule those teams who are financially a bit weaker.
With horror we cast our mind back to Manolo Gozalo’s accident two years ago, when the Spaniard’s truck rolled over several times in the first Qualy race in Jarama. The so-called roll cage was severely damaged with only some broken rods sticking out. And as to the driver’s cab – there was not much left. Miraculously Gozalo got off with only some fractures and sprains. Afterwards some insider – who knew the Phoenix MAN inside out – told that for some years already the truck did not meet the latest safety requirements, but, actually, nobody really cared about that matter, and there would be very rarely any alterations made to those older trucks, and the technical monitoring would be over before you could say Jack Robinson – and so everything would remain the same as in the year before. But obviously the facts were ignored that, apart from technical changes, there are some more fundamental things in a race truck that should be worth paying attention to. The tests should not be confined to the questions whether the emergency stop switch works properly and if the tow hook is in exactly the position it belongs to.
As spectacular as Gozalo’s accident was also the one Antonio Portela met with this year; also in Jarama and the truck was a former Phoenix MAN, too. The Portuguese had his race truck completely rebuilt only this winter break, switching from a Conventional to a Cab Over. With its former equipment the Phoenix had not been admitted to the race anymore. The complete reconstruction of the driver’s cab and the stricter acceptance tests most probably saved Portela from severe injuries, because he got off rather lightly. But a lot of older trucks registered for the races still have the equipment of bygone times. Those pilots enter the races solely true to the Olympic motto: Taking part is everything, even if you are far behind the field. Even if at these vehicles there aren’t any changes made, in regard to those things that should be checked, the roll cages become obsolete. Such a truck is a veritable safety risk for its pilot. But the technical stewards are by now sensitised enough to direct their attention especially to the roll cages. Because it’s the intention of everybody involved that truck racing should maintain its image of being the safest motor sports series.