Thursday, 28.03.2024 | Deutsch | English
Friday in Smolensk

Friday in Smolensk

06. August 2010Smolensk - This time everything is not only new, but also completely different. Our plan was to report regularly on the journey to Smolensk, but the last time we were able to gain internet access via mobile phone was in the north-eastern part of Poland. Neither from Lithuania nor Latvia nor Russia was it possible to transmit data. On Tuesday morning the teams continued their journey to Smolensk. At first the roads in Lithuania, which prides itself on having the best motorway conditions in the Baltic States, were in a rather good state, but later there were a lot of road construction works on the E 262 for more than 50 km. This part of the road could rival any truck trial track. And the closer we came to the Latvian/Russian border, the more hazardous became the road conditions. In one of the trucks the carriage with the current generator came loose and heavily damaged a side panel. On some other trucks the side flaps and the doors of the cabinets in the trailers swung open, hurtling a lot of objects through the air.
By Tuesday evening at about 9:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. CET) the convoy had finally reached Terehova situated on the border to Russia. The queue of trucks stretched out over approx. 5 kilometres. But all vehicles belonging to the „Truck Battle Russia – Smolensk 2010“ convoy were allowed to pass by and to gather in a closed off area directly at the border, where the teams were received by TRO chairman Fabien Calvet who gave a last-minute briefing concerning the border crossing. All documents were completed hastily and then everybody hurried to line up at the first barrier. What the members of the truck racing convoy went through during the following hours was enough to fill a book. On the Russian side of the border, Mike Konovalov was at hand to help the teams – mainly with the customs formalities. And then there was Fadi Abu Habib, a cameraman with Kamiono TV, who not only has Arabic but also Belarusian roots and thus had no problems at all to communicate with the customs officers. All the teams were happy that he was around to act as “interpreter”. But most of the time was spent waiting. We ourselves, together with the Kamiono TV crew, managed to clear the last hurdle by 6:00 a.m. Russian time (4:00 a.m. CET). But it was not before 11:00 a.m. local time that the very last truck of the convoy crossed the border. Then the convoy – by then consisting of more than 30 vehicles – reassembled at a big petrol station about 4 km behind the border.
Now the teams – escorted by police – set off for the 450 km journey to the Smolenskring. And again there were road sections exactly as bumpy as the ones before. However, now everybody had to adapt to the speed of the police vehicle heading the convoy. Even a severe tyre blowout on a RaceTruck transporter could not stop the convoy for long. Rarely have so many mechanics from the most diverse teams been available for a change of tyres.
Eventually, around 10:00 p.m., the convoy arrived at the Smolenskring, where the construction works were still in full swing. That was rather surprising because, according to the latest information, the homologation of the circuit had already taken place.

Apart from that, the top priority was to catch up on some sleep, because hardly anybody had slept a wink for almost 40 hours. On Thursday morning, around 6 o’clock, people were jolted awake by a rather unusual “alarm clock”: the construction crew resumed their work in the paddock and on the circuit, using heavy-weight construction equipment. In the short time that was left most of the crash barriers were erected, gravel beds and safety zones were filled, the starting lights and the time measuring device were installed, the asphalt surface in the paddock was completed, and the sanitary facilities were taken into operation – if only provisionally.
A total of 12 RaceTrucks are registered. And there will be a special treat for the Russian fans – Mike Konovalov is going to drive the second Buggyra Freightliner. The first tests were scheduled for today at 12:00 noon, which was exactly the time when the last of the construction workers left the track. But at 12:23 Markus Bösiger in his MKR Renault was the first one to “break in” the new tarmac. The pilots’ first impression: a narrow, challenging track causing an increased risk of wear and tear in the materials. Short full-throttle sections followed directly by sharp bends which force the pilots to slam on the brakes. And these actions have to be carried out meticulously, because if the truck spins off the track, this means an early retirement for the pilot, as he has hardly a chance to rejoin the track by himself. On the narrow, almost “contorted“ circuit there are no escape routes. This means that it would not be possible to immediately tow away a truck stranded in a dangerous spot. Consequently, the one or other race stoppage would not really surprise anybody.