RaceTrucks at Essen Motor Show

03. December 2010Essen - At the annual gathering of the tuning and motorsport fans in Essen there were again several RaceTrucks presented this year (see also our preliminary report dated November 22, 2010). Jürgen Baumgärtel, representative of the truck racing sponsor Welte Group, had made the necessary arrangements at relatively short notice. At the elongated “Galeria” of the Essen trade fair ground the RaceTrucks were presented on a rotating basis together with other exhibitors – lined up side by side the trucks would certainly have looked even more impressive. But Mr. Baumgärtel stated that he was already working on a new presentation concept for 2011.
And moreover, for several teams it was difficult to squeeze these dates in as their schedules for the rest of the year were already rather tight. Particularly in case of Lutz Bernau and his TSB Team – but for several other teams, too – the trucks they would have liked to present were not available.
The team boss of the reigning European Champion, Antonio Albacete, would have liked to present the champion as well as the MAN RaceTruck he won the championship with, but both Albacete and his truck are still on their lengthy CEPSA PR tour in Spain. And the second Bernau truck Chris Levett had been driving until the final in Jarama has already been taken apart to a great extent in order to give it a complete overhaul before the start of the next season. That’s why in the end Bernau showcased one of the few still existing MAN SuperRaceTrucks, and his fans could also have a look at a truck racing maintenance vehicle.
For Jochen Hahn things were a bit easier; his current RaceTrucks are still in one piece – and what’s more, the Swabian owns also two almost identical looking “MAN in Black” which was fortunate because the team from Altensteig had to present one of them at a MAN PR event in Regensburg at the same time.
Right at the entrance to the „Galeria“ the Buggyra Freightliner David Vrsecky won the championship with the year before was on display – still with the current starting number 1 for the season 2010. The other Czech team, run by Mario Kress – the former long-time chief technician with Buggyra – presented two trucks and one maintenance vehicle in Essen. His MKR Renault Team also had to do a sort of “balancing act” to be able to attend the Essen Motor Show.
Right after the final round in Jarama they went on to the Renault World Series event in Barcelona where the two MKR Renault trucks as well as the two pilots Markus Bösiger and Markus Oestreich became the favourites of the 50,000 visitors and were even presented with “Popularity Awards”. After that they attended some more PR events for Renault Trucks. And even after the Essen Motor Show they will not yet go to the “winter camp” in order to prepare the trucks for the coming season; everywhere people still wait for an opportunity to have a look at the new Renault racers.
The back end of the long “Galeria” shone entirely in orange – that’s where the fifth truck racing team – Heinz-Werner Lenz, the “King of the Ring” – presented their two Mercedes RaceTrucks, the Axor truck and the Mercedes do Brasil. In addition the guys from Plaidt had also arranged a RaceTruck trailer in the hall, embellished with several stock cars – a motorsport series both father and son Lenz are involved in. As is well known, the core business of the Lenz family is recovering and towing away trucks, and due to the current weather and road conditions they were so fully immersed in work that no one could be spared for the motor show.
But the other teams had a busy schedule, too, this week. After all, towards the end of the year negotiations with sponsors in regard to the coming season always reach their height.
But at the final weekend of the motor show all the teams will be present at their respective stands, and afterwards the dismantling works will have to be done.