Countdown to the 2016 season: Truck Sport Bernau
14. February 2016Truck Sport Lutz Bernau, the southernmost-situated of the German truck race teams, is also the oldest. The region around the Ammersee, the paradisiacal proglacial Lake Ammer west-southwest of Munich, is a classic vacation destination. But vacationing is furthest from the minds of everybody at Bernau right now -every year at this time the team is fully focused on preparations for the upcoming season, and this year is no different.
Lutz Bernau drove his first circuit truck race in the mid-1980s, having earlier pursued his passion for racing in rallies like the Paris–Dakar. But it was only at the start of the 1990s that Bernau became a fairly regular participant in circuit races, first in France. A couple of years later he competed in his first full European season, going on from there to win the driver’s championship twice and come runner-up thrice. The string of successes continued even after he handed his cockpit over to Antonio Albacete, the two together winning three championships and finishing second five times.
But unlike many of his peer group, Lutz Bernau has – season after season – proved paddock predictions of his wanting to retire of truck race fatigue hopelessly unfounded. The fact is, the same thing holds for the man from Bavaria as for most others in the sport — once you’re infected with the truck racing virus it’s nigh impossible to rid yourself of it!
It’s no wonder, then, that the Bernau workshops in Utting are a beehive of activity from early morning till late evening. The team proudly shows off their computer-controlled plasma cutting machine, which they use to fashion many of the parts needed for the construction of the race truck from thick steel plate in seconds and with sub-millimetre accuracy. Not only does this save massively on time compared to manual cutting; the outcome too is far more precise.
For the new season there’s no change as concerns the driver - the cockpit stays reserved for the grande dame of truck racing Ellen Lohr. In addition, a second MAN race truck is being built for another team.
Impressions:
