The Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship is the largest and most impressive racing series in the world in which tractor units compete on the track. The third round of this unique European spectacle was organized for the first time at the Poznań track. Autos was a partner of the entire event and a partner of the Lion Truck Racing team during the race in Poland.
The entire race series attracts approximately 420,000 spectators from within and outside the industry every year. A large industry picnic is also organized on site for OEMs, fleet owners and drivers, and all other fans not normally associated with the trucking industry. This time it was similar, and since the weather in Poznań was good, there were plenty of crowds. 15 teams from different parts of the world came to the track: Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Spain. The races were visited by almost 10,000 fans and truck industry specialists. We also invited nearly 1,000 of our customers and employees to the track to experience the atmosphere of heavyweight racing and the smell of hot tires and asphalt!
The trucks racing on the track left behind amazing impressions and emotions, despite the legal speed limit of 160 km/h for safety reasons. The parameters of such a racing tractor unit are impressive - power 1200 HP, weight 5.3 tons, torque 6000 Nm, acceleration 60-160 km/h 4.5 s.
The regulations strictly define these parameters. However, racing trucks have a surprising amount in common with the normal tractor units we know from the roads, but there are also a lot of modifications. Here are some examples - the engines are set back in the frame, which makes for better weight distribution. The steering configuration is also completely different than in production trucks - here the front wheels work more like in a drift car than in a production truck when cornering. The brakes are also very important - at 160 kilometers per hour and over 5 tons of weight, they are used quite heavily, and it is worth noting that the brake discs are standard. Racing trucks are equipped with water spray cooling systems. If the temperature of the discs reaches a dangerous level, the driver can turn on the cooling system - about 200 liters of water can be used in the car. Another point of the regulations, which serves to level the playing field, is that all trucks run on identical tires, size 315/70 R22.5 152L, supplied by Goodyear. Regardless of road conditions, one type of universal tread is used, which must perform well on both dry and wet surfaces.
The racing weekend in the FIA ETRC is really intense: four races in two days, plus two qualifications and two Super Poles (additional laps to determine the winner of the qualifications). At the Poznań Track, each race consisted of 11 laps. The atmosphere both on the track and in the machine park was indescribable. Apart from fans from Poland, there were also many fans from abroad who followed their teams all over Europe. The winner of the races held in Poznań was undoubtedly Norbert Kiss - the Hungarian dominated the third race of the weekend after starting from pole position. You can watch our coverage of this amazing event on our YouTube channel - just scan the QR code. We hope that the Poznań track will become a permanent part of the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship calendar and next year we will be able to feel these extraordinary emotions once again.
