Road-racing five-ton trucks sounds like a distinctly American endeavor, but it curiously has been the Europeans who have embraced the sport of truck racing. The European Truck Racing Championship draws big crowds and full grids for is door-to-door turbodiesel wheel-banging action. The season’s opening round at Red Bull Ring in Austria included this bedlam during Race 2, where four trucks try to make a two-wide corner work. It’s completely insane and we love it.
The truck racing newcomer might be unsurprised to learn that many drivers in the ETRC have backgrounds in touring car racing, where the occasional hip-check is all part of the game. The stakes tend to be higher for 10,500-pound trucks, though the series’ 160 km/h (~100 mph) speed limit keeps here from being too much kinetic energy in case a truck or three shoves a little too hard. Nevertheless, the drivers are a bit rough-and-tumble compared to other FIA series and the colorful bodywork on the trucks tends not to last long.
It’s like the world’s largest game of bumper cars…
It’s a wonder why this kind of racing hasn’t taken hold in the US. There was a short lived big races back in the ’70’s on the Nascar ovals. But, I think they weren’t much more than street trucks.
That first turn wouldn’t work four wide with little F-3 cars.