Heather says a big thank you to everyone interested, one very happy Trucknet Member will be reporting back on here no doubt next week, on his little holiday to France, in a top of the range truck with all the added extras as far as I can gather 
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Well Done Muckles 
An interesting post, I have the time and the enthusiasm. I am also very interested and would be there like a shot, except I have just done the British Super Bike Round 6 at Thruxton. I drove the race truck down and set up the garage and hospitality unit.
Unfortunately I had to change a hospital appointment to do it, and my new appointment is on the 16th. (zbzbzbzbzbzbz)
Hardly any of these guys get paid for their truck driving skills, Every race team needs technicians, tyremen, timing and pitlane duties. If you are an electrician, mechanic, computer engineer or something who holds a licence you may get a job with a top team.
An enthusiast would kill to do something like this, without payment. It,s not a transport company its a race team who use trucks as tools.
A friend of mine was at Thruxton too and he sat in his cab all weekend, I cant understand that at all,
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Yep a days pay for a days work!
as for the free ticket, I’ll sit outside if it costs them money! which it won’t
Critic! the teams will have paid an entry fee, they have to pay for paddock passes, pit lane access, garages, electric, water and services. They have to pay for the emergency services, police and parking. The spectators have to pay to cover these same costs. If you didnt really have anything constructive to say, why say it?
Motor Sport is expensive and it costs a lot of people vast amounts of money. A friend of mine is running a small racing team and it cost him over £4000 to go to Thruxton. The prize money doesnt go anywhere near to cover costs. Unless you count Advertising Revenue.
By the way we got a 2nd and a 7th in the main supersport race
Well I promised to post something about the trip to Le Mans. First I’d like to thank Davey Driver for the original post and Nick, Heather, John, Matt, Ollie, Alex and Mike for a brilliant week. 
And to clear things up for those who think I done somebody out of a paid job, well that was never going to happen. The team’s regular driver, who works for them, part-time couldn’t get away from his normal job,
Plan b; was that Nick, who was the racing driver, but also has an HGV licence was going to drive. However he got his licence 4 years ago to drive his race transporter and has not done much driving since so he was reluctant to do it.
So in return for driving the truck they paid for all my meals, drinks and hotel rooms and I got passes to racing and parts of the paddock not open to the public and to pit lane during the Historic Group C race, which is why we were there.
Anyway back to the trip. Spent last Monday running around getting the time off work, turned up at John Danby racing on Tuesday morning checked the truck, M reg FH12, and did the paperwork and set off for Le Mans via Dover with the mechanic Matt as drivers mate. The team had booked a hotel in a small village just south of Rouen and much to my surprise nobody seemed to mind the truck parked in the centre of their village. 
Reached the circuit Wednesday and then the fun began trying to find a way into it with a 4.2m trailer. Despite loads of gesticulating and pointing and saying camion 4.2metre, 
the marshals insisted that we could get under the 4.0m bridge, so we had to pull up to the bridge to prove it wouldn’t go under. 
I then had to turn round on a bit of waste ground, ok with most trailers, but dodgy with a low slung racecar transporter, which has to look immaculate. We then follow one of the other teams down the Mulsanne straight and get into the circuit, although we still drop the air out of the suspension to make sure we clear the tunnel and Matt was hanging off the mirror as look out. 
We find the paddock and set-up the awning and then it’s off to find our hotel and another cracking evening meal.
Qualifying for our race was on Thursday evening and of course this was the only point of the week it decided to rain, so we had to change onto wet tyres whilst waiting in the assembly area and planned to change back onto slicks during the session, but just before Nick was due in to change tyres his gear lever broke 
putting an end to his qualifying session. The car was repaired on Friday for the race on Saturday morning. Because of not managing to get the slicks on Nick started near the back, but despite having one of the lowest powered cars, a 1986 TIGA with only 430bhp in a 750kg car he still managed to pass another car and get lap times below 5mins, we think he maxed out at 170mph on the Mulsanne straight. To put it in perspective some of the cars had about 800bhp and might have been reaching nearer 200mph. However it was more of a personal thing for Nick. He achieved a lifelong ambition of racing a Group C car at Le Mans.
We all then found a place near the start to watch the beginning of the 24-hour race. The place was heaving, but we all managed to get a good view of the first few laps went off to a barbecue organised by the Group C racecar club and then went to Anarge Corner about midnight to watch the cars, it’s a great place to watch. You can see the disc brakes glow as they reach the corner and then the exhausts spiting flames as they accelerate away. We finally got back to the hotel at about 2am and had a late start on Sunday which we spent soaking up the Le Mans atmosphere and packing stuff into the truck to come home on Monday.
This was my first trip to Le Mans and didn’t really get the hype until now. It’s like no other motor race I’ve been to before. Somebody said it’s more like Glastonbury than a race. You go for the racing, but also the atmosphere the side shows. Like the TT for bikers, if you are a motorsport fan then you must go at least once, especially if somebody else is paying.
Nice one muckles, sounds like you ahd a great time, interesting read.
As you say Muckles, it doesnt sink in till later. I had a brilliant weekend at Thruxton for the British Superbikes, but never hardly saw any racing except on the garage monitor. We were busy from arriving to leaving and the only time I got a break was to watch my mate in the GP125 racing.
The atmosphere in the paddock and pitlane is amazing and we had Tenkate, Vitrans at one side and Jack Valentines Valmoto team at the other. In the bar we were stood with all the BSB riders and the mechanics all know one another because most of them have looked after the top riders for years.
Well done for volunteering for the job anyway, If we get stuck we know where to come 
although I have missed out on the BSB round at Brands hatch this weekend.
I used to work as a truckie for a Formula Ford team and compared to that Le Mans was quite relaxed as we only had one car and 2 hours of track time. My experience is that the teams and drivers, there are exceptions, are only rivals on the track. So it’s great when you all meet up in a bar later on and most teams help each other out with parts and tools as you can’t take everything.
John Danby has phoned me since getting back to see if I want to do more, Paid this time and there might the be the chance of a full time job later if things goto plan. which would be nice, but I think he might need a lower truck to go and race in Germany or he’ll have the only convertable trailer in the paddock.
Glad you had a good time Muckles and if you need a double man you know where I am!
I have done a bit for Eurotech! When the next decent horse job comes along your the first in line as promised.
your a lucky man, i knew it would be a brilliant experience, just a shame i couldnt have done it 