MV Truck Racing at Pembrey Circuit: Sun's Out, Diffs Out
The scorching Welsh sun was not the only surprise in store for Team MV Truck Racing at Pembrey Circuit during the second round of the British Truck Racing Championship. Mechanical failures almost cost them the weekend's races.
The scorching Welsh sun was not the only surprise in store for Team MV Truck Racing at Pembrey Circuit during the second round of the British Truck Racing Championship. Mechanical failures almost cost them the weekend's races.
It had been a long and difficult couple of weeks for the MV Truck Racing team following the massive and disastrous crash that had cost Tom the pole position at Brands Hatch in the last race of the opening round of the 2023 season. A return to Tom's favourite track promised to reignite the hunt for prime podium positions.
After many late nights of rebuilding and hasty journeys far and wide to track down replacement parts, the newly rechristened #86 truck, Molly, headed to Pembrey to enjoy the sun and Welsh hospitality, unaware of the threat lurking in the heart of the beast.
Despite a successful warm-up on Friday, Molly did not perform as expected during the qualification. During the first race on Saturday, Tom O'Rourke, driver of #86, informed the race engineering team about a lack of traction and power spread across the rear axle. Raising the truck and freeing the rear axle confirmed the team's worst fear: the differential had broken.
With no spare on hand and no way to continue without it, the team faced two choices: call it quits for the weekend and try again at Thruxton, or work through the night to fetch and replace the differential, hoping to beat the 9:00 am driver warm-up session.
The team split into two groups. One raced off to the shed at Fruehauf in Grantham, 250 miles away, to remove the differential from last year's development truck—an endeavour that took a couple of hours in the best of conditions. They then sprinted back the four and a half hours to the track, arriving at 4 am. Meanwhile, the second group began stripping and preparing the truck for an early transplant, along with making several repairs to its panels, livery, and the usual Saturday night fixes that come with truck racing.
After grabbing two hours of much-needed sleep, the entire team threw themselves back into replacing the differential, pushing themselves to their limits to get Molly back on the track.
With only minutes left on the clock before Sunday's warm-up session, the thunderous roars from her custom engine echoed through the tent, and Tom took to the track to familiarize himself with the very different differential for the last three races of the day.
Unfortunately, between the damage incurred in the first race and the new differential for the final three races of the weekend, climbing the rankings proved to be a challenge with earning fewer championship points than hoped for over the weekend.
Now, with over a month until the next round of the British Truck Racing Championship at Thruxton Circuit, Molly heads back to the sheds, this time looking pristine but awaiting a full inspection of all the mechanical parts to prevent any further mishaps.
A massive thank you to all our friends who joined us at the track. As always, we love seeing so many people come out and support us, and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.
