One of the
best benefits of work that I can ever think of: free travel. Ciao Dolce Vita!
As I was the responsible for the FIA European Truck Race Championship
sponsoring, it was only natural I had to attend some of the races. So we wanted
to make the best of it, and made it a long weekend in Rimini. We rented a car in Bologne airport
and drove straight down to the Adriatic coast. After struggling our way through
the narrow one-way streets, we finally arrived in front of our hotel: it was an
artsy type boutique hotel on a small street, just across the street from the
beach.
We settled
in quickly and had only one thing in mind: food.
We ended up having dinner in one of the beach restaurants and strolled along
the beach boulevard afterwards. We hit the sack pretty early that night in
order to shine & rise fresh and early the next day.
In the
morning we had conveniently time to go to check out the old town and the beach in daylight. Like majority of old towns in Italy, it was charming and pretty. On the contrary the beach was anything but small, and we could see the beach stretch out
endlessly in both directions. We could only imagine the crowd in
the summer time...
After a nice hang out on the beach
we drove to the Misano Circuit. This
was the first truck race in both of our lives! We were so excited to be part of
it, especially as VIP guests ;). Of course it included some heavy lifting one
may call work: meeting our Italian customers, keeping them entertained and
enjoying the race. It was actually really interesting to discover this kind of world,
because we would’ve never gone for it by ourselves. It was impressive when the
trucks turned their engines on and took off. In fact, they make the first lap
in their pole positions to get to the speed and right as they arrive to the
starting line they give full gas to these heavy racers - some of them crushed
together just in the end of the first line causing an incredible bang, seriously a thrill-filled
sensation!
If anything
that was a day of speed and power, which I never imagined to experience. We
learned a great deal about the trucks and the racing itself from the incredible
crew of Allgäuer (our Austrian sponsor team). Later back in Rimini we just chilled on the beach and
satisfied our hungry stomachs with what else than pizza.
The next
day we headed back to the circuit and had another great racing day, only this
time we actually got passes to the pit lane! Pretty insane! We got to hang out
on the pole with the team staff and greet the drivers. We also managed to get a
nice look into the cockpits, which was actually interesting (even though none
of us was ever really into motor sports)! As the trucks of 5.5 tons passed us
by in their full speed (they can go up to 160km/h) with nothing but a security
fence between us, you just had to wish they stay on the track…Also, we walked
around the paddocks and the general area, which was fulfilled with trucks from
all over the countries to showcase the most magnificent tuning one could think
of.
In the late
afternoon we headed back to the airport and caught an evening flight back home.
What a sensational weekend for discovering the world of truck racing, and the next
stop would be nothing less than that, namely The Gran Prix in Nürburgring circuit, Germany.
