Posted on 4th May
Huthwaite-based Taylor’s Trucksport Racing Team’s start of the season is just around the corner for them as they prepare for their debut in the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship, writes Paul Horton.
The first round of the European season kicks off at Marco Simoncelli World Circuit, Misano, Italy on 20th and 21st May.
Recently the team made a 1500km journey to Autodrom Most race circuit in the Czech Republic for three days testing, calling at Cologne, Germany, to pick up their brand-new race truck on the way.
The excitement mounts as the team with their 36-year-old driver, Mark Taylor, will challenge all eight rounds of this prestigious FIA Championship that stretches far and wide across most of Europe during the season.
It was the first time the team had seen their new beast of a machine sporting an exciting brand-new Taylor’s Trucksport Racing livery for the 2023 season and for Europe.
Weighing in at around 5.3 tonnes, with 1,100bhp and a top speed of 100mph, the truck is a beast. The six-cylinder 12000cc race tuned engine delivers power through a 16-speed manual gearbox with a locked rear differential, special race-tuned tyres and water-cooled brakes.
The rest of the journey went well as they travelled in convoy with their race trailers and truck onboard for the onward journey to the Czech Republic.
Driver Taylor, son of team boss, Alan Taylor, of Taylor’s Transport Group, Huthwaite, was left speechless when he got behind the wheel for the first time.
Armed with two race trailers and ancillary vehicles, the three days of testing went well, it saw Mark Taylor in his new ‘office’ getting to grips with the new truck and its controls, nothing too dissimilar to the truck Taylor has been racing over the past few years. It gave the team time to get used to getting the full paddock set up sorted out that is like a military operation itself.
Day one of testing saw Taylor soon get used to the truck and was chalking up some outstanding lap times and got in around four hours testing nearly double that of what a race weekend would entail.
Taylor said: “The truck ran faultless during the three days’ test.
“It was all about getting used to the truck and its set up was just as important. As I went out in the truck for the first time, I was speechless, it ran like a dream.
“It is fantastic and built to just what we had asked for. I am thoroughly looking forward now to the start of the new season that is only four weeks away.
“It will be totally different to the last few seasons in the UK and a learning curve for myself and the team. The team have done a fantastic job over the last few days during testing and a big thank you to them.”
Mark’s last time out was the end of last season where he finished the British Truck Racing Championship in fifth place after a good track record for the last five seasons.
Taylor is no stranger to truck racing with the last five years under his belt in the British Championship – before that he had never raced! Taylor’s track record is consistent, at the end of the 2018 season and finished the 2019 season fourth overall, fifth in 2021 and fifth again in 2022.
The Team aim to please their UK fans when they return to racing in the UK, mid-August in between a busy European calendar for their fans in the popular Convoy in The Park at their local circuit, Donington Park, contending in the International Truck Prix, and will see #81 Taylor’s Trucksport Racing in action for the four international races.
They will take in world-class circuits that have hosted many FIA Formula One races such as Hungaroring in Hungary, Nürburgring, Germany and Zolder in Belgium. In September the team will travel to Le Mans in France home of the famous Le Mans 24 hours.
