Tackling the Longest Road Trip in Australian Racing.

In-depth

24 July

Melb – Perth – Darwin – Melb: with Erebus Motorsport and IVECO

Days before the Camaro racecar engines of Erebus Motorsport drivers, Jack Le Brocq and Cooper Muray fired up at the ‘Perth Super 440’ round of the Supercars Championship last month, another driver left Erebus Motorsport’s Dandenong, Melbourne, facility right in the middle of the city’s notorious peak hour.

For transporter driver, Timmy Jennings, the journey to Perth is longer and slower than for the racers, but on the plus side he doesn’t have to muck around at airports or put up with airline food.

With the team’s IVECO S-Way 550 AS transporter prepared by local IVECO Dealer, Prestige Truck Centre, Timmy knows that the upcoming 3,500km (approximately) road trip should be hassle free from a mechanical perspective. For the first time, the team will then travel directly to Darwin from Perth (another 4,000km or so) for the following race round rather than returning to home base; then it’s another 3,700ish km back to Melbourne.

Leaving Melbourne

Timmy enters the Melbourne traffic at 4:30pm on Friday, heading for the Victorian Wimmera town of Nhil, 375km north westerly via the Western Highway. Coupled to the flagship IVECO prime mover is Erebus Motorsport’s B-Double trailer set, which contains all the gear the team needs to contest the next two race rounds, plus of course, the two Camaro race cars.

The A trailer includes a lounge, catering and cooking equipment, rims, tyres, racks, trolleys and spare parts all accessible via a side lift, while inside the B Trailer are the two race cars, replacement engines, gearboxes and more spares – these are accessed via a rear lift. Once all loaded and secured, the combination is grossing around 53 tonnes.

With music playing, Timmy appreciates the S-Way’s quiet cabin and driver appointments.

“I connect my music to the S-Way’s infotainment system and away we go,” Timmy said.

“The quietness of the S-Way’s cabin in next level, it’s considerably better than the other European prime movers I’ve used. Ergonomically the cabin is also excellent, everything I need is within easy reach and it’s an intuitive layout.”

Arriving at the trailer exchange in Nhill after stopping at a roadhouse in Ararat for dinner, Timmy realises he’s forgotten to pack his sleeping bag – so although the S-Way’s sleeper is comfortable and generously proportion due to its high roof configuration and easy access from the cabin thanks to the S-Way’s flat floor, it was a chilly night.

Hitting South Australia

**The scenery begins to get interesting in South Australia with a highlight being a clifftop stop along the Great Australian Bight.**

A 7:15 start the following morning will see Timmy spend about 10 hours at the wheel that day, driving through Port Augusta en route to the town of Kimba on the Eyre Peninsular. A quick stop at Port Augusta sees the S-Way fueled up and Timmy splurge on a sleeping bag so that bedtime in the truck is toastie warm. Although that night’s accommodation is at a motel.

The next section of the road trip is to Mundrabilla, WA – it’s a nine-and-a-half-hour haul that again has Timmy sleeping in the truck that evening.

While time spent on the Nullarbor up until now is highlighted by a few undulations and patches of scrub, the coming hours will provide a visual overload. In transit on the Eyre Highway towards the town of Southern Cross, around 370 kilometres east of Perth, the transporters stop along the Great Australian Bight, where there are dramatic photo opportunities and the chance to look out onto the endless ocean from jagged clifftops, according to Timmy.

**Timmy's route sees him split his evenings between motels and the S-Way's sleeper cabin, which he says is comfortable and generously proportioned.**

“It’s an amazing area, the views are unbelievable, it’s a fantastic place to stop to take in the sights, the ocean and sheer cliff faces, while also stretching the legs,” Timmy said.

“We always allow extra time to get to race meets, so it’s a safe and unrushed journey. This gives us more opportunities to stop but also, to have breathing room in the event of a mechanical issue or breakdown. In some of these remote areas, it can take a day for a tow truck or a service van to reach you.”

Arriving in Southern Cross from Mundrabillia (a 972km drive) Timmy again sleeps in a motel in preparation for the next day’s drive into Perth where he’ll leave the tranquility of the open road for an urban environment. Reflecting on the S-Way’s powertrain and features such as Adaptive Cruise Control, Timmy said he has all the equipment he needs for an easy drive.

“The route from Melbourne to Perth doesn’t test the power of the S-Way given it’s relatively flat, but in May we had a round in Tasmania, where there are a lot of hills we drive through,” he said.

“I remember being behind another transporter for some of the trip, also a 550hp prime mover, and on the climbs he’d slow up a lot, whereas I had the power and torque (2,500Nm) to hold speed much better and in the end I comfortably overtook. The S-Way has more than enough power.

“The engine is also well matched to the 16-speed AMT – it’s a clever combination and very intuitive; it will skip gears when the road conditions are right and there’s next to no hesitation or indecision as it’s moving through the gears. It’s a smooth process as well. Same when the Adaptive Cruise Control is engaged, it’s smooth and seamless.”

The hard work starts

Arriving in the Perth suburb of Kewdale at around 2:00pm, Timmy heads for the truck wash to clean 3,500kms worth of insects, bugs and road grime off the S-Way and trailer set. It’s a busy place and the truck isn’t booked in until 8:00am the following day, so it’s a quick drive to a nearby service station where he again sleeps in the S-Way for the night. Parking is limited though – only two B-Double slots but a heap of singles – so to leave parking for his fellow truckies who may only be calling in briefly to fuel and have a meal before driving on, Timmy splits the B-Double and instead takes up two of the abundant single trailer slots.

The next morning the truck is washed back in Kewdale but ‘Murphy’s Law’, upon competition it starts raining. Timmy waits out the rain – things eventually dry out and he begins the journey to Carco Raceway around 50 kilometres north of Perth. While the rain has stopped, some sections of wet road mean that upon arrival near the circuit, the truck is filthy once more.

With around 1000 litres of water on board in the trailers, plus a generator and pressure washer, all is not lost and after a couple of hours of elbow grease, the S-Way and trailers are presentable once more and ready for a publicity event that afternoon.

Next day is Thursday and official ‘park-up’ at the track begins at 11:30am with the trucks called in pit lane garage order. Unloading and set-up begins at 1:00pm, a process that continues for the rest of the day and into the following morning before the race cars hit the track that afternoon for practice.

It’s been a week since Timmy left Melbourne, but this is only the first leg of the road trip – next stop Darwin.