Bring on the Heavyweights!

Juratek has once again teamed up with Stuart Oliver, to supply brake discs and pads for the 2014 season. Truck racing is simply one of the most unique forms of motorsport in the world, and are the real heavyweights of the racing world. Despite their weight and size, trucks are incredibly agile and are capable of rubber burning power slides, especially when blasting out of a hairpin!

Due to the size and weight of a modern two axle race truck all the manufacturers involved today acquire the 1,200 bhp plus, performance from a 13  litre maximum size six cylinder inline diesel turbo intercooled engine, with a torque output of a staggering 5,000 newton metre, this power is transmitted via a manual shift gearbox into a locked rear drive axle.

With a minimum dry weight of 5500kgs (3,300kgs on the front axle and 2,200kgs on the rear axle) this is enough to propel these machines from a standing start up to 60mph quicker than a Porsche 911, albeit the regulations only allow a maximum speed on track of 100mph (160km/h) this is controlled strictly by way of a sophisticated GPS tracking system.

To slow a 5,500kgs truck from 100 mph in racing style, at nearly every corner of a race track consistently on every lap during a 20 minute long race the air brake system and brake components have to be of the highest standard, to assist and keep the performance over a full race duration each brake disc is internally sprayed with a fine mist of water to help to dissipate the enormous heat generation. One of the most common reasons for a truck retiring or crashing during a race is generally due to brake component failure!

As well as the loyal team personnel Team Oliver Racing’s main sponsors and partners such as Juratek (the team’s preferred brake component supplier) have supported the team for a number of years. The superior performance and stopping power of the brakes supplied by Juratek, gives Stuart a great advantage, when entering a corner, with the ability to stop the truck later, sometimes by up to two truck lengths.

For the 2014 season the team has some very different and exciting plans to unveil that will without doubt cause concern in and around the race paddock! But one thing remains constant, that is the reliability and stopping power of Juratek’s braking components.