Hi All
I run a race team and next week we will be driving to Cartagena circuit in southern Spain for a 3 day test with a car. We are going over on eurotunnel. We are 2 man-Ing the truck. It’s the first time we have down this sort of trip only really gone to Northern European race circuits before.
What should we expect as toll charges each way? We will be in a 2 axle 18t truck. Any recommend on route also? want to keep it as cost effective as possible and would like the flattest route to max fuel economy.
Also any particular areas to avoid for overnight stops or ones to aim for. we have given ourselves plenty of time for the trip so driving hours should be well in hand.
Cheers
Try sending a private message / email to Trucknet member “Muckles”. He is in the race team industry and I think he organises his teams transport around Europe. He should be able to give you some good advice!
Where are you coming from in the UK?
Are you cabbing it or looking for hotels?
If I was doing the trip to save on tolls, from coming off the tunnel in France, head to Boulogne sur Mer along the coast, then to Rouen,Evreux,Chartres to Bordeaux using the free national roads.
Bordeaux to the Spanish border, about an hour so from the border, you have to use the tolls to bypass Bayonne and Biarritz to get to Irun over the border .Due to weight limits .
From Irun head to Pamplona on the 121 via Sunbilla.
From Pamplona, to Teruel via Almazan and Dona san Sebastion, a rural scenic route .
You can either take the coast route to Alicante or the inland route which is not much in kms difference .
Most hotels in Spain have large truck parking areas and a reduced rate drivers menu or menu de dia .
In France on motorway areas ask for a discount card for meals at Autogrill.
If going via La Jonqueria, the border on the East coast of Spain, the place is not safe due to cab robberies and load thieves, which is a
shame as there are several all you can buffet restaurants, and all amenities for drivers .
Or paying tolls, its motorway all the way down in France to Toulouse,Perpignon, or the other way via Bordeaux to Spain .
Remove all valuablea from the cab, even for a quick loo stop, never park overnight alone.
Use busy truckstops .Make a note of where you are at night, in case you have to call the police or an ambulance if taken ill .
Correction , ignore Dona San Sebastian, I meant to say head to Almunia de Dona Godinia, it is a short cut to save about 25 miles by avoiding Zaragoza .
Be careful of the Baque and Navara police, their reputation for telephone number sized fines is not good, they wear bright red uniforms and have red vehicles .
Catalan area has the Moses police .
The whole of Spain has the Guardia Civile to contend with .
There are many truck bans for religious festivals and public holidays.
You are parked up the night before the ban starts and can drive on the night the ban ends .
For kit to avoid fines, warning triangles and if broken down, you have to wear a hiviz if stood at the side of the road .
Adhere to the tachograph laws, don’t rush, enjoy the scenery and the jug of wine with the meal .
Watch out for scammers and con men selling fake gold jewellery and cars going past flagging you down, making out there is a fire or puncture .
The driver of the lorry gets out to investigate while the thieves empty the cab .
Hotels over there have discounts for drivers if fed up with the cab.
Some are unmanned and you pay for the room with a bank card at the entrance .
Thanks all Muckles has been in touch and given me a lot of useful info.
Pretty sure we’ll be alright and hopefully nothing unexpected will happen
Leg one done arrived at Cartagena tonight,
19h later than expected after a fault with the truck and an injector failed. Guys that do the repairs and maintenance on our truck (DN Movile service) drove out to us in mid France to help get it going can’t really say how grateful I was.
Ended up driving truck down rest of the way with a faulty injector but seems to be ok when running just an issue at tick over and low revs. Limited us to 50mph but got us here and will have to nurse it back now to get the fix done at a resonance price.
Eventful and a little stressful but main job is done and we are here to look after the car during 3 days of testing
At least you got there, I got a call from a mate in a race team on Saturday night, their truck broke down just past Irun,
and speaking to another team today and their truck broke down in Spain on the first trip of the year. I think a lot of the problem is the trucks have stood all winter, although a lot of race team are also heading to Spain for pre-season testing so it might be law of averages.
You thought of getting a ferry from Bilbao or Santander for the return journey, it will cut the mileage for the truck?
It seems every man and there dog are currently in spain / south of france testing at the moment.
I’d kill for more Motorsport work.
Concretejim:
It seems every man and there dog are currently in spain / south of france testing at the moment.
I’d kill for more Motorsport work.
Do you know what the job involves?
muckles:
Concretejim:
It seems every man and there dog are currently in spain / south of france testing at the moment.
I’d kill for more Motorsport work.
Do you know what the job involves?
Yes mate, just returned from 3 weeks in barcelona. And id jump at the chance to go back out tomorrow and do it all over again. Instead i have to wait until may.
Concretejim:
muckles:
Concretejim:
It seems every man and there dog are currently in spain / south of france testing at the moment.
I’d kill for more Motorsport work.
Do you know what the job involves?
Yes mate, just returned from 3 weeks in barcelona. And id jump at the chance to go back out tomorrow and do it all over again. Instead i have to wait until may.
Sorry I didn’t mean that to sound as off, as it was written, 
but a lot of people see the shiny trailer and big truck and think it’s all glamour, turn up at the circuit and swan around with the grid girls. The reality is very little glamour, and a lot of graft and long hours, dirty, sweaty or cold and wet.
although I have had done some pretty cool things and been to a few great places that I would never have done if I hadn’t been working in motorsport, but some of the best times had nothing to do with racing but just being with a good bunch of people.
I do moan about the job, but I keep going back to it, so can’t be all bad.
I assume that’s with Red Bull? (I sure I read you work in Austria)If it is F1, you either need to find you way onto the F1 team or look for a team in a different series to do it full time, most of the F1 guys working in the team will have been on F3, GP2, World Series or WEC. Most of the jobs in F1 team like tyre truckie or mechanic they expect a few years experience in motorsport.
Plenty of teams (not just F1) look for part time truck drivers but also expect them to do a bit at the circuit, which brings that experience to apply for a full time job, or just start contacting teams any series, loads out there, you might get a lucky break.
muckles:
a lot of people see the shiny trailer and big truck and think it’s all glamour, turn up at the circuit and swan around with the grid girls. The reality is very little glamour, and a lot of graft and long hours, dirty, sweaty or cold and wet.
You’re doing it all wrong Muckles, mate.
isaac hunt:
muckles:
a lot of people see the shiny trailer and big truck and think it’s all glamour, turn up at the circuit and swan around with the grid girls. The reality is very little glamour, and a lot of graft and long hours, dirty, sweaty or cold and wet.
0
You’re doing it all wrong Muckles, mate.
I think I am, sat waiting to go into Nurburgring, it’s cold, overcast and although not raining yet I’m sure it will, the only woman in sight is wrapped up in a million layers of clothing and at a guess is over 60.
Misano last week wasn’t much better, off to Monza from here maybe that’ll be better. 
toby1234abc:
If I was doing the trip to save on tolls, from coming off the tunnel in France, head to Boulogne sur Mer along the coast, then to Rouen,Evreux,Chartres to Bordeaux using the free national roads.
Bordeaux to the Spanish border, about an hour so from the border, you have to use the tolls to bypass Bayonne and Biarritz to get to Irun over the border .Due to weight limits .
From Irun head to Pamplona on the 121 via Sunbilla.
From Pamplona, to Teruel via Almazan and Dona san Sebastion, a rural scenic route .
You can either take the coast route to Alicante or the inland route which is not much in kms difference .
Most hotels in Spain have large truck parking areas and a reduced rate drivers menu or menu de dia .
In France on motorway areas ask for a discount card for meals at Autogrill.
If going via La Jonqueria, the border on the East coast of Spain, the place is not safe due to cab robberies and load thieves, which is a
shame as there are several all you can buffet restaurants, and all amenities for drivers .
Or paying tolls, its motorway all the way down in France to Toulouse,Perpignon, or the other way via Bordeaux to Spain .
Remove all valuablea from the cab, even for a quick loo stop, never park overnight alone.
Use busy truckstops .Make a note of where you are at night, in case you have to call the police or an ambulance if taken ill .
toby1234abc:
Correction , ignore Dona San Sebastian, I meant to say head to Almunia de Dona Godinia, it is a short cut to save about 25 miles by avoiding Zaragoza .
Be careful of the Baque and Navara police, their reputation for telephone number sized fines is not good, they wear bright red uniforms and have red vehicles .
Catalan area has the Moses police .
The whole of Spain has the Guardia Civile to contend with .
There are many truck bans for religious festivals and public holidays.
You are parked up the night before the ban starts and can drive on the night the ban ends .
For kit to avoid fines, warning triangles and if broken down, you have to wear a hiviz if stood at the side of the road .
Adhere to the tachograph laws, don’t rush, enjoy the scenery and the jug of wine with the meal .
Watch out for scammers and con men selling fake gold jewellery and cars going past flagging you down, making out there is a fire or puncture .
The driver of the lorry gets out to investigate while the thieves empty the cab .
Hotels over there have discounts for drivers if fed up with the cab.
Some are unmanned and you pay for the room with a bank card at the entrance .
Toby that’s some great info. We’re thinking of doing either Spanish or French trackdays sometime this year and having an 18 tonne truck/motorhome with the family coming too this is great stuff?
What’s the ferry like from the UK to Bilbao??
Dave
Thanks Alix - so costs more than driving through France and fuel usage? Never done it in a truck before so am interested in what the costs are like.
Dave
The Bilbao or Santander ferry is a mini cruise, disco, cinemas and swimming pools .
There is whale watching lectures.
Take sea sick pills, the Bay of Biscay can turn stomachs in the summer, or all yeae round .
davemfox:
[
What’s the ferry like from the UK to Bilbao??
Dave
I don’t know what it’s like nowadays, but in the late '90s / early 2000s I was often put on the Portsmouth-Bilbao boat: P&O ‘Pride of Bilbao’ on a Saturday afternoon. It was a useful alternative to the overland run from Calais. Yes, it was an expensive crossing (paid for by our employers!), but it was a serious mini-cruise and those of us who did regular North Africa runs made full use of the facilities on board. They were wonderful days because many of the drivers knew each other so it was a social weekend into the bargain. The great advantage was that on Monday morning we’d hit the road at breakfast time and be in Santa Lucia in the southern part of Spain just north of Granada after a 10-hour shift - all legal and correct! It was a hard drive with lots of serious hills, especially if you were still hung-over from the mini-cruise. The thing is: lorry driving used to be an awful lot of fun as well as hard work - I’m not convinced that this is any longer the case - ah well. Robert
