MEET RED BULL AMPOL RACING’S BRAND-NEW MERCEDES-BENZ ACTROS
The last brand-new truck for the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship season breaks cover.
Image: Red Bull Ampol Racing
Banyo-based Red Bull Ampol Racing has unveiled its new truck for the 2021 season; a Mercedes-Benz Actros 2663 prime mover with all the bells and whistles.
At the heart of it is a Mercedes-Benz 16-litre engine, which delivers 625 horsepower and 3000Nm of torque. That’s more than enough to haul the Holden Commodores of Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup around Australia this year, as well as the team’s spares and pit equipment.
It also has plenty of technology to make life easier for the team’s regular truck driver, Dave Lewin. Inside the cab are two high-resolution tablet screens to present all the information that’ll help get the critical equipment to the race track in one piece.
Image: Red Bull Ampol Racing
When it comes to driving the truck, Dave’s right foot will be spotted by the Mercedes-Benz Active Brake Assist system which offers emergency braking to slow the truck down for unexpected vehicle or pedestrian movements. And when the rig rumbling down the road, the Predictive Powertrain Control anticipates upcoming terrain and sends the information to the engine and transmission to minimize the number of times it’ll need to pull into an Ampol servo for another drink of diesel.
You’ll also notice there are no external mirrors on the truck, which are replaced by screens inside the cab displaying what’s captured by small cameras on the truck’s bodywork.
It all adds up to a slick unit at the pointy of the the team’s B-Double race transporter, which we’ll capture rumbling down the road as soon as it’s back on the mainland.
Image: Red Bull Ampol Racing
When the truck was handed over at Daimler Truck and Bus in Mulgrave, Victoria, Jamie Whincup grabbed the keys and took it for a spin in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
“The cab is a real stand out. It’s really impressive how much of the technology you see in Mercedes-Benz cars is also in these trucks,” said the seven-time Supercars champion.
“These screens and the touch controls on the steering wheel are excellent, because it’s really easy to keep on top of everything.”
Whincup is also pleased to have the Daimler Trucks brand represented on his Holden ZB Commodore.
“We always want to work with the leaders in each field and it’s clear that Daimler Trucks is a leader with advanced trucks like this Actros,” he said.
Image: Red Bull Ampol Racing
The truck’s first trip to the track is this weekend, with the Supercars roadshow crossing Bass Strait for the Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains Raceway.
We’ll post all the content we can get over the next few days as the trucks rumble to and from the northern Tasmanian circuit. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.