Unsung hero - Trevor Bailey.

The European season may be over, but the work of Lucky Strike BAR Honda's seven truckies is far from done. That their year finishes when the trucks head back to Brackley at the end of the European season is somewhat of a misnomer. Driving the HGV's laden with their 20+ tonnes of equipment is just part of the job, and when the team head to the last two long hauls of the season, so will the truckies...

The chief truckie for BAR is Trevor Bailey. It's Bailey's job to oversee the work of his six colleagues over any given race weekend, and this work can be as varied as driving the trucks to the track, looking after the team's allocation of Bridgestone tyres or refuelling the car throughout it's weekend on track. At long hauls such as the U.S and Japan, they will also take charge of the freight when it arrives off the plane, and the garage set-up minus the trucks.

A carpenter and joiner by trade, Bailey was running his business in the UK when he decided on a career change and got the motorsport bug. His new career began in 1991, working in Formula 3000. From there it was on to Benetton and then to BAR.

"I started working with Benetton in 1994, testing and then racing, until I left in 1997. I was enjoying chilling out at home for a while when I got the call from BAR. They had to pester me for a bit to be honest because I was quite happy being at home, but eventually they twisted my arm and I committed to a few year's with the team. I've been there ever since."

Being a truckie for any F1 team requires very long hours of very hard graft, a great deal of time on the road, and a great deal to do at the track. So what is it about being a truckie that Bailey enjoys the most?

"I'd say the best thing about my job is the camaraderie that I have with the truckies I work with. I think we all enjoy going away and seeing places but when you've been doing it as long as we have it can be tough. That's when having a bit of a laugh and getting on well together can make a big difference. We're lucky because we all get on so well."

For Bailey and his compatriots, a race weekend begins long before the fans converge at the circuit. It varies slightly from race to race, but in general they are at the factory and packing up the weekend before the Grand Prix. From there the trucks travel to the circuit, arriving on a Sunday in time to be brought into the track, lined up in place and unpacked.

By the time the rest of the race team arrive on a Wednesday the truckies have painted the garage floor, set up the shell of the garage, washed the trucks down and put the garage equipment in place. Once that multitude of tasks is completed their work is far from done though. Some of the truckies then become the tyre men for the team. Others look after fuel and all of them have a role in the pitstop come race day. Not much respite then. As Bailey explains...

"We don't get a great deal of time off in our jobs because of the nature of our work. In general we're leaving for the track very early on a Monday, working until the following Sunday and then looking after the pack-up before driving back to Brackley. In general we get back on a Tuesday after the race and spend the remainder of that day off loading, washing the trucks and setting them up again. That leaves us with only a couple of days off, which isn't a great deal of time! My priority then is spending time with my wife and children - the very hardest thing about being away so much is not being able to spend much time with them."

Not a job for the work shy or faint hearted, Bailey explains the importance of team work and being able to rely heavily on the guys he works with: "One of the most important things about the job of chief truckie is making sure that everything that should be at the track and on the trucks if there. That's a huge job: There's no way you could have a complete check list for the thousands of bits that go on the trucks each race, so I rely heavily on the lads to know what they are taking on their particular truck. It's a case of helping each other out as much as possible and trusting each other as well."