Ice One Husqvarna’s impressive new truck explained!
As well as trying to supervise and encourage his riders, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna IceOne Team Manager Antti Pyrhonen seemed to be just as busy having to showing and explain the squad’s striking new truck set-up at Matterley Basin. The bikes and crew for both Pauls Jonass and Arminas Jasikonis were housed in a suspended glass box that protected them against the elements and removed any concern for the strong English winds battering an awning structure. The clinical and efficient variation on a paddock set-up was one of the main curiosities and draws away from the track at Matterley. Pyrhonen was quick to stress that the unit’s practicality outweighed any of the new aesthetic.
“I was trying to find a way to keep the infrastructure level the same or even at a higher level but to win man-hours,” the Fin remarked. “The current MXGP programme is so global and so long we needed to find a more effective way to win time, and time at the workshop instead of the whole crew sometimes being at the circuit on a Wednesday to build-up for Thursday. Now we need just one truck driver to make the set-up hydraulically in twenty-thirty minutes. I calculated that we win forty-five days this way, which we can invest back in the workshop.”
Pyrhonen worked with a Dutch-German firm to chisel the interiors of the air-conditioned workspace, with the bikes entering and exiting through a small step ramp at the front. “It was a busy time to get it ready,” he reveals. “We started quite late last autumn and got quite close to the deadline. I would say it is at 80% now but we have between rounds two and three to finalise everything.”
IceOne have been considering this ‘portable workshop’ for a number of years. Compared to their old two-truck structure that was overly-spacious the new layout is pretty tight for two riders and a hospitality space. “It is way more compact and we need to find a new way to work but we are capable because overseas we have workbays around ten-by-five metres for two riders: we can do our job there so why not here?” Pyrhonen insists.
The truck carried a spotless, showroom aspect…and remained so in spite of the English mudder. “I’m not worried,” Pyrhonen smiled on the thought of the white interiors taking on another shade. “It is still motocross and we need to accept it’ll get dirty. I’m happy, the mechanics and crew also as well as our partners. Of course, it is a new unit and with anything new you have to check out the technical issues. It will take a couple of GPs before everything is working perfectly.”
IceOne will eventually load more equipment and the bikes themselves inside for Grands Prix and will use a separate hospitality facility for home events and those with guests. Opinions aside, the team have certainly lifted the bar.
Words: Adam Wheeler Images: Nigel McKinstry
