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What's it like roaring around Kyalami or Killarney behind the wheel of one of these monster-powered Super Trucks at super speeds? Dirk Nolte, manager of engineering at MAN Truck and Bus in South Africa, was the first man to drive a MAN Super Truck in SA. He puts you, the reader, in the driver's seat and takes you on a lap round each of the circuits. Put your foot down and enjoy the ride!

A Lap at Kyalami

You start the lap at the Grand Prix Circuit in top gear at 160 kph where the limiter cuts in. This is in the interest of safety in case one of the five ton (5 000 kg) vehicles goes off the track. A tachograph is used to check the speed. 1 kph over 160 kph is heavily penalised.

As you start to go downhill to the Pennzoil curve, the brave driver will keep his foot 'in die hook'. Then foot off, swop back to fourth and floor it through the left hander as you clip the kerb at 140 kph. You let it go wide up to the busy uphill double left hander at Nashua. This is a tricky one. You have to lift off at 140 to 145 kph, turn it in and throw out the anchors as quick as you can. This Super Truck puts all its weight on it’s right front wheel as you floor it and have the back stepping out. You slide across the road onto the kerb coming out of Nashua. A second or two later, you are up to fifth gear at 160 kph halfway along the old pits.

Now you have set up this rig which is really getting along as you approach Sunset. Keep to the left and go back to fourth. The back feels loose as you go into a smooth sweep through the corner letting it go right to the kerb once again and then head for the outside right-hand kerb at Clubhouse. Solid braking. Steam comes off the water-cooled discs. You go back to second gear and head for the black patch on the inside of Clubhouse Corner.

As you go across the road, you accelerate hard for 300m using fourth gear on the way to the Esses which are pretty unique in world motor racing. The road goes downhill to start and then swops to being a steep uphill right-hander.

Before you enter the esses on the right hand side of the road, you go back to third gear. The camber is awkward here and those big Conti tyres are starting to cry out as you swop direction and put all 1400 horses to work to pull you up the hill to WesBank Corner. You should be in fourth as you crest the hill at 145 kph.

Late braking into the double left hand at WesBank. Use second gear and head for the inside and then let the truck take you to the outside of the corner before pulling it back into the kerb. Then it's throttles wide open down the mine-shaft and the ride of your life. You hit 160 kph in no time. Keep to the right, grip the wheel and swoop to the inside of the Havoline Sweep which you take flat out (well maybe you lift your foot just a little).

Then you are busy once again slowing the whole plot down for the old Conti Corner, now named Vodacom Bowl. The truck is leaning the wrong way as you get back hard onto the 450 mm disc brakes. The brakes have been used heavily on some of the other corners and you pray they are going to slow you down sufficiently.

You stay left and then set the truck up to go right suddenly. Not too quick on the entrance as this corner tightens on you. You hold third gear up the rise to the Kink which is hated by one and all. Power steering or not, it is hard to even battle your way through these little corners in first gear. There is a fairly fast line but it takes experimenting on every lap to find it.

On the way out of the Kink - or chicane - hit second and hold it or maybe touch third for a second or two as you go onto the overworked brakes for Gestetner corner. Slow in is the rule here and you use all the road on the way out and give those back wheels every drop of power you can to get up to maximum speed in six seconds halfway down the pits, about 100m from the start/finish line. You fight to control this Super Truck going in a straight line with the cab getting hotter and hotter as the race progresses.

Dirk Nolte feels 2 minutes 10 seconds will be a respectable time although the Super Truck drivers could better this time.

A Lap at Killarney

As you come up to the start/finish line past the pits at Killarney, you are going flat out in top gear at 160 kph. You see 2500 rpm on your rev counter.

Under the bridge and then it's hard onto the brakes for Conti corner. Steam comes off the water-cooled discs. The truck starts to float around erratically and you work overtime to keep it under control as you change down to third gear. Turn left into Continental corner. Then you feed in the power carefully and hold third up the short straight to Engen corner.

Down to second for Engen. As you exit, the power makes the tail come out as the Conti tyres fight for grip. Then it is up through the semi-automatic 5 speed gearbox to 4^th gear as the 1400 hp diesel engine hurtles you down to Shell corner. The camber at Shell corner is all wrong.

You go to the inside kerb on the right hand side of the track and start to power slide big time. Up to 5^th on the way up to Sabat corner past the Conti flags. Then you go down a cog, set up the suspension with a dab of the brakes so that you can take the two right hand corners in one long sweep. You floor it and all 4800 Nms of torque at 1800 rpm gets you out in double quick time.

Select 5^th at the back of the clubhouse and hold 160 kph all the way down to your brake marks at Vodacom corner at the Cape Town end of the circuit. Quickly back down through the box to 2^nd gear as you hear the truck creaking and groaning. You give the brakes everything you've got in your right leg and hope the water gets them cooled down quickly from 800 degrees Celsius.

Vodacom is banked and you can get the big 12 litre engine pulling you quickly out of this right hander with the tail trying to break away. You go up to 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th quickly and then select 5^th as you fly through the pits bend and go back up to 160 kph. You are now thundering along to start another lap, the exhaust echoing back from the pit wall.

Dirk reckons a lap of 1 minute 40 seconds will be good for one of these five ton monsters in the right hands.