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SuperRacing; SuperTrucks; SuperMAN. That's what thousands of racing enthusiasts will see when the European racing trucks do battle on the Kyalami and Killarney racing circuits.

As one of South Africa's longest established truck manufacturers, MAN Truck & Bus SA is proud to bring to the shores of this country some of Europe's top truck racing teams including the 1999 champions in both the constructors and individual driver categories in the European Truck Grand Prix. Fritz Kreutzpointer is the man and his winning steed is the MAN 18.414 FT racing truck. It's an awesome combination of raw guts and raw power that South Africans are going to thrill to.

While MAN is well known on the local market as a supplier of quality trucks and buses, what is not known - and this purely due to the fact that truck racing has never before reached our shores - is that MAN is a superstar in truck racing overseas. It is true to say that the name MAN is synonymous with truck racing in Europe with many thousands of fans following the good fortunes of these trucks - and the fans are seldom disappointed.

That South Africans are now going to witness these machines in action is good news and is welcomed by MAN Truck & Bus SA which sees it as a great opportunity to raise the profile of not only the trucks themselves, but of the entire trucking industry in South Africa. In Europe, the trucking industry is afforded a high level of importance and is a highly respected player in the economies of European countries. In South Africa, this is unfortunately not so. Trucks - indeed the trucking industry as a whole - is taken for granted.

With South Africa now being part of the global 'village', this country has access to the best technology the world has to offer and while most people see this as benefiting, for example, sectors like the computer industry, MAN is a front-runner in terms of the utilisation of advanced technologies in its products. One merely has to look at the specifications of our racing trucks to realise this.

Much of this technology is tried and tested using our race trucks so MAN's commitment to truck racing is not based solely on the entertainment value of the racing but, more importantly, on the fact that it provides MAN with an arduous test-bed on which to put new products and innovations through their paces. And those products which pass the test are incorporated into our standard production trucks to benefit our on-the-road customers.

And that's what it is all about! Having fun while at the same time developing and testing new innovations and products that will benefit the users of our trucks. For now, however, the accent is on fun and MAN Truck & Bus SA is proud to bring to South Africa the fun of SuperTruck racing. Enjoy!

See the MAN 18.414 FT Technical Details