The majority of the trucks – that come to the festival – come from subscribers of the magazine. There is also a truck fair, a section with shows and the election of the ‘Most Beautiful Truck in the Netherlands’. Bennie Achterkamp is one of the participants in that election. The trucker from the Apeldoorn area transports gravel and sand in his car during the week. “That now makes it a bit more difficult to polish everything properly.”
Yet he makes sure that everything shines and shines. “Sure, if you have a chance to become the most beautiful, it has to look good.” The results of the election will be announced on Sunday morning from 10 a.m.
Achterkamp mainly comes for fun, he says. “It’s great fun every year. I have a bicycle in my truck, which I use to drive nicely over the terrain. Very nice.”
The distance that the Apeldoorner had to bridge is dwarfed by some colleagues who came to drive onto the site this morning. There are more than enough trucks from Norway, Scandinavia, the Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden. “I drove for four days,” says a Danish driver. “What I expect from this weekend? Especially a lot of hangovers.”
The ‘Far far away’ prize is awarded to the trucker who has driven the furthest to bring his truck to Assen. In 2019 it went to a driver from Greece.
There will be a packed program on the TT Circuit until 5:00 PM on Sunday afternoon. There will be a fair, fair and there will be a Dutch sing-along on Saturday evening.
Check out how truckers are getting ready for the festival here: