Ten titles for Bardon Mill trucker

Stuart races for Team Oliver in the British Truck Racing Championship

He's the only man in the world to win 10 championship titles, despite horrible weather and broken windscreen wipers!

Stuart Oliver has just won the 2009 British Championship. So how glamorous is the world of trucking?

"There's no luxury at all," Stuart Oliver says of the inside of his truck cab.

"There's no radios, no ashtrays, no cup-holders - nothing."

It's pretty Spartan. But then, when you're driving five-and-a-half tons of truck at 100mph, changing the radio station isn't likely to be top of your mind!

Stuart, from Bardon Mill, in Northumberland, is a 10-times truck racing champion.

He's won ten British Championships for Team Oliver and one European Championship.

Stuart would be the first man to win 10 championships

He currently leads the 2009 Class A Delphi British Truck Racing Championship.

Circuit racing

Stuart first started racing 11 years ago - but came to it with lots of driving experience.

"From a very early age I used to rally around the fields in old cars and motorbikes," he explains.

"You get to know how things work and that's managed to sort of transform onto the race track."

He says the set up is a lot like you might recognise from Formula One.

The races take place on circuits, as with car racing, and he wears a full race suit, a harness and a helmet that contains a microphone and speaker when competing.

Stuart in action in his superstar truck at Donnington

The latter enables his support team to speak to him while he's on the track - and there's a button on the steering wheel Stuart can press if he needs to speak to them.

The trucks themselves are based on road-going trucks - but, as Stuart puts it, "that's not where it stops".

His truck has 16 gears, 1,050 horse power and 5,000m of torque.

It's a bit of a star in its own right and has even appeared on channel Five's Fifth Gear (as has Stuart).

Scary moments

Back to the cab, and, while there's obviously no need for luxuries in the truck, stripping it back to the bare essentials helps keep it light for racing.

Plastic coverings are removed too, so lots of wires and workings are exposed.

"It's all just about saving weight," Stuart explains. "The cab is the highest point of the truck so you want as little weight as possible there.

"You want to keep your centre of gravity as low as possible."

Stuart can communicate with his support team while driving

What remains, are the devices essential for driving, including instruments for monitoring the engines and brakes.

Everything is close to hand.

"It all has to be just at your finger tips," Stuart says.

"You need to be able to get at it without looking at it - because you're spending most of your time concentrating on where you're going."

So have there been any hairy moments on the track?

"Yes," Stuart laughs, "but I think the art of it is to forget the scary moments.

"If you remembered them all you probably wouldn't continue with racing!