two bikes and make the job list for the mechanics to follow . “ For a European race , I will leave home on Tuesday and Wednesday morning and we are all on the track . First to build up the pit boxes and then , in the afternoon , the mechanics will start to strip the bikes . I will have a technical meeting with my electronic and suspension engineers to make sure of what the latest developments are and to make sure I understand and agree with how they want to start . “ Thursday is the Michelin tyre meeting to discuss the compounds that they brought . I organise with my tyre guy what I want fitted for FP1 ( free practice one ) and FP2 and then it ’ s time to have a meeting with Pol to discuss the plan . “ When the GP starts , its more about people management and reacting to the problems that you face , so a lot of talking , data checking and plan making . “ I travel home on the Monday , then it ’ s report time , and again checking the reports from all
the different groups to ‘ try ’ and understand what I could have done better . Usually this is all done by the end of Tuesday , and then it starts all over again .” The workload sounds brutal , so would Trevathan recommend this lifestyle to young Kiwis looking to follow in his footsteps ? “ For sure ! I was very lucky to have been able to make a career out of my passion , and I have no regrets . It ’ s not the easiest lifestyle and what you find is that there are two types of people in the paddock , ones who want to try it , see the amount of work that there is , and stay at it for two to three years , and then there are the ‘ lifers ’ who end up doing it for their whole working career . “ To be honest , what you need to do that is a very good and understanding partner and family , as they have to do without you for over 200 days a year , so this is perhaps the most challenging thing to find .”
48 KIWI RIDER