Recently in roadtesting Category

Well note QUITE the last one for the night on Biglorryblog as I have Timothy Hall for tipping me off to this story...and Dan Strohl, associate editor at the excellent Hemmings Motor News on http://blog.hemmings.com who tracked down a decent-sized picture for me. The story concerns a year-long trial conducted in Holland with this 'boat-tail' trailer by PART--which as everyone knows is the Platform for Aerodynamic Road transport and you can see what they do by clicking on this link http://www.part20.eu/en/ Anyway it seems, together with a number of industry partners they have been testing various boat-tail configurations like the one above and they've achieved an up to 7.5% fuel saving after a year's trials. Not bad eh? Of course there's the small matter of docking dock compatibility but click through here for what other work has been done on boat-tails...and that loading dock solution...

Trolling through the excellent Scania image bank this morning I came across a couple of histroic R&D/truck testing phtos...and they must be old they're in black & white! In case your're wondering what happening up above its a 3-Series six-wheeler undergoing a front tyre explosion test in 1989. Aii caramba! Now click through here for a classic cab impact test pie quiz!  

What you see here is the Mercedes demo coach driver's 'Party Piece' at the Stuttgart test track adjacent to the factory. having put you in a luxury Setra coach (powered by a Mercedes engine naturally) they then whizz you off down the track and while you're busy gabbing away you don't tend to notice what's coming up---i.e. this 'wall of death' turnaround at the end of the straight which the driver proceeds to hit at around 100km/h and, to the delight of some thrill-seekers (of which BLB is not one), then takes his hands off the wheel to show the neutral steering on the banking... the picture doesn't exactly do it justice as the snapper has titled the camera somewhat...the coach is actually leaning more to the left! Anyway click through here to see some more from the sequence...and please pass the sick-bag Alice.

Hello... What's this then? A personalised number plate for a rather special truck. But what's that got to do with Biglorryblog? Well click through here and you'll find out won't you...?

It's funny how perceptions linger on long after things have changed. Take Iveco for instance. I reckon (and I suspect I'm still in a majority) that the Stralis is a much under-rated tractor. Though not so under-rated---for at last year's Truckfest Peterborough the Stralis Active Space won Truck & Driver's 'Drivers' Choice award when judged by a team of pro drivers against the likes of the Volvo FH, Scania Topline, Daf XF105, Mercedes Actros Megaspace and Renault Magnum (which also drew praise from the judges). Yet try and get a driver in the cab of a Stralis and you get all sorts of old-fashioned and out-of-date comments. 

I recently spoke to a large fleet operator down my way (Kent) who runs Merc tractors and who had just taken delivery of a new Stralis. "What does the driver think of it I asked him..? "He loves it came the reply." Go figure. And as a domestic trunker I reckon the 450hp Cursor 10 engined, narrow-high-roof cabbed Active Time Stralis (see here in my brief video walk around) is also a serious fleet contender. How serious you'll have to wait until the roadtest comes out on Thursday 27th August...

Last one for tonight and it's a real doozie. Gary Richards sent me this (I'm assuming it was sent on to him by a colleague)...Anyroadup he says: "Guess you might have seen this destructive testing....the barrier maker would be happy with that outcome!" Naturally he then suggests that the outcome might have been different with a Mack truck but it's probably wishful thinking on his part...Meanwhile, I don't know who to credit for the video clip although I trust they won't mind me sharing it. It appears quite a few times on YouTube. If you know who did take it I'll happily credit them...or remove it if it causes a problem. According to Gary's e-mail it was sent by someone who works for the Army Corp of Engineers and shows the effectiveness (and how) of a concrete barrier in stopping a truck.

Iveco's 'Nick of the Santon' has sent me this shot of yours truly and Mr Cholmondley-Warner merrily wending our way up to MIRA on the A5 for the start of the Commercial Motor roadtest of the Stralis 450 AT tractor (and that's our CM/SDC/Hill Hire test trailer on the back) "For the anorak army to prove you really can drive and are on the road...." says Nick...

 
Tight turning into the MIRA fuelling area by the control tower we hear a loud clunk from behind the cab. Oh oh....something's fouled the front of the trailer....but what? Lead-up ramps? Side deflector ? Landing legs? None of the above--in fact the nearside corner of the trailer had clipped the JPS fuel meter (used to determine the fuel used on each of our test route stages - which is then cross-matched with the final tank-top-to-tank-top figure) fitted by Mr C-W  behind the cab and up until that point (and that particular tight turn) it had easily cleared the front bulkhead! Still no harm done and Nick and Mr C-W quickly opened the sliding fifth-wheel up a notch and all was well--and we still had a nice tight cab gap too. Funny how it only touched on that particular turn...and nowhere else. Anyroadup click through here for more....

Heads up Biglorryblog anorak army! I shall be away roadtesting a new Iveco Stralis over the next three days----not this one but one not far off, an Active Time 450hp Cursor 10 twin-steer...so I'll be a bit busy until Thursday night. However, hopefully Clutchslip and Will Shiers can keep things ticking over. Meanwhile, I shall endeavour to post up the odd shot from the road as I go around CM's Scottish test route...... and may even do a quick video walkaround so stay tuned!

And it's goodnight from him... You know I could get used to blogging in a Strator... Look how much room there is when the bottom bunk is converted into a set of table and chairs... That's what the laptop is resting on as you read this. And what have I been doing with Iveco's bonneted beauty? Click through here to find out!

In case you've been wondering why your favourite truckie blogger hasn't been posting throughout the past two days (or rather not until the end of each day) it's because Biglorryblog is actually out of the office doing a Commercial Motor roadtest on the splendid little Volvo FM with the latest 11-litre 430 Euro-5 lump and the new LXL high-roof Globetrotter cab...

And why should picture this cause a CM roadtester to get all touchy and grumpy? Click through here to find out the answer!

Just in case you've ben wondering where your favourite truckie blogger has been and why I haven't been posting up as frequently as normal it's because I've been down a quarry for the annual Commercial Motor 'Tipper Light' bun-fight where we take a number of small tippers (well 'small-ish' as today we'll have some 18-tonners too) run them through their paces with a load on inh the quarry and around a short road course too. It was fabulous weather yesterday as you can see... But it rained during the night so I can see us all getting liberally coated in white sludge!

Still, there is the odd 'compensation' like having the loan of Renault's hospitality trailer as our mission control and with CM's admin exec Sandra Greaves buttering the buns and plying us lazy swine with tea and biscuits it's not too hard a job... And I'll tell you more later today.

bet you this bloke had a red face.....and it's well and truly b#ggered up his roller shutter too. This selection of shots featuring a painful lesson on how not to do it right comes to Biglorryblog via the Krafty Kiwi Rod Simmonds who's been rather rude to fellow BLB stalwart Vic Hungerford as he asks: "Vic...are you on local work now?" Hmmm....I can see an equally rude post coming back on that one from Vic. Meanwhile, here's some more pictures.

It reminds me of the time Bill Brock was testing a Windfoil Leyland Terrier with a GRP and balsawood body and I was the fresh-faced young snapper on Commercial Motor. Bill drove the truck up a 1:6 hill at the MIRA test hill to test its park brake and the test load inside slid back and promptly punched the roller shutter out of it's track. Fortunately isn't wasn't quite as bad as this one----so he drive over the top of the test hill and down the 1:5 reverse slope whilst braking gently and it all slid back up against the front bulkhead again (remember kids don't try this at home...).allowing us to jemmy and lever the roller shutter back into the track. But it by then the back of the body was well-and-truly @#+*&%$ed! What larks!

How does 14.53mpg (or 14.531893mpg to be strictly precise) grab you for the fuel return of a 40-tonne artic? Not bad says Biglorryblog (I usually achieve that with a 44-tonne going downhill northbound by the Stoke turn-off on the M6...but that's another story...)

Anyway word reaches BLB that in an unusual "Truck fuel efficiency drive" in Nardo, Italy, last week a new Mercedes Actros (that's it on the left being fuelled up by the tanker on the right) set a new record for the world's most economical series-production truck with the 40-tonne Actros artic and box trailer consuming 19.44 litres of diesel per 100 km (or 14.53mpg if you like your fuel figures in 'old' money) , which is the equivalent of less-than 0.8 litres per hundred tonne-kilometres (tkm) over a seven day round-the-clock test drive covering 1,272,894 kilometres.

Apparently this record-breaking feat has already been witnessed by observers from the Guinness World Records who have recognised it with a world record entry in "The most fuel-efficient 40 tonne truck" category. So there. And how do I know all this? Because Shell was the exclusive supplier of fuels and lubricants for the recordbreaking run and they've told me all about it and the part they played. Now click through here tio find out all about it.....

A misty dawn at a test track 'somewhere in England'. A selection of top-of-the-range tractive units. A rousing chorus of snores gently echoing around the landscape. It couldn't be anything else other than the morning after Commercial Motor's annual Sleeper Cab test. And naturally Biglorryblog was roped in as a 'hired gun' journo to spend a night in a flagship tractor. Which one did I get...? Well here's a strong clue.

And here it is, a Mercedes Actros MegaSpace which proved a comfortable abode away from home. The mattress was particularly good and that's without the latest 'sun-longer' feature in the 'new' Actros. And what's that parked up beside it? Why, it's the mighty Biglorryblog Multipla--although not so mighty as it's currently sitting in the local Fiat garage having new pads and discs fitted front and back. Easy enough you say. Only the Fiat dealer that originally sold it to me (not the one that's currently got it) put the wrong locking key for the anti-theft wheelnuts into the car wheh I bought it lasy year. Lucky I didn't have a puncture. As the service manager from my current Fiat dealer noted: "You'd have been right b*ll*xed!" Well quite. Still I've got a rather sporty Panda to tide me over till it's fixed. (And don't ask how they got the locking nuts off....)

Meanwhile, here's another one of our cab contenders--the new Magnum (so new we had a left-hooker)...and talking of newcomers in our CM cab test click through here for another debutante....

Having blogged on the subject of 'Only Fools and Horses' and Del Boy I am grateful to Richard Kingston, Daf's demo supremo for sending me this picture. A couple of years ago Daf had an LF45 decalled up in the livery of 'Peckham Parcels' as the truck appeared in an episode of OFAH--I think it was the Xmas issue. However, it also put the truck out for roadtesting with the trade mags including Commercial Motor and yours truly drove it.

Now click through here to see what I thought of it...

Did you know (and not a lot of people know this) that this week WABCO completed its 20th winter test cycle at the company-owned test track at Rovaniemi, in the Arctic Circle. Working in temperatures as extreme as minus 30°C, the company's engineers and technicians have logged approximately 1290 man-days during this year’s winter tests. The 55-day winter program involved tests with 25 WABCO-owned vehicles as well as joint tests of trucks (like the one above) and buses from leading commercial vehicle manufacturers.

WABCO has operated its own test area in Northern Finland since 1998, with the Arctic Circle test track and the region’s below-zero temperatures creating optimum conditions to test innovative braking and driving control systems. An 800-meter (875-yard) braking track allows for tests of a wide range of braking systems. Braking is tested on ice, snow or asphalt, as well as on combinations of the three surfaces. A circular skid pad, with a radius of 280 meters (306 yards), is specifically designed for electronic stability control (ESC) tests. An inclined test slope incorporating grades of 3.5 and 7% is also used for testing drive slip control systems (ASR).

Now click through here for some interesting news regarding electronic stability systems which I didn't realise....

Talking of Detroit Diesel-powered ERF ECs as per my previous blog I was prompted to rifle through the old Commercial Motor Road Test files. Why? because I knew we had tested no less than two DD ERFs in 1997 and 1998...ironically both by Toby Clark, now editor of roadtransport.com

This was around the time of ERF's ground-breaking 'Fuel Duel' marketing campaign, which scared the pants off all the other manufacturers because few, if any, could put up a truck that could beat the ISM Cummins-powered EC in its prime.

Apart from maybe one..and that was the ERF EC with the 12.7-litre detroit Diesel 60 Series in it. Toby tested an 430hp EC127.44ST tractor, accompanied by legendary demo driver Derek Rafferty, in October 1998 when it returned an astonishing 8.52mph around our old three-day route. At the time it was the first 38-tonner to so do around the 1,180km circuit.

And interestingly enough, it beat the 'Fuel Duel' 380hp Cummins-powered EC11.38 which we also tested in August 1997 and returned 8.47mpg. For what it's worth, when Toby drove the lower-powered 370hp version of the 60 Series in the ERF EC it also broke the 'eight-barrier' with 8.03.

Make no mistake, the 60 Series was a VERY impressive engine. So why didn't ERF puruse it with more vigour? Well for a start there were issues with having to create the right kind of back-up. ERF dealers were already committed to Cummins and introducing another engine wasn't as easy as it sounded, especially as the Detroit was a hi-tech electronic diesel. There was also a question mark over how committed Detroit Diesel was to the UK market. It was no lightweight either, especially compared with an ISM. So slowly it faded from view and had been dropped by the time the ECX/ECS appeared, leaving just a handful on the road. And as you can see from the blog below...that number's just been reduced by one! Do any BLB readers know where there are any others?

Meanwhile, click through here to see another well-preserved old ERF EC, picture courtesy of Road Rat.

What is this man in a funny hat doing squatting down on the cold tarmac with an expensive camera? Well he happens to be Truck & Driver ace freelancer Craig Sheer and he's takling a picture for yours truly as part of the next T&D Cab Kit Test--which is why I haven't been blogging today.

So click through here to see what it's all about