Leyland's BIM triumph
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• The new Cummins Series engineengine (or, as Leyland calls it, the Leyland 3)series) made a triumphant debut at last weekend's Brewery Transport Advisory Committee (BTAC) fuel trials when it powered a 7.5-tonner to within a whisker of 14.13 lit./100kin (20mpg).
The Leyland Roadrunner entered by the Post Office (Birmingham) emerged as the most economical 7.5-tonner by recording 14.127 lit1100km (19.99mpg). It was not the latest specification Roadrunner but it had been fitted with the Cumniins engine a few days earlier and convincingly beat the 6.98-engined Roadrunner fielded by the Post Office (Derby) that achieved 15.6 lit;100km (18.09mpg).
With 40 runners, this year's BTAC fuel trials were the largest yet. BTAC's own hybrid lightweight Volvo F12 with a Cummins LTA10-290 engine was not quite the most fuel-efficient 38-tonner, with a figure of 35.9 litilOOkm (7.87mpg) but it topped the "payload earning factor" table (payload x mpg x average speed).
That was in the "open" class; of the standard 38-tonnets a Volvo FL7 entered by Volvo but sporting Cannon colours was the most frugal at 33.35 lit/100kin (8.47nipg). It was pipped in the payload earning factor table by a Scania 92.
Of the 38-tonners entered by operators (as opposed to manufacturers) it was a double for Whitbread. Its team from Marlow fielded the most economical vehicle, an LTA10290-engined ERF which averaged 35.62 litilOOkin (7.94mph), while Whitbread (Salford) topped the operators' payload earning factor table.
Two of the new Ford Cargo 38-tonne GCW units finished in the top half of the field, thanks in part to the low tare weight of the unit.
In the class for 16.25-tonne GVW vehicles a Ford Cargo 1615 entered by Whitbread (Blackburn) was clearly the best. It was lightest on fuel with a figure of 21.26 lit/100km (13.29mpg) and also had the best payload earning factor.
The 38-tonne GCW tanker class was a head-on clash between Shell's Foden S106 6x4 unit with the Perkins (Rolls-Royce) Eagle 300 engine, an Esso ER!' C38 4 x2 unit with the ubiquitous Cummins LTA10-290 and an X-registered Esso Seddon Atkinson 401 4x2 unit with the Cummins NTE 290. Surprisingly, it was the trusty Seddon Atkinson that narrowly beat the other two tankers, with a consumption figure of 41.18 lit/100km (6.81mpg).