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Driving the Marathon

31st August 1973, Page 41
31st August 1973
Page 41
Page 42
Page 41, 31st August 1973 — Driving the Marathon
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by Gibb Grace

AN impressive range of trucks — that's my verdict on Leyland's new heavies after driving several of them on the Continent. Full CM tests and operational trials must wait a little while yet, but last month I was one of only two British transport journalists invited to drive vehicles returning from a special Marathon preview for BLMC distributors and selected operators held in Montreux, Switzerland.

Our party met the vehicles just as they cleared Customs at Perly, a border, post between Switzerland and France, and the first model I sampled was a 6 x 4 tractive unit hauling a payload of 20 tons and running at about 34 tons gross. This is well below the maximum permissible weight of this model but as much as the Swiss authorities would allow. Entry to this left-hand-drive model was very easy indeed and once aboard I was surprised how roomy the cab was. This cab had the optional windows behind the doors and in the rear quarters and was very light and airy.

Confidence El The first stage of our journey was through mountainous country to reach the autoroute at Macon. Hardly before I had covered the first mile, and while I was still getting accustomed to the vehicle, we came to a section of narrow main road through a small town and as I inched my way through parked cars and overhanging buildings, the precise steering gave confidence and the big 335 bhp Cummins engine was docile enough to manoeuvre the vehicle without deafening or choking the passers-by — who hardly batted an eyelid.

In situations like this one is acutely aware of being in a big, unfamiliar truck and is thankful when it does what you want it to do as painlessly as possible.

The Fuller box was well worn on this much-travelled development vehicle but down-changes were quick and easy and the tremendous power available enabled most climbs to be taken in our stride. On hairpin bends the very light, precise steering really came into its own and visibility through the screen and side windows on downhill and uphill bends was very good. Sometimes the offside mirror would hide the road ahead on a left-hand bend but it would be hard to find a better position for the mirrors. Despite the long mounting brackets the rear view was still half obstructed by the semitrailer in the dead aheadposition but both mirrors were vibration free at all speeds over a variety of surfaces.

We reached the autoroute in just over four hours' driving, at an average speed of about 25 mph indicating how tough — and in many places climbing that section was. Once on the autoroute — a two-lane motorway — our speed increased considerably, in fact our average doubled to close on 50 mph. There were several long climbs driving northwards to Paris on this stretch and over the 24 miles to our first motorway stop no big trucks passed the Marathon on these climbs.

At one point we caught and passed a TL12-engined Marathon also running at 34 tons gross on one such grade — underlining that there is no substitute for horsepower when it comes to climbing ability.

The speed limit for heavy vehicles on French autoroutes is 80 kph (50 mph) and passing slow-moving traffic at this speed on a busy two-lane carriageway calls for some quick thinking, as cars have no speed limit and approach in the fast lane at ridiculous speeds — emphasizing the need for good mirrors.

Impressive 0 At Aire de Armbraie the trucks pulled in and I swopped over to driving a longwheelbase two-axle TL I 2-engined model with a sleeper cab. This was a much newer vehicle than the Cummins-engined 6 x 4, and was a pre-production, linebuilt model. I was most impressed by this second machine and became increasingly so as I drove farther on down the autoroute.

The ride was as good as any tractive unit I have ever driven and the in-cab noise level at 50 mph was remarkably low. The turbocharged TL12 engine has a less harsh note than the Cummins and at about 50 mph wind and road seemed to contribute as much noise as the engine.

On this model the throttle and clutch had no tendency to stick (as they had on the older development 6 x 4 sampled earlier) and the Fuller box worked like a dream.

We • had covered some 130 miles of autoroute and could have gone on much farther, for we were not tired and there was still plenty of time left, but two trailers had to be dropped at the Fruehauf France plant in Auxerres and so we spent the night there.

The next day I chose a right-hand-drive TL12-engined short-cab model with the standard 10ft 2in. wheelbase intended for Britain. This was another development vehicle but was nonetheless in very good trim. The engine was fully run in and ran quieter and even more smoothly than the one of the previous day but by comparison with that longer wheelbase vehicle the ride was poorer.

On the smoothest surfaces the ride was good but over poorer surfaces the cab nodded and plunged in typical tractive unit fashion. The vehicle was properly set up as regards fifth-wheel position, etc, and although I didn't get an opportunity to try another short-wheelbase unit I imagine that the poorer ride is simply a function of the shorter wheelbase.

Full road test reports on Marathons will be published in CM as soon as representative models are made available by BLMC.

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Locations: Montreux, Paris

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