Shush...it's Marathon 2

11th November 1977, Page 50

11th November 1977

Page 50

Page 50, 11th November 1977 — Shush...it's Marathon 2

Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

LEYLAND's top-weight

tractive unit has received a face-lift, and is now flown as Marathon 2. Most of

changes are focused on river environment although -iere has been a number of lechanical modifications.

The facia has been adesigned with the depth of the _Ise-box on the passenger side ow being carried right along to instrument panel. On earlier olarathons the fuse-box lid stuck ut like a sore thumb.

The cab is now trimmed in ,BS material with a tan °louring which makes the iterior of the Marathon look ery much like that of the ,eddon Atkinson 400.

Leyland has gone to great ,ains to cut down on in-cab oise with sound absorbent flings being applied to the cab nd a foam rubber sandwich ,lanket to the engine tunnel.

Initially the Marathon 2 3nge will cover 2.97m (9ft 9in) vheelbase day-cab models with .ither turbocharged Leyland 'L12 or naturally aspirated :ummins 250 engines. The hort sleeper-cab model now eplaces the full-depth version ,n the 3.12m (10ft 3in) vheelbase models.

Rolls-Royce engined short nd sleeper-cab models will be phased into the market during early 1 978.

The short sleeper-cab model will couple to 12.2m (40ft) long semi-trailers having either 1,016 or 762mm (40 or 30in) kingpins without going over the legal limit for overall length: The exhaust system has been re-routed with a longitudinal silencer replacing the original transverse system which, however, is still available as an option. To improve braking performance, the rear brakeshoe widths have been increased from 178 to 203mm (7in to 8in).

At the Marathon's press launch I had the opportunity to drive both the Mk 2 and an earlier version to give a back-toback comparison. My first and overriding impression was that ;the extra sound proofing treatment has really worked. Both Marathons were fully laden to the maximum 32 tons gross and in the old Marathon you really knew when the engine was working hard. On the later model, however, the noise was far more subdued.

This was especially noticeable with the window wound down indicating that the new silencer configuration has played a significant part in making life a little quieter for the driver.

To make the gear lever assembly look a little tidier,' Leyland has added a small cowl to cover up the jubilee c holding the range chan switch to the gear lever.

I asked why, if Leyland mei so concerned with t appearance of the range-char switch, why they didn't use 1 control specified by, sc. Seddon Atkinson, with. t button incorporated in the to the lever. Apparently, t Leyland engineers are r entirely happy wth the reliabil of that particular arrangemf and as the "jubilee clip" versi has been completely reliak they see no reason to change

Although the Marathon h been improved considerably the cab area I was disappoint to find that nothing has bE done to improve the ri characteristics of the vehicle.

The re-designed cab mow have improved the situation far as the driver is concerned the basic ride is still poor.

As a guide to Marathon pricing, the Cummins 2 version with a day cab co El 7,950 with a sleeper versi adding a further £950.

The TL12 model co: El 9,850 in short cab form a £20,810 for a sleeper. . Marathon 2 prices are to be hi for six months from October • Graham Montgomerie