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DOES I' International haulier William Lucy runs the first right-handdrive vehicle in the UK factory-fitted with a Telma Retarder. CM hitched a ride to Austria to assess its performance.
Driving a 38-tonne artic from Liverpool to Austria is a hard way to earn a crust. Throw in a rough ferry crossing, the fatigue of two days' driving, cap it with the red tape used by customs when you get to non-EC Austria and you have a mix to dispel any romantic notions about international haulage. That is sheer hard slog.
As far as Liverpool operator William Lucy is concerned, any additional piece of kit that can combine a smoother ride with reduced running costs is welcome aboard: cue the Telma Retarder.
William Lucy is run by brothers John and Michael Lucy; we joined John in his Volvo F12 for one of the firm's regular runs to Austria to see if his new Telma Focal 3300 Brake Retarder is earning its keep.
The F12 is the first right-hand-drive vehicle in the UK to be fitted with a Telma Retarder as original equipment, courtesy of Volvo's production line at Irvine.
NEW VEHICLE
The arrangement came about after the Lucy brothers met Telma at the Institute of Road Transport Engineers show. A new vehicle was in the offing and the brothers had decided they wanted to fit a retarder. The Volvo was duly fitted with the Telma system, controlled through the drivel me by a dashmounted switch.
Fitting cost £3,500 but John Lucy expects it to pay for itself: "We had a Volvo F10 on this job previously," he explains. "It went through three sets of brake linings a year at £600 a time." If the dealer's predictions are accurate the retarder should cut brake lining replacement to one set every five years.
The dealer in question is Clive Blackledge, sales manager of Thomas Hardie, Lucy's local Volvo outlet. He worked closely with Telma to give the brothers the right combination — Volvo believes in retarders enough to offer a choice of an exhaust brake or engine brake on the new FH series (CM713 October).The pre-fitted equipment will knock up to 400kg of the weight penalty of a bolt-on retarder.
We met John Lucy at Dover on a blustery Sunday afternoon for the sailing to Zeebrugge aboard a P&O freighter of the old school. Cabins did not have showers; the noisy drivers' saloon served as a restaurant, bar, video room, bank and duty-free shop. After crossing to Zeebrugge through some unfriendly Channel weather, we drove through the night into Holland, parking at midnight in a truckstop to grab some sleep.
Before dawn we were on the road again, heading towards the German border, crossing into northern Germany at 06:00hrs past the unmanned border post. The early start was worth it to miss the rush: Germany enforces a lorry ban from midnight Saturday to 22:00hrs Sunday. As a result hundreds of lorries from Northern Europe queue at the border waiting to race into Germany. "At lOpm it's all systems go," says Lucy.
Before long the retarder was easing our passage on some moderate inclines on the autobahn heading south to Koblenz: "You can go down any mountain with the retarder without hitting the normal brakes," says Lucy.This eliminates passible of brake fade.
Lucy's load on this run is 19.5 tonnes of automotive components due to be tipped at Linz, a town nestling on the Danube, north of Vienna. It's a nice heavy load to test out a retarder," he comments.
This may be the firm's last road run to Austria. The brothers set up a swap-body drawbar intermodal service from Zeebrugge this month taking advantage of the new 44tonne drawbar limit for intermodal work. In future the company will deliver to the railhead in Belgium, from where the goods will be transported to their regular customers in Austria and Switzerland.
At Zeebrugge Lucy will pick up a swapbody backload and return to the UK. Even the run as far as Zeebrugge will become redundant when P&O introduces a slave-trailer system at Dover: "The driver will be home every night," says Lucy.
The retarder was fitted in May and Lucy has not noticed any fuel drag: "We get 8.5 miles to the gallon and we are getting quicker journey times because you do not need to slow down on hills. You notice the difference if you are running with someone else bemuse you lose them all the time."
The welcome sight of BP's Feuchtwangen truckstop hove into view mid-morning on the Nurnberg road. Regretably, we were too early for the set a lunch special so, after showering in spotlessly clean, individual cubicles we settled for eggs, sausages, mounds of fried potatoes with onions and generous helpings from the bottomless coffee pot.
PROBLEMS
Germany has a speed limit of 80km/11 (50mph) which can create problems for trucks braking during a steep descent which then need to find the power to climb a hill. "You can get away with 90," says Lucy, "but with the retarder you can keep to 80 going downhill and get up the other side at 80 as well."
Certainly, descents encountered en route were not marred by the need to keep pumping the brakes, ensuring a smooth ride for the passenger. Lucy says the worst that can happen with a retarder is that the brakes can become glazed through under-use. This can be avoided by using them in the normal way from time to time.
We followed the course of the Danube through southern Germany to reach Passau on the Austrian border at 15.30hrs. Passports and documentation were required for the first time since leaving England. Lucy had to fill in two statistical papers and a form for road tax, which cost him ..£50 plus £7.50 overtime for entering the country after 15.00hrs.
The Austrians set a limit of 200 litres of diesel which can be brought into the country. Lucy, who was a little over the limit, was fortunate not to be dipped. The police fine drivers .£30 for each 100 litres over but it is difficult for drivers to judge how much fuel will be on board by the time they reach the border. Drivers unfortunate enough lobe dipped at Salzherg face having excess fuel pumped out.
We finally pulled into the yard at Linz as dusk settled over the Danube. It was Monday night and Lucy wouldn't be home until Friday. He smiled ruefully as we parted: "If I come back here only once more I want to return when Austria is in the EC just so I can drive straight through that flipping border."