Pursuit of excellence
Page 26
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Despite rumours of a move to the NEC the Institute of Road Transport Engineers' annual show looks set to remain at Telford, at least for 1995. It may be cramped; it may not have the best parking, but it does offer a hard core of professional visitors with far fewer tyre-kickers than Birmingham. And for cash-strapped manufacturers quality will always count over quantity.
Don't look for trends at Telford; look for minority interests. The two 44-tonne intermodal drawbars on display at IRTE prove that there are some people looking to run at the higher weight limit, just as there are some who want ultra-low tractors or lowloading-height brewery drays. But they're not in a majority.
Telford is all about "what if?" engineering, and offering specific solutions to individual transport problems. Which is probably why the two 44-tonne intermodal drawbars on show offered different answers to the same problem, namely how to carry heavy swap bodies that range in length from 7.15 to 7.82m.
However, despite showing an intermodal drawbar on its stand, specialist trailer maker Maxilode reckons that UK operators will opt for 13.6m swap bodies on conventional semi-trailers, leaving the Germans and Scandinavians to stick with their little boxes.
Meanwhile most IRTE visitors were still pursuing the haulier's holy grail: more strength, for less weight, and for less money.