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TRUCKING THROUGH THE OUTBACK

21st July 2005, Page 61
21st July 2005
Page 61
Page 61, 21st July 2005 — TRUCKING THROUGH THE OUTBACK
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In Australia long-distance means long-distance — vehicles are rolling 24/7 across endless miles of outback We took a ride in a BFL Kenny for a taste of driving Down Under.

When you're running a 24/7 trans-continental operation single manning isn't an option. CM joined the BFL team to help pilot a double roadtrain rig on a 2,700km jaunt through the Nullarbor desert, from Perth in Western Australia to Adelaide in South Australia (roughly equivalent to driving from Lisbon to Hamburg, though the environment could hardly have been more different). Our man stayed on board for the whole run, but he shared the cab with a succession of three BFL drivers to put in 30 driving hours at an average speed of 90km/h.

Apart from slowing down for a few small towns we encountered nothing more than the occasional oncoming truck —apart from two cyclists spotted out in the Nullarbor who were either brave, mad or simply a mirage. As well as mandatory 30-minute breaks after five hours' driving we stopped for coffee at two motels where BFL has rooms available for its drivers. The working day is usually split into 12 hours resting at motels and 12 hours behind the wheel, Our mount was a classic 36.5m Aussie roadtrain: a 6x4 Kenworth K104 hauling a brace of triaxle 13.7m semis linked by a two-axle doily with a GCW of 87.5 tonnes. To be honest we'd rather have made the run in one of BFL's FH12s. The fact that the Kenny is Australia's most popular long-haul wagon says more about the Aussies' macho character than it does about the virtues of US truck design. Compared with any European or Scandinavian top-weight tractor the K104 was noisy and uncomfortable, with rock-hard suspension. On the other hand we couldn't complain about the amount of power on tap or the transmission on this two-year-old which has 850,000km on the clock.

When you're hauling a roadtrain across a desert you need a willing, ultra-reliable lump so you could do much worse than the Kenny's six-pot 14-litre Detroit Diesel Series 60 engine. It puts out a maximum 515hp at 1,800 rpm with 2,337Nm at 1,200rpm, with bags of grunt available from 1,000rpm. With relatively low 4.55:1 drive axle gearing the 100km/h speed limit equated to 1,750rpm; with higher gearing we reckon the Kenworth could do better than the 15011f/100km (1.9mpg) we averaged on this trip. A figure that would give a UK transport manager the screaming abdabs, but that's the price you pay for running on desert roads at the best part of 90 tonnes.

The box is a beaut

But while we might want to adjust the axle ratio we found nothing whatever to complain about in the 18-speed Fuller/Eaton gearbox. In this case the unsynchronized box boasts a semi-automatic gear-change, so the clutch pedal is only needed for starting and stopping.

If you'd like to know how well the brakes work on a Kenworth roadtrain you'll have to look elsewhere. They certainly did their job when we pulled up for a rest but out in the desert you might as well do without because there's nothing to stop for.

On the second stage of the trip, the 1,150km stretch from Mundrabilla Motel to Port Augusta, our co-driver was 36-year-old Darren Buck. He's been driving heavies for 17 years and still loves the lifestyle. As we gaze out at the desert Landscape the conversation inevitably turns to our favourite trucks. "Over the years I've driven a lot of different brands, including Swedish ones," he says. But I haven't found any that even come close to Kenworth. My opinion of Volvo and Scania is quite clear —they're simply too comfortable."

"Too comfortable"? Not a phrase you normally think of as a criticism, so I ask him to be more specific. "Well, both brands are excellent when we're talking about smaller vehicles and B-double combinations," he says. "But in my opinion they are no good when it comes to pulling Road Trains. The thing is, the suspension is far too soft and the steering is too light so you have to be alert every second and correct swaying from the trailers. What's more the noise level in the cabin is so low that you risk falling asleep!" Noisy engines as a safety aid? Now why haven't the marketing men thought of that before?

No worries, mate

Buck drives the same stretch of dual carriageway between Mundrabilla and Port Augusta day in and day out, but he doesn't seem to yearn for fresh pastures, "On average I drive twice a week, which is equivalent to about 4,600km," he says, "Since we are talking about 50 hours a week, the wages after taxes are A$800 dollars (E340], As I live in Port Augusta [about 340km north of Adelaide] I sleep at home twice a week and most holidays. That's why I don't have any cause for complaints."

In fact few British long-distance drivers would be too impressed by that figure, but you can't read too much into the bald figures. While some parts of Australian cities are expensive to live in, property is generally cheaper than we're used to. According to a website designed to help would be immigrants Down Under calculate relative wages, if you took home Buck's wage of £340 a week in the UK you'd need a take-home of just 0250 in Australia to maintain the same standard of living. To put it another way, in UK terms his take-home pay has the purchasing power of about £460 a week. Suffice to say he's making a comfortable living. And will many European drivers might find the desert landscape boring, Buck finds it endlessly fascinating. In fact, compared with all too many UK professional drivers he is content with his lot.

"Job-wise, there is nothing that bothers me," he remarks. "The best thing is that on this route we do not have anything to do with the loading and unloading —we don't even have to wash the truck, we only take care of cleaning the cabin."

At the end of the run Darren could look forward to a 12-hour rest at home. Then he'd be setting course for Mundrabilla again, where he was scheduled for a couple of days off before returning to Port Augusta. When asked how he spent his time off at the motel, which is in the middle of miles of nothing at all, he grins: "If you think that there's nothing to do up there, you're completely wrong. I love nature, so I spend most of the time hiking in the bush and on the beach."

It's all a long way from trucking up the M6 through a British winter.

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