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FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH Commercial Motor's editor - in - chief was the first
Page 53
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to drive Dick Denby's custom LHV (the jEco-Link') in 2004. Here's Brian Weatherley's driving impression: ...We then took the wheel. The natural reaction with double-trailer rigs is to over-compensate and take enormous wide swings. With the steering bogie on the A-trailer you don't need to, and exiting the track marshalling area through a mini chicane of crash barriers proved to be no problem.
Out on the main circuit the unladen rig accelerated smoothly, but what really stood out was how well it held the line out on the track— hitting the banked section at 80km/h-plus it ran perfectly true with the second, B-trailer. resisting the temptation to drop down off the curve.
Then it was time to take 'it through the 'snake' section of the Qinetiq test track — appropriately named as it has four nasty adverse-camber turns and a vicious hairpin that can bite the unwary, as well as a very nasty hill in the middle. Wet irst watched from the passenger side while Denby driver Scott took it through the snake. With all those artic years under his belt he clearly wasn't fazed by the B-double's extra overall length as he powered the big rig through the twisting section with great aplomb. Mindful of Denby's undisclosed investment we took it a little slower! But on both runs we were again impressed by the trailer tracking and handling.
Also, in early 2006 our sister magazine Truck & Drivertook nine UK finalists in the 2005 Scania Young European Truck Driver competition to test Denby's Eco-Link, to see how it went down with the people who might end up driving them fora long time to come,
"It was so much easier than I'd expected."
says Dan Sleat. "The trailer followed really well and it required no more input from the driver
than a conventional artic." Chris Mabbett, on the other hand, compared the driving experience with being behind the wheel of his drawbar rig. "At f irst I was a little concerned," admits Matt Curtis, "but that disappeared as soon as I realised that the rear of the first trailer steers out of the turn to prevent rear trailer cut-in. Manoeuvrabiiity really is first-class."
David Gowland adds: "The second trailer follows you perfectly. You wouldn't think that something of that size could do what it does." He speaks for most when he says: "Fair play to Mr Denby for the idea and for putting it into a working vehicle." Daniel Palmer, who came third in the UK Young European Truck Driver final, spent a few days in Sweden with Scania in September where he was given the opportunity to drive a Swedish-style 25.25m combination. At the time he described it as easy to drive, but believes the Eco-Link to be ever more manoeuvrable. "I found there was much less cut-in, so it required less road space," he says.