• Last year's star of the IRTE display was the
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BOC Transhield, Gray and Adamsbodied Daf drawbar which bristled with innovation. This year the space was amply filled by Bandag's ubiquitous TransEurope customised articulated rig based on a bonnetted Mack tractive unit.
There was nothing symbolic about this replacement — the IRTE show has not forsaken its tradition of practical, innovative exhibits in favour of more glitzy displays, nor was there a marked swing away from drawbars back to artics this year. There were many examples, however, both in artic and drawbar form, of the continuing search for more cube.
On the drawbar side, York Trailer displayed a centre bogie drawbar trailer-based combination with a claimed load volume of 114m3. Bodywork is the latest Freightmaster design with slimmer walls. Cheek by jowl with the York drawbar was one of the eight which Adcliffe Engineers of Coleorton has supplied to Elan for its overnight parcels delivery service.
Adcliffe is well satisfied with the way its pantograph-type close-coupled drawbar coupling has sold since its unveiling at last year's IRTE show: the company says 24 have been sold in the past twelve months.
For visitors more interested in semi-trailers than drawbars, but still out to maximise load volume, there was even more of interest.
Carrymaster of Doncaster kept the wraps on its new double-deck semi-trailer until Solihull this year. The special attraction of the unit on display, which is being used by GM for parts delivery, is that it stays within the 4.2 metre height limit at 38-tonnes GCW, while still offering 1.85m of headroom in both decks. The new Carrymaster trailer has specially designed stepped axles with BPW hubs and tapered leaf suspension.
Demand is stilt high for pillarless curtainsided semitrailers. Now Kurtrans has joined the pillarless society with its Kantilever model. As the name suggests the roof is supported on cantilevers. The unit on display had a 12.4m overall length, was based on a Task tri-axle chassis, and is destined for Gylemuir Trailers of Broxburn in Scotland.
It was a busy IRTE show for Boalloy, which has extended its already extensive range. The Tautliner called Simply is a low cost, low weight, no frills body. BoaHoy's Euroliner did not appear at Solihull. This is the new sliding-door Boalloy body, based on its well established Linldiner but with sufficient interior width for two metric pallets to be carried side-byside.
Characteristically, Boalloy is unwilling to make its new body generally available until its durability has been fully proven, which is what Bass is currently doing with seven prototypes.
Prominent among the firsttime Solihull exhibitors was Carrier Transport Refrigeration of Warrington, which unveiled three new refrigeration units there. The Mistral 390 is a one piece nose mount unit with standard evaporator, which is suitable for body lengths from 4.27m to 6.7m. The Mistral 405 is a direct replacement for the Mistral 400, that, like so many modern refrigeration units uses a Japanese diesel engine, from Kubota in this case. The Zephyr 540 replaces the Zephyr 140 and is suitable for small bodies up to 10m3 in volume.