B y the time we got our hands on a lefthand-drive
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19.502, in June 1991, the Renault AE's American Mack vee-eight had squeezed out an extra 3hp over the MAN'S vee-10. But in terms of torque nothing came anywhere near the MAN'S 2,350Nm, developed at just 900rpm. Last year we took a Roadhaas-equipped 17502 around CM 's Scottish route. With the torque plateau steady between 1,000 and 1,400rpm it felt like— hours and traffic permitting—it could run from one end of the country to the other and never need to drop out of top gear Limited to 60mph it climbed Shap and Beattock as quickly as it came down the other side. The vee-10's twin exhaust brakes became more effective as engine speed was allowed to increase to around 2,300 rpm. This large lump incurs a penalty in payload when compared with the smaller engines of around 14 litres used by Foden, Mercedes-Benz and Scania. The tractive unit weighed in at 713 tonnes with 400 litres of derv. It gave its best fuel , 1 returns when we were making the best use of the torque avail.
able. Over flat terrain it simply bubbled along with the lightest pressure on the accelerator but when full power was called for the acceleration left the opposition trailing in its wake Over the whole route we returned an average of 718mpg (39.3 lit/100km), which led the field in this power bracket. As well as exceptional journey times the big MAN was relaxing to drive. The Roadhaus cab had an armchair feel to it. An air suspension seat, well matched to the cab's four-point suspension, rode smoothly over the worst roads.