AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Pride and passion

27th September 2007
Page 16
Page 17
Page 16, 27th September 2007 — Pride and passion
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Scania's Young European Truck Driver of the Year com petition was held in Sweden last weekend and the UK had its best result to date. Rikki Chequer reports.

Sodertalje, an industrial town close to Stockholm, saw a steady stream of coaches (Scanias, naturally, as Sodertalje is the home of Scania's HQ) arriving with drivers, their families, Scania staff and press from more than 27 countries to take part in the third Young European Truck Driver of the Year competition.

Over two days 27 drivers completed a series of stringent driving tests to find the 2007 winner.

More than 16,000 drivers from the European Union, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey had taken part in national finals to see who would attend the final in Sweden and have the chance of winning a brand new Scania truck.

The UK attracted the highest number of entrants in the national heats with 2,640 young drivers taking part. The UK winner was William Herron.31,of WJ Herron transport — an agricultural haulier from Northern Ireland.

William. accompanied by his wife, his father (the company's founder,William Herron Snr) and a couple of representatives from Scania GB, appeared calm and controlled, but admitted to CM that his biggest worry was the fact he had never driven on the Continent before. To ensure the fairest competition possible, Mark Agnew, driver training manager of Scania GB. arranged a short familiarisation drive through the area.

The event was organised with the support of the European Commission and the International Road Transport Union; it was sponsored by Michelin and Shell. The ethos of the competition is about road safety, inspiring professionalism and promoting a higher public image of drivers.

Runners-up too As well as the national winners, Scania also brought the second and third placed drivers from each country to Sweden. Invited to support their country's champion. they also had the opportunity to visit Scania's R&D centre—and to give Scania a driver's eye view of its products.

Hasse Johansson, group vice president of R&D, says this faceto-face feedback from drivers is invaluable to his team.

One aim of the competition is to raise the profile of drivers among the public.TV crews and radio stations from across Europe reported on the event; drivers in the UK were able to follow the results via the TruckNet UK website (www. TruckNetUK.com).

More than 10,000 spectators turned up to cheer on the contestants. Many had very little to do with the industry:they were simply impressed with the skills shown by the drivers.

A Scania executive estimated the event cost about €2m — an investment those attending seemed to feel was well spent.

The competition comprises a series of sections; Herron's first test was road driving, where points are won and lost by the standard of defensive driving, hazard recognition and fuel economy.

Despite having very little experience of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road he achieved a 100% score. The rest of day one involved tests of manoeuvring skill — to have any chance at all a driver had to consistently drive with a precision far above that expected in day-to-day operations. Contestants were also thoroughly examined on their ability to assess and secure a load, and to identify a number of defects.

Day two started with the announcement of the six contestants who would take part in the semi-finals that afternoon. The results were incredibly close — but Herron was placed just outside the qualifying group in seventh position. He was equal on points with the sixth-placed driver, but missed out by the smallest fraction in the fuel economy section. He was the also the highest placed UK driver to date in this competition.

Backing for Ireland

Tom Sharkey of the Irish Republic did make it through to the last six so the UK team threw their support behind him as the competition became even tougher.

The required level of precision was increased and rather than being against the clock, drivers competed in pairs against each other in sudden-death tests. In a tense semi-final Sharkey made it through to the final, beating off a spirited challenge from the French champion.

The final took place in front of the grandstand. All three finalists took to the course at the same time. manoeuvring their trucks through a series of zig-zag obstacles — first backwards, then forwards — with the angles of the course only just within the turning capabilities of their artics.

Sharkey lined up against Marek Szerenos of Poland and Milan Jakubek of Slovakia. He started well andlooked to have a lead when Szerenos suddenly cleared the first corner and found the right line needed to take the second corner first time. From then on it was clear Marek had taken the crown with Sharkey as a creditable runner-up.

This is a unique competition with obvious benefits to the hosts, the industry and drivers. CM's congratulations to Marek Szerenos who is officially the Best Young Driver in Europe... and the proud owner of a new Scania. •


comments powered by Disqus