TEST PROCEDURE AND ROUTE
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Before CM turned a wheel, it brought in Marc Beasley from ATS Euromaster to check tyre pressures and wheel alignment on all three vehicles using its Carbon Cutter service and its dedicated van. All three trucks use 295/80R22.5 tyres.
Tyres tend to be under-inflated on the front axle and over-inflated on the rear, he says. CM’s own tests have found that tyres under-inflated by 10% can cost 4% in fuel, so it’s an important part of the group test.
With 125psi in the tyres on the front axle, and 95psi in the rear, CM took the trucks from Dawson Group’s HQ to Scania (Great Britain) to weigh the vehicles and load with ballast. Each truck was driven around a 273.9km test route incorporating motorways, dual carriageways, A-roads and B-roads. The group test route started at the eastbound Shell station on the A422 at Tongwell, using the second roundabout to join the A509 to J14 of the M1.
The trucks then followed the northbound M1 to J19 of the motorway to join the westbound M6. At J4 we turned left to join the southbound M42, then left again to join the London-bound M40 to J15, which signaled the end of the 132.4km motorway section, before joining the A46 northbound road to Coventry. We turned right at the A46/A45 interchange, staying on the A46 before joining the A423 towards Southam. After negotiating the bypass we turned right on the A425 towards Leamington then left onto the southbound A4455, otherwise known as the Old Fosseway.
The route continued on the eastbound A422 through Banbury, over the M40, around Brackley and on to Buckingham and Milton Keynes, to join the southbound A5, and rejoin the A422 through Milton Keynes and back to the Shell garage at Tongwell.