Biker artic is I a crowd puller
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by Bryan Jarvis • Motor cycle road racing enthusiasts will have welcomed Honda's return to the World Super Bike racing arena after a break of six years.They will have noted with satisfaction the breath-taking performances of its exciting new Castrol-sponsored 750cc RC45 racer.
But many heads will have turned long before the Super Bikes tear away, as the team's sleek new aerodynamic support vehicle travels between its Louth, Lincolnshire base and the race tracks.
Honda has invested around £250,000 in a unique artic which has been developed by Banbury-based transport designer Robert Colman Associates. It includes two floors of accommodation and workshops and is equipped to standards usually reserved for luxury ocean-going yachts.
There is room for four of Honda's latest factory Super Bikes, spare engines, 40 tyres and wheels, plus fairings, tool
boxes and all the paraphernalia needed to support one of the world's foremost racing teams.
The upper deck is home to six mechanics in three double-bunk cabins with en suite toilets and showers.
A silent-running Honda 10kW generator or 220/240V mains supply powers equipment including satellite TV, video, phones and the six air conditioning units which keep the rig comfortable during its journeys for competitions and testing in dozen countries from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia (helped by 40mm of insulation).
In the forward section of the trailer there is a corporate hospitality/team meeting area with a commercial-standard stainless steel galley where the chef can prepare food for up to 10 people at a sitting.
"It's my first of this type with such a low clearance height, says designer Bob Colman, "and it brings together the skills of some of Britain's best, small manufacturing companies. We designed the exterior aerodynamic fairings to give it the appearance of a sleek, single entity rather than that of a separate tractor and semi-trailer."
Colman's starting points were the futuristiclooking 420hp Renault Magnum 4x2 and one of the latest low-floored 13.6m artic trailers from the Cheshire specialist Cartwright & Sons.
Nose cone
At the front he designed windcheating GRP fairings for the cab roof, sides and rear skirts with a curved panel at the back that mates perfectly with the trailer's shapely nose cone.
The rear of the trailer hasn't been neglected: Colman's styled a full-length moulded panel reminiscent of a luxury touring coach.
The tractor carries a power washer and 200 gallons of water that enables the driver to clean the vehicle before a meeting.
The 4.0m-high monocoque trailer runs on air-suspended RO-R tandem'axles with twin
17.5in wheels and has full antilock braking. An automatic system of hydraulic levelling jacks keep it stable when parked.
The 12in (300mm) main deck height means there is no need for a hydraulic loading platform to load bikes or spares through the wide side entrance. It also allows plenty of headroom, with 6ft 6in (2.0m) in the fully equipped workshop area and nearly 6ft (1.8m) above.
Reflective livery 'transfers are supplied by 3M and many travellers will crick their necks skewing around at the electric rain effect of the cab's red, green and blue diagonal streaks.
The dove-tail design 'twixt unit and trailer is one that Colman has used before on large luxury articulating horsebox artics: he also has another on the drawing board based on a Volvo tractor for Danish toy maker Lego.
He calls it his Irmerspace system of matching aerodynamic fairings and deflectors; kits are available for Volvos, Scanias and Renaults. Users are reporting improved resistance to front and side wind pressures with a significant reduction in side spray and slightly better ride, as well as the advantages of enhanced public image.
Colman finds it difficult to quantify the objective benefits without the benefit of wind tunnel testing but says he is looking forward to finding the time to do just that.