Ilarathon 44-tonner copes with .0-below on run to Teheran
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PRE-EASTER ionstration trip of i53km (7,800 miles) to eran and back was ntly completed by a -land Marathon. The icle, a left-hand-drive per cab tractive unit, was vered by a 244 kW 7bhp) diesel engine and ted for 44.7 tonnes (44 .$) gcw.
)ne of the larger vehicles British Leyland truck and ; division's demonstran fleet, Marathon 001, s built at Southall three us ago. It was lent to ian Transport Ltd. of idington. Kent, and ven by Dick Rivers, a tior demonstration driver r British Leyland, and Jeff ggins of Asian Transport. 12.2m (40ft) Merriworth R tilt semi-trailer was [ached to the Marathon, rryign exports worth .0,000 and grossing 36.6 nnes (36 tons). The trailer as prepared by Asian ransport's associate impany, Astran Interitional Ltd. at a dockside elixstowe warehouse on ovember 28 last year and iaded onto a ferry bound yr Rotterdam.
Proceeding via Holland, ermany, Austria, ugoslavia, Bulgaria and urkey, the first problem ncountered was two burst vres on the Austro-German order.
According to the drivers, yeather on the outward trip vas exceptionally bad, and n the mountainous regions if Turkey at about 2,743m 9,000ft) above sea level, emperatures were as low as 40°C ( -40°F). Apart from hese blizzard conditions, he crew also encountered ;hocking roads and crashed .rucks, which hampered :heir progress.
On reaching Teheran, ;ome time was spent in British Leyland's plant to make certain modifications :o the Marathon; large ;ections of the rear wings over the driving axles were removed to provide greater clearance between the tractive unit and the semitrailer and also to ease the fitting of snow chains. Rubber extensions were added round the front-wheel arches to deflect road dirt away from the cab windows.
The return trip was covered in twelve days despite the persistently bad weather, and three days helping another Asian Transport driver to reclaim his vehicle from a frozen roadside ditch.
The crew were repeatedly impressed by the Marathon's performance and felt that it was the right type of vehicle for those arduous conditions.
Transf lash to Malta
TRANSFLASH UNITS of Bradford, which provides trailer and unit load services to the Continent and Scandinavia, has launched a new container service to Malta. The service will leave Bradford and the company's Scottish base at Coatbridge at least twice a month, arriving at Malta six to eight days later.