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Romans deliver the goods in Britoil'
Page 55
Page 56
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THE ROMANIAN range of Roman trucks has been available on the UK market for about a year now. Built at Brasov under licence from MAN the trucks are marketed here by MAN Concessionaires GB Ltd, in parallel with the German-built MAN range.
To find out how a Roman is performing under UK operating conditions, I spoke to Brierkrete Ltd of Catterall near Garstang in Lancashire, a company running a 32-ton artic -the R10.21 5F. Both Stan Bimpson, works engineer, and Bill Blackburn, transport manager, were satisfied with the truck's performance to date.
Externally, with the obvious exception of the large ROMAN lettering on the grille, the truck looks like an MAN. This is not surprising as it is basically an MAN design but assembled under licence in Romania.
Plated for 32.5-tonne (32-ton) operation, it is powered by a naturally aspirated MAN D2156 engine which produces 159kVV (212bhp) at 2,200rpm with a maximum torque of 737Nm (543Ibft) at 1,400rpm. A six-speed plus splitter gearbox from ZF is featured in conjunction with a 380mm (15in) single-dry-plate clutch and a single-speed spur gear hub-reduction axle. With the standard non-sleeper cab the Roman in Brierkrete spec has a kerb weight of 5.9 tonnes (5 tons 16cwt). The use of an articisemi-trailer combination is a relatively new idea for Brierkrete. Previously only
rigids had been used but last year it was decided to go for the load carrying potential of a 40ft trailer. With not far short of 20 top-weight tractors to choose from on the UK market, Stan Bimpson and Bill Blackburn embarked on a costing exercise and got, in their own words, -quotations galorefrom various local distributors.
One of the factors which weighed heavily in favour of the Roman was the initial cost — the other was the rapid delivery. When it was purchased in September 1976, the Roman cost £9,100. Quotes for British trucks ranged from £11,350 for a 250 Cummins-engined Seddon Atkinson to over £14,000 for a Ford Transcontinental.
Apart from the Roman, the cheapest quote was for a DAF at £11,000 for a 2200. So on paper at least the initial advantage for the Romanian-built machine was already impressive.
From ordering to delivery took four weeks. Stan Bimpson recalled: -I know we shouldn't knock the UK but the average delivery time for a British truck at that time was anything between 10 and 14 weeks. We got ours in four.
In operation the Roman has beeh extremely satisfactory although its operation is not a particularly arduous one by 32-tanner standards. The Brierkrete load can be made up of paving stones, in which case it grosses the full legal weight or, alternatively, concrete rings for inspection cover surrounds are carried "which are mostly fresh air." In this case, of course, the limiting factor is bulk and the outfit can gross as little as 18 tons. Brierkrete occasionally does a little general haulage anyway so the maximum capacity was useful in this area as well.
The average distance covered by the Roman is currently working out at around 1,200km (750 miles) in four days. This includes a mixture of roads mainly in Yorkshire and Cumberland with a fair proportion of motorway running thrown in for good measure. With an overall fuel consumption running at over 9 mpg Bill Blackburn had "no complaints'' on this score but, as he mentioned, the truck is not always loaded to maximum weight.
I asked if there had been any time off the road as opposed to routine maintenance. At 15,000km (9,400 miles) the head gasket went which was changed under warranty by the local distributor. Ramsdens. In total, the truck was off the road for a full working day with this.
Apart from this instance, no spares have been needed and the Roman has now clocked up just over 21,000km (13,000 miles) since last September.
Brierkrete does not keep spares on the premises other than the odd fan belt, preferring to collect anything which may be required from Ramsdens who have an overnight delivery service from the MAN /Roman headquarters in Bradford.
Satisfying the operator is one thing but satisfying the driver is another. With this in mind, I had a word with the Roman's regular driver, Jim Sanders. "To be honest with you, I was disappointed at first when I heard what I was getting -I used to drive a Scania 80. But you don't know these things until you try them, do you?"
So far, Jim Sanders is pleased with the Roman, reckoning it to be as quiet as his earlier Scania and with excellent handling.
As to the unusual steering column gearchange he had no complaints once he had got used to it although he did admit that if Roman offered an optional floor change then he would prefer it.
One feature that Jim
Sanders definitely does not like is the manual cab tilting arrangement which he thinks is far too heavy. -I can't tilt it on my own unless the truck is pointing downhill and then I can't tilt it back again!"
I contacted MAN on this point and they were completely at a loss to explain the difficulty for what should be a one-handed operation.
So in general Brierkrete is pleased with the Roman. In fact the company had a second on order but with the continuing slump in the building trade it was compelled to cancel the order last November. Certainly a difference in cost of around £2,000 under its nearest competitor is a powerful argument.