CM road test p2evicw...
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GALE-force winds effectively wrecked our test of the Bedford TM 3800 over the Scottish ' test route.
On the first day in neutral weather conditions the Bedford averaged over 75km /h (47mph) with a corresponding fuel consumption of 4211t/100km (6.7mpg). Up to this point the 38 tonne TM was well on the way to recording the best e'er round trip journey time.
On the return leg. the wind reached gale-force proportions against us and this continued for the whole of the day. I checked with the Meteorological Bureau and the official figure was around 40 knots which is equivalent to around 73km/h (45mph).
The effect of this could be illustrated by the fact that I rarely managed to get the truck to exceed much over 50m'ph, and for large sections of the Al (M) it was impossible even to get into top gear!
Because the test conditions could hardly be considered comparable with previous tests and, as such, would not be of great use to an operator, we have persuaded Bedford to let us have the truck again for a re-run of the second leg.
Hopefully our final road test report will enable the operator to appraise the Bedford's performance against the competition under equal conditions.