ur de France
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N FRANCE the cities have in awful lot of fast traffic. The is still La Belle France, )ut her economy is thriving low and a fine network of iutoroutes traverses the )eautiful countryside; the 'rench road transport inlustry appears buoyant ilthough operators, unlike :heir British counterparts, do 'ace significant competition :rom railways and waterways.
When you find a parking pace in town stick to it. That's vhat the party accompanying Scotsman Tom Kerr, CM Lorry Driver of the Year, on the Vlichelin Study Tour, major Jirize for the champion, soon' earned.
After arriving swiftly at Lyon from Heathrow by a smooth British Airways service, we spent as long as our flight time trying to find a space nearer than the first one we hit on 300 yards away from out hotel. Armed with the Guide Michelin we had traced our way by car well from the airport to the city centre, but after that the four of us decided the signposting was the worst. And after we met Louis Couston, from the Paris Michelin office, he also had difficulty in finding the hotel par king space — an oasis in the flying traffic. Difficulty? He orbited the same one-mile maze Of one-way streets at least four times before we put him right.
However, Monsieur Couston, he perfect host, always atten:ive to the needs of Tom Kerr md George Masson, another ;cots driver from Tom's com)any, Esso, soon had them seated in a good restaurant, the Leon de Lyon, for their first sample of French food. They got the taste.
The next day, after coffee and croissants, we drove to Clermont-Ferrand, to visit the CEFM — Le Centre d'Echanges et de Formation Michelin — the training school, with its many displays illustrating tyre use and misuse. Tom and George were particularly interested to watch regrooving and to hear of its prevalence, and to see an ingenious model car which is set on a slope and rolls over after being set free and attempting a turn at the bottom of the slope when its tyres — they have real inner tubes — have badly incorrect pressures.
The CEFM has literally hundreds Of worn tyres on view for its students; each wear patch tells a story. It brought home the message that correct alignment, right pressures add thousands of miles to tyre life.
However, the next day, at the Ladoux test grounds, was to prove more exciting; but before that came an exciting dinner at Hotel Radio Royat. For this tour was a gastronomic treat, every late evening.
We would set off early, at about 7.30 am, but according to Tom that's late, allowing him a two-hour lie-in as he's used to 5.30 am starts. And the distances covered meant that we would arrive at the next hotel late in the evening.
One menu point made the French diffident: that was the thought of two Scotsmen trying the French salmon. "I do not know whether you will find ours up to your standard," Louis told Tom. "Scotch salmon is the finest in the world.'' What to have? Perhaps Les Truffes du Val Romey en surprise followed by the Radio Royat specialite, Les gambas baignees d' un beurre blanc aux truffes? Perhaps not — not truffles followed by truffles. ''Ah! But you are choosing what the President had," exclaimed the waiter. Apparently Valery ,Giscard d'Estaing, who used to be mayor of a neighbouring town, had passed that way only the week before. He had signed a menu to show how much he had appreciated his meal.
So on the strength of "What's good enough for the President is good enough for us,'" three of us had this. Torn and George thought the specialite superb.
Tom, however, had launched out on his own to try some Italian ham first and was disap: pointed. Thereafter he kept to French dishes, but not salmon. But he did pass on a couple of tips to our French hosts about good Scotch whiskies. It was a good preparation for the next day at Ladoux, six miles north on the Paris road. Tom and George were each to reach 98 mph in a Scania lorry on the five-mile high-speed perimeter track at the tyre testing centre. However, they told me that their high spot was being driven through a chicane by star Michelin driver Monsieur Gregoir, testing tyre adhesion on a road kept wet by spraying. The test driver puton an immaculate display of vehicle control, throwing his swaying lorry through the bends.
The real beginning of Michelin, we learned, dates from an afternoon in the summer of 1889 when the tyres of an English tourist's bicycle were repaired in a 'small rubber and brake factory at ClermontFerrand. At that time cycle tyres were stuck to the rim.
Edouard Michelin realised that tyres could only be corncontinued overleaf pletely successful and practical if they could be easily removed, repaired and refitted by the user. Edouard and his brother Andre persevered with the idea and some months later produced the world's first removable tyre.
A patent for tyres — -Aerial Wheels— had in fact been taken out in 1845 by R. W. Thomson, a Scotsman.
Michelin admits that it was this man who foresaw such deyeloprnents as a tyre's casing, tube and valve component, retreading, the advent of lorry tyres, metal -studs to reduce wear, and the steering of tyred vehicles. However, vulcanisation and processing techniques were in their infancy (the vulcanisation patent had been filed in 1844 by the American, Charles Goodyear). Consequently, tyres could not give the performance expected by users, and the idea of developing them died out.
Then in 1889 another Scotsman, J. B. Dunlop, working as a veterinary surgeon in Belfast, and unaware of Thomson's patent, fitted a tricycle with rudimentary tyres.
Although the first motor vehicle, Cugnot's steamcart, dates from 1769, not till 1894 did a vehicle get an air-filled tyre — from Michelin, one of 100odd tyre manufacturers in existence in those days. In the next year a Michelin tyre equipped car, L'Eclair, completed the 1,200km Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race, and in 1899 a car with Michelins broke the 100km /h barrier.
So much for the fascinating background to this firm which was learned by the party. So what of the company's tyres today? We could not watch tyres being made. Michelin has many production secrets. If engineers are brought into the factory in order to repair machinery, the other equipment is hidden by special screens, I am told.
This much Michelin did say: In a tonne of tyres there are48kg of rubber 230kg of carbon black 180kg of steel cord 30kg of textile (natural or artificial) 80kg of chemical products (sulphur, plasticisers, accelerators, anti-oxidants, metallic oxides, colorants, pigments, etc) 15 litres of solvents Today the company employs 110,000 people in 48 factories and four smaller units, based in 13 countries.
And 1,500 different designs of tyre are made — including some for railways.
Light bulb manufacturers in particular are sometimes
accused of building-in obsolescence. Michelin certaibly can't be charged with this. Tom was interested to see, as a driver, just how much technical advice and after-sales service is provided: all aimed at obtaining longer tyre life.
The same reasons, he was told, lie behind the great development programme. At Ladoux, adding the machinery track simulation mileage to that of vehicles — lorries, cars, motorcycles and earthmovers — give a total of around 500,000 miles a day of tyre testing.
From Ladoux we had a long drive for a night's rest at Tours. This was the only time that a fourth member of our party, Chris Rogers of Michelin UK, was put out. With George hi said at dinner that he must tr Pudding a la Windsor, whicl turned out to be a blonde sorry-looking dish like nothim he had ever seen in England am served flambe. A waitres braved the flames and repeal edly stabbed it with a fork. Grea theatre. But like whe Widow o Windsor, Chris wasn't amused.
The next day we drove a towards Normandy, stopping E midday to visit a haulier, MichE Hurel Transports, at Torigni sur-Vire. The proprietor of thi family firm had been calle away on business, but his sor in-law told us that they hay 150 tractive units, all Savierm and 25 coaches. Tom an George enjoyed driving one c the units and trailer a few mile up the road. Tom told them thE at home he drives a Seddo Atkinson — a new make t them.
How did the Saviem corr pare? Difficult to say, partici. larly as the unit was not loader he said. But it was quite comfortable although noisier than his Seddon Atkinson. Perhaps it was a little bit sluggish; but he was on small bumpy roads and was getting used to right-hand drive. The controls came nicely to hand and he found the synchronization good as he became used to it.
Hurel Transports are mainly in the business of moving milk and dairy products — also some plywood. Thirty per cent of the trailers are refrigerated.
The firm does international hauls, but hardly ever to Britain.
"We're too close to the UK," they said. "A lot of time is lost on the ferries compared with the total time taken for a trip; 200km takes three days, so it's not worth it.' ' "Do any of your drivers enter the Les Routiers driving corn petition?" asked Tom. "No, although there are a few regional competitions," he was told.
It is notoriously difficult to compare salaries between one country and another because of the different costs of living, affected by taxes and allowances. But Tom was impressed to hear that their drivers' basic rate is 3,500 Francs a month (around 8.37 to the E) and that with premiums they expect to get some 5,500 Francs a month — that's for drivers "who have ability to repair things" with 38-tonnegross TIR wagons.
The firm had tried Magirus Deutz and Ford vehicles, he was
told, but had standardized on Saviems. Rationalisation has big advantages — and they were only 50km from the .Saviem
plant. Annual mileage of the
vehicles was around 120,000km — with one vehicle, one chauffeur. A big
factor in their servicing is to send oil for analysis which is returned within two days and gives valuable engine information.
We could not have asked for better weather in November, and as we drove on to the Relais Chateu d'Audreiu for our next 'stop, the colours, especially the yellows of the Normandy trees, continued to be spectacular. Mistletoe grows there in abundance.
The chateau is conveniently sited for Saviern's factory at Blainville-sur-Orne, 5km from Caen. The plant lies between the Orne and the maritime canal connecting the port of Caen to the port of Ouistreham and has a private branch line to the SNCF (railways). Thirty-five basic models from 3.3 to 38 tonnes are made. Back in 1961 sixteen vehicles a day were turned out by 900 workers; today 180 commercial vehicles a day are produced by 7,600 personnel. "A lorry every three minutes," they said.
A third of Saviem's production is exported to a total of 60 countries.
As we walked around the site they explained that changes had been made to the supervision structure in order to make the factory jobs more interesting. There is now one foreman to every group of about a dozen workers. This in a factory where the company restaurant serves 4,500 meals a day. Salaries? In May 1976 the lowest worker's wages for 42 hours weekly excluding any bonus and seniority amounted to 2,307 Francs a month. Foreigners comprise 2.5 per cent of the workforce; and average age for production line men is 34 years.
The other French giant in heavy lorries is Berliet, but the two are now merged under Renault. Both makes were coming off the production lines as we walked around.
For operators Saviem has a credit card assistance service and will also help to analyse the operating cost of every vehicle in a haulier's fleet.
Before we left, Tom and George were able to drive one of the trucks around the block, too short a time to form much of an impression other than the fact that Saviem's gearbox takes a lot of getting used to. George would take a lot of convincing that it's as good a vehicle as his Leyland Beaver at home in Aberdeen.
On the way from Caen to Paris we were stopped by police searching for contraband Calvados (Normandy's apple "brandy"), and we had to pay several toll charges. I thought Louis had a point when he said that this system absolves those who virtually never use autoroutes from paying for their upkeep, but George and Tom didn't like the toll idea.
At Pans on the last evening of the trip we were the guests of Michelin France at the two-star Jacques Cagna Restaurant; it has oak beam decor and is the sort of place gourmets who aren't also Royalty or pop stars go to. Michelin's guide warns you it's not inexpensive but is worth a detour. Tom and George would agree. I could make an effort at pronouncing the name of the light pastry lobster dish Torn chose as entrée, but can't spell it. "It's so good, it is alone worth coming to France for," he said. George jumped at the chance to try frogs' legs. "Superb", he said.
The Charles de Gaulle and Heathrow airports were fog bound next day, but road transport proved its reliability. Chris drove a hire car to Calais; the hovercraft were not running but a French ro-ro ferry was.
In Paris we had admired the set-up for Remembrance Day, the many flags and the red, white and blue searchlights high into the sky above the Arc de Triomph.
Back in Dover on November 5 the local British Legion could have hauled in many pounds from poppy sales had they bothered to picket the returning travellers.
Customs forgot to give George back his excess half bottle of whisky he had declared. Until he asked.
We were back in the UK.