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how low can you get? 's what Leyland ted to find out about its cies' operating abilities w, low temperatures. . set up a test station ) in the Canadian pack
)ITE all the rig testing and te test-track development 3c1 out by the manufacturhere is still no substitute for ig how a vehicle performs ie road. This becomes even
evident when testing in leratu re extremes.
ck in 1978 I joined the enging staff at Leyland to sit in ieir cold weather trials of a n Canada.
nada? What's wrong with ashire for testing?
nada might seem a long to go for cold weather lg but there are very good 3ns. Leyland, along with and Bedford, used to use miemi in Finland for its cold her testing, as it is right on krctic Circle, but in spite of asition in the frozen north its temperatures were not cont enough.
the late Sixties when Leywas testing its prototype Dnal integral bus in Rove niemi, the temperature only dropped to —30°C (-22°F) twice and that was in the middle of the night.
The Leyland records of the National Roveniemi, tests show that 30 per cent of the "testing" time was spent, quite literally, searching for cold temperatures!
Brian Winstanley, of Leyland, having lived in Montreal and Calgary, remembered the steady temperatures of —40°C (-40°F) and this experience allied to that of Jaguar and Austin Rover in Canada was sufficient to persuade Truck and Bus (as it was at the time) to do their testing in Timmins, which is due north of Toronto.
The cold temperatures at Timmins are not due to its Northern position as it is only about the same latitude as Munich or Vienna — and a long way south of Leyland! Canada, however, is part of a huge land mass without the island benefits of sitting in the Gulf Stream and thus the temperature in the winter drops and stays there.
Apart from its climate, Timmins was useful for a number of reasons. It is out of the way and as such there is very little traffic. Because of the permanent freezing tempera
tures during the winter (-40°C; —40°F) at night and never rising above —20°C (-4°F) during the sunny day) the snow stayed hard packed for good traction.
One other reason for choosing Timmins was especially important for Leyland; the local authorities were very co-operative. When testing a prototype vehicle in a variety of configurations and weights thousands of miles away from home base, this co-operation is essential.
As with most engineering exercises, however, nothing is perfect. In the case of Timmins, the disadvantage was the lack of gradients, thus eliminating the possibility of doing full load testing.
Because of Timmins' almost total isolation — going due north the next stop is the North Pole — it was essential to take every precaution against a breakdown; the chances of Main picture above: Leyland's coldstart testing for this T45 was carried Out at Timmins in Canada in early 1978. Note the different design of the front panel, which was changed before the official Roadtrain launch two years later.
Right: Snow built up around the rear of the vehicle when snow chains were fitted but this did not cause any serious problems.
Left: Snow chains were essential on the packed snow around Timmins. When parked out overnight, the "flats" at the bottom of the tyres froze and took some miles of running for the normal carcass flexibility to return.
flagging down a passing vehicle were negligible. Leyland organised a back-up car for safety, which was in permanent contact with the truck via two-way radio. The car was also useful for carrying tools and extra clothing for everyday use in addition to the emergency stores of blankets, tins of soup and a Primus stove.
Leyland went to Canada with one vehicle and a long list of tests to be carried out. Brian Winstanley feels that with the benefit of hindsight taking only one vehicle was a mistake. "As it happened, we were lucky that nothing went wrong because, if if had, we would have had half the people standing round doing nothing". If two vehicles had been taken, it would have been possible to continue testing with B if A had broken down, or, in a really desperate situation, one vehicle could have towed in the other.
Because T45 (the Roadtrain name came two years later) was a very new vehicle, the Canadian tests tried to cram in too much within the six weeks spent there.
The full programme consisted of testing the following: power steering oil temperatures and pressures; handling with and without snow chains; controls .efforts; rear axle and gearbox seals and oil temperatures; brake performance and snow ingress; engine cold starting ability; engine oil, water and fuel temperatures; effect of Canadian non-wax fuel; effect of cold on rubber pipes and gaiters; effect of cold on electrical components; heater tests (auxiliary and standard); windscreen defrosting; cooling system and thermostatic fan, and the effects of running in snow and ice.
The Leyland had a fuel tank heating system whereby hot' water from an Ebersacher heater was circulated through pipes in the fuel tank. It proved impossible to keep the tank warm enough merely by lagging, so heat from "the inside" was required. Although a good idea in theory, in practice the heated fuel tank reduced the heater water flow to an unacceptable level and had to be disconnected.
The Leyland performed well in Canada with the only unscheduled stop being caused by a front brake hose failure, which was diagnosed as a manufacturing fault by the supplier.
The cold starting ability Leyland was very good . average early morning ten lure of —30°C (-22°F). majority of the cold testin carried out either early i morning (5am) or after 7 avoid solar radiation havir effect on the heater wa time in the cab. The neces let the vehicle "soak" f hours before attempting ti' start tests often meant that of the evening tests could completed — another pc favour of having two vehic
The first few days of ri proved snow chains to be tial especially on the st axle. Snow built up aroul rear suspension when n with chains but this di cause any problems and ling with snow chains wa good.
On the cooling side, proved that at very low at temperatures it was esser have a clutched fan sensed water temperl Otherwise the heat pickec the radiator at these lov peratures was insuffick operate the fan so that possible to overhea freezing climate as the peared to be no direct c tion between water tempi and air temperature.
One minor problem wh curred — and it was one had not been anticipated cerned the tyres. When overnight in the well-belc temperatures, the "flats" bottom of the tyres froze took a few miles of runn the normal carcass flexit return.
A major item on a "moan list" is very often t formance of the heate testing at 20 degrees la( obviously a good way of out any shortcomings particular area. The T45 performed very well as temperature was conc though there was some c of the distribution espec the footwell.
Some idea of the temp levels achieved inside t when it was —30°C outside can be appre when some of the drivel plained that it was diff keep awake during the trials!
Overall, Leyland was tisfied with Canada as weather test area and on suggestions following t trial was that it would be tageous to have a per test base at Timmins thE be used by Austin Rover, and Leyland.