Duel

[Squire_Dawson]

Are wagons jet propelled these days? I find they can often match the acceleration of a private car or at least give you a good run for your money - sometimes I feel like Dennis Weaver. The old idea of trucks being ponderous leviathans no longer seems to be valid.

[garbaldy]

While empty they can pull fairly well, a guy i ken lost his o license and his driving licence for getting caught doing the ton in a laden truck, needless to say i had no sympathy for him.

[sierraman]

Even a truck of 15-20 years ago would be capable, unrestricted of probably 100mph. Downhill possibly more. But at that speed the tyres would be coming apart.

[captain_70s]

I recall when I was back at college around about 2009 my mate came over to visit in his '99 Nissan Micra 1.0. The next morning we set of for college in said fine steed (fashionably late, as usual) and were dismayed to see a lorry with a fuel tanker trailer pull out on to the road in front of us at the roundabout at Newton Stewart. Well, we needn't have worried as despite the sign on the back saying it was limited to 55mph it sat at a healthy 85 on most of the straights, taking the racing line through corners and was leaving us behind! It did smell quite badly of burning rubber by the time it got to Dumfries though...

 

We also got to college with enough spare time to grab a bacon roll before class started, mostly due to playing the "keep up with the mental truck driver" game!

[Guest Breadvan72]

[Matt]

I recall when I was back at college around about 2009 my mate came over to visit in his '99 Nissan Micra 1.0. The next morning we set of for college in said fine steed (fashionably late, as usual) and were dismayed to see a lorry with a fuel tanker trailer pull out on to the road in front of us at the roundabout at Newton Stewart. Well, we needn't have worried as despite the sign on the back saying it was limited to 55mph it sat at a healthy 85 on most of the straights, taking the racing line through corners and was leaving us behind! It did smell quite badly of burning rubber by the time it got to Dumfries though...

 

We also got to college with enough spare time to grab a bacon roll before class started, mostly due to playing the "keep up with the mental truck driver" game!

 

CRICHTON CAMPUS LYFE YO. We could well have been going at the same time come to think of it.

 

That story doesn't surprise me much. Anything over 7.5t is on a 40mph limit on the A75 but none of the trucks obey that until other trucks flash them for the speed van in which case they do 40, pass the van then hammer it back to the limiter again.

[tooSavvy]

That Dumfries run, out of Gretna, is CameraVan heaven...

 

The ferry rigs, pigs - meat - wood... don't hang about!!

 

 

TS

[Matt]

That Dumfries run, out of Gretna, is CameraVan heaven...

 

The ferry rigs, pigs - meat - wood... don't hang about!!

 

 

TS

 

Except there are no fixed speed cameras in Dumfries and Galloway and I'm sure local plod only has one camera van, two at a stretch.

[Faker]

I recall going to killarney a couple of years ago, being passed at silly speed by a container lorry (tractor and trailer unit). Middle of the night... passed me like I was stationary. I dropped in behind it to what it was doing. Exactly the ton! Unreal!!

[mercrocker]

I have to say, I am a lot less confident out-dragging them from the red light in the Minor than I once was.....Especially given that many of the box runs back into the port down here seem to be empty containers.  

 

 They don't seem to be working hard at it, either - I confess to missing that black plume out of a tarnished Eminox on some owner-driver's old Foden S20.....

[eddyramrod]

Well, I've been done, haven't I?  Every HGV I've ever driven has been limitered to 56, or slower.  However: when I was on the timber, my ex-artic ERF had a 380 engine, so running empty on the way home I could really hustle it at town speeds.  It moved like an old Transit!  That gave more than a few car-mounted commuters a shock, I can tell you.  Then I'd get on the motorway and they'd leave me for dead...

[gordonbennet]

ahem, had an MAN artic in the late 80's that had the dubious ability of cruising at a genuine 95 (no not kms/hr), best of it was the limiter was set at 71mph and undisturbed, but we'd devised a simple beat the spoilsport method, they never did suss it, the lorry had something about it, and where lots of lorries would run up to 80 and run out of steam that bastard thing was just getting in its stride.

I was a bit younger and even stupider then.

[mk2_craig]

Early in my brief bus driving career I had to take a Leyland coach a few miles along the A1, its limiter was knacked and after a few minutes of foot to the floor, the needle was off the tacho. So presumably somewhere north of 85mph, but it felt absolutely rock solid.

[sierraman]

He's got some some souped up diesel engine... my cars just not that powerful it can't stand doing 80-90 miles an hour!

[CreepingJesus]

ahem, had an MAN artic in the late 80's that had the dubious ability of cruising at a genuine 95 (no not kms/hr), best of it was the limiter was set at 71mph and undisturbed, but we'd devised a simple beat the spoilsport method, they never did suss it, the lorry had something about it, and where lots of lorries would run up to 80 and run out of steam that bastard thing was just getting in its stride.

I was a bit younger and even stupider then.

Vacuum operated limiter? I had a MAN with one of those: the limiter was easily tricked.

 

Duel is my bible.

Besides, with these newfangled (©2001) semi autos, it's more a case of launching yourself at a gap, and hoping it's still there when the box has acted. If OK thus far, keeping it planted is best. God alone only knows how many inadvertent Duel moments I must've had. I'd like to apologise for each and every one. I'd *like* to...

[Captain Furious]

Weird because the exact same thought occurred to me the other day, I was in the slow lane preparing to come off at the next exit, it's on a gradual uphill stretch and usually slowish for a couple of miles due to the volume of traffic that gets off there, the way trucks pop out into the middle lane and immediately accelerate past even uphill is quite remarkable

 

The "slow lorries for xx miles" signs are surely now redundant

[NorfolkNWeigh]

FathaN used to do regular weekly runs from Pininfarina in Turin to Longbridge with TF, Metro, Mini and R8 hoods.

For about 4 years he had a dodgy old Renault Magnum that was always doing something French and electrical, on one trip the limiter and all the instruments packed up- he got back half a day early! He reckons nothing overtook him from Mont Blanc to St Omer. And he didn't just mean other lorries. So probably 90 odd all the way, he did have to do an extra fuel stop though.

[Captain Furious]

Wasn't there some absolute true* fact* around the time the magnum came out that solo it would out accelerate a Megane to 60? (Or whatever the equivalent of the megane was)

[Split_Pin]

I posted up at the beginning of February with the exact same question after I passed a petrol tanker on the A66 after which it sat on my arse at 70 for the rest of that road. My underpowered car couldn't pull away from it and I said to my wife "HOW CAN HE GO SO FAST???!!", just like Dennis Weaver said in Duel!

 

Consensus was (mainly thanks to CJ) that it was massively risky to run the truck in excess of the mandatory limit of 56 due to the fact that the tacho records it.

[Station]

What engines are in these, circa 12 litre V8's with massive twin turbos?

[Split_Pin]

 

Duel is my bible.

 

Mine too. It's the only thing I can quote off the cuff more than Father Ted.

[strangeangel]

Wasn't there some absolute true* fact* around the time the magnum came out that solo it would out accelerate a Megane to 60? (Or whatever the equivalent of the megane was)

 

To be fair, my Mobylette would probably outdrag the Megane too, on the basis that there's a 10005782992% chance that the Renault is broken.

[sierraman]

No the Duel truck had a Six Cummins. One of the trucks survives.

[CreepingJesus]

What engines are in these, circa 12 litre V8's with massive twin turbos?

10-13L turbo sixes for the most part. 380-400 horse for the mingebag supermarket trolleys, 450-480 horse for general work. Some are twin turbo, almost all are 24v, VVT, variable geometry turbos, multi stage injection and all the clever doo-dads.

[Split_Pin]

No the Duel truck had a Six Cummins. One of the trucks survives.

The main one had a Caterpillar engine but was "crapping out" as they say. They needed a back up truck which had a Cummins and I think this is the one that survives. The Cat one was crashed at the end. There is a third Cummins one which was created to add in additional scenes to make the TV movie into a full length film for the cinema. You can tell which ones are the original scenes with the Cat engines Truck as it has a small yellow air filter in the side.

[rml2345]

10-13L turbo sixes for the most part. 380-400 horse for the mingebag supermarket trolleys, 450-480 horse for general work. Some are twin turbo, almost all are 24v, VVT, variable geometry turbos, multi stage injection and all the clever doo-dads.

This. If it says Tesco on it chances are you'd outdrag it on a pushbike and they still struggle on gradients. If it's climbing faster than the rep mobiles then it's probably north of 550-600bhp and capable of bending time...

[cms206]

Early in my brief bus driving career I had to take a Leyland coach a few miles along the A1, its limiter was knacked and after a few minutes of foot to the floor, the needle was off the tacho. So presumably somewhere north of 85mph, but it felt absolutely rock solid.

Our old manual 245bhp Leyland Tiger's limiter was defeated by running it up to 62 in fifth and snap changing into 6th. It just kept going to 70mph* (legal limit for a 12m coach on the motorway). One of our current pair of Volvo Tigers runs off the clock, you really do need to watch it all the time.

 

Apparantly the wipers on a Van Hool Volvo B10 will slide completely off the screen when you pass the tonne; an ex colleague demonstrated that one night on the M74 which was fucking terrifying.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[cort16]

I imagine most modern trucks operate mostly in some depressing eco mode.

[CreepingJesus]

This. If it says Tesco on it chances are you'd outdrag it on a pushbike and they still struggle on gradients. If it's climbing faster than the rep mobiles then it's probably north of 550-600bhp and capable of bending time...

Actually, the latest crop of CFs at Livi are 460s, so they'll pull well enough. They're limited to 50 by company policy.

The Axors are less than funny though: 400 horse pulling 44t of double decker up to Perth or down to Dumfries is a challenge. Perth in particular, the driver is doing well to hit the limiter under power.

 

The amount of time something like an FH750 or R730 spends churning out max torque is surprisingly low, the electronics spend so much time protecting the clutch/gearbox. Apparently a lot of the 'tuning' available for these is just uncorking the full potential. Which, considering both makers have 1000horse+ marine/plant versions of the engines, is considerable.

[CreepingJesus]

I imagine most modern trucks operate mostly in some depressing eco mode.

Yes. Although the driver can over-ride a lot of it, the process just makes it more complicated than having three pedals and a stick.