The rising sun appeared to be normal, the temperature – though bit chilling, felt normal, the people, trees and everything around was normal but still somehow the day didn’t seem to be normal for us.
The rising sun appeared to be normal, the temperature – though bit chilling, felt normal, the people, trees and everything around was normal but still somehow the day didn’t seem to be normal for us. Till now, we have been reviewing the vehicles which ran on two wheels or to the max five wheels – including spare wheel we had to use because of puncture during test drive of a car. Well that might be a bad joke but the thing which we were about to drive was not at all a joke. The machine drove-in in front of us on six wheels with a loud growl of the 8.9 ltre, 370 hp motor. Now it’s enough building mysterious cloud around the vehicle in focus and let’s head straight to the point. Today we are bringing you the one of its kind test drive experience report of Tata Primatruck, which is geared up for Tata Motors T1 Prima Truck Racing ChampionshipSeason 2 being conducted this year.
The Truck:
Honestly speaking, this was the first occasion when we drove the truck and that too a truck designed for racing championship. The brain nerves were on boil all the time but the heart weighed a ton. Let’s go through specifications first. The truck is called 4038 S 4×2 Tractor. It is equipped with 8.9 litre Cummins ISLe engine which develops power of 370 bhp at 2100 rpm and torque of 1550 Nm at 1300 rpm. The whopping torque figure may stun many but it is the key requirement for a truck which has to pull tonnes of load behind it. But the point to note is that the engine in production spec truck and this championship truck is mechanically the same and just the state tune is altered. This power and torque is handled by a 9 speed gearbox, developed by EATON, before it is handed over to the tarmac twisting rubber. Rear axle unit is developed by Tata Motors and is called Tata Hub Reduction unit. The similarity between the truck used in season 1 of Tata T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship and this one ends here.
Gearing Up for Season 2:
This is the truck meant for season 2 and it incorporates all the changes demanded by the experiences learnt from the last season. The speed limit of the trucks has now been increased to 130 kmph which is 20 kmph more than that of previous year. It is bit surprising to see the speed limit going up despite the fact that power figure remaining same. The reason behind this could be approx. 350 kg reduction in weight. This weight reduction is achieved through the use of lighter springs and fifth wheel coupling. Imagine taking this mammoth machine at triple digit speed around the corners and we are sure it’ll draw a scariest picture ever in-front of your eyes. All the body roll and momentum plays their role to bog you down. Thus an effort to improve this situation can be seen in the act of lowering the chassis height by about 55 mm. We all know lowering the height results in lowering the centre of gravity and which directly reduces the body role. Normal day to day braking requirements and those required on a race track are vastly different. Frequent hard braking cycles cause temperatures to shoot which may in-turn cause seizure, if not controlled. Last year’s electrical motor operated brake cooling system makes way for the new system operated by pressurized air. The cooling water tank capacity has also been increased to 120 L.
This truck is abides to the basic guidelines written by British Truck Racing Championship Association which made the truck safer and feedback from the drivers added more convenience and agility on top of that. Apart from these technicalities, there are some other changes made to truck. The side coverings have been improved for better protection. Rear view mirror has been added inside cab. Caster angle of the front axle is now increased from 2.4 deg. to 6.5 deg. The seats are of bucket type and now have been mounted on rigid supports. To reduce the steering efforts OMP racing wheel having bigger diameter is installed. Improvement in differential lock arrangement has been brought in place. Lastly the tail lamp assembly is re-positioned and additional toe hook is added at front.
The Drive:
All the elements described above cooks up the recipe for the truck load of fun. Get inside the cabin and you’ll be greeted with bare bone structure as every single bit of plastic is torn out to reduce the weight. Racing spec roll cage is in place to guard you against any impact caused by an unfortunate incidence. The basic instrumentation is in place below the steering wheel. Crank up the engine and deep growl of diesel engine fills your eardrums. Shifting the gears of this heavy hauler is not an easy task. First two gears, known as load pulling gears, deliver all the torque at very low speeds which pushes you to skip them as soon as possible. Actually you can really skip them and start in third gear directly, if there is no load to be towed. After engaging the correct gear engine responds almost immediately and every single degree of depression of throttle results into instantaneous gain in speed. It took us time to get used to the gear shifting pattern but after several laps of the course we were all set and managed to clock the astonishing speed of 139 kmph! This top speed was managed on straight patch which is just 1km long. The air brakes equipped on the truck responds to your request pretty quickly. The cabin of the truck is suspended over the pair of shock absorbers which causes the cabin to dance to the tunes of momentum and gravitational forces. This can make the drive bit nervous while entering the turns or while braking hard. After such overwhelming experience it became pretty difficult for us to part away from the truck. We never imagined that a truck of this size can enthral us to the core. Hope you had a good idea of truck’s capabilities like we did. You may head straight to BIC this year to witness the battle of beast live and see these mammoths clocking the speeds of 130 kmph!
Track and the machine. Note the triple digit speed on speedometer.
About the T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship:
For truck manufacturers, the T1 Truck Racing Championship is like what F1 Racing Championship means for the car manufacturers. Tata Motors kick-started this first of its kind truck racing championship in India, last year. The first season was conducted on 23 rdMarch 2014 on Buddh International Circuit. British Truck Racing Championship and European Truck Racing Championship are the two similar events being conducted on foreign lands. FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) and FMSCI (Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India) officially recognizes these events. Total twelve trucks from six teams participated in this Indian event last year. The First Championship title of Tata Motors T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship was lifted by Stuart Oliver. Now the season two is around the corner and we will update the details about the same soon. Events like these enables companies to showcase their engineering prowess and to learn many things which could lead to betterment of the product.
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