MANmagazin edition Truck 1/2016 International

1/2016
Desert giants
with 1,000 hp
Sustainability
prize for MAN
2016
Parts and accessories
MAN Truck & Bus
MAN Originalteile® Ecoline
At the Dakar Rally 2016, they were once
again the secret stars: The 55 powerful racing
trucks competing for a fortnight to cover
9,000 kilometres through the deserts of Argentina
and Bolivia in January 2016. As in the
previous year, MAN was once again the leading
manufacturer in the truck class with
16 racing trucks. For a long time, it was actually
a head-to-head race with Kamaz and Iveco
for the overall victory. Hans Stacey and his
EUROL/VEKA MAN rally team finally crossed
the finishing line in Rosario in fourth place.
The MAN service teams also made a significant
contribution to this applaudable result:
As always, the racing teams were able to
depend on their reliable support. Fifteen of
MAN’s 16 vehicles made it to the finish line,
merely one truck dropped out due to irreparable
crash damage. Besides procuring spare
parts in the desert, the service technicians
also carried out numerous repairs, ranging
from windscreen replacement to crash damages
to cylinder head replacement – all without
a crane, but with five strong men instead.
The newspaper Transport awarded
the “European Transport Prize for
Sustainability 2016” in Munich last November
and MAN Truck & Bus proved
a winner on two counts: first in the
“Parts and Accessories” category and
secondly with Euro-Leasing / MAN
Financial Services – in the “Hire of
Trailers and Commercial Vehicles”
class. Altogether, 17 companies received
awards in 16 different categories.
Bestowed for the third time, the
sustainability prize is designed to encourage
companies in the commercial
vehicles and transport logistics industries
to adopt a sustainable approach.
Platoon prototype: The lead vehicle and trailing vehicle drive convoy-style, saving fuel due to the shortened distance.
Slipstream efficiency
Platooning, a practice whereby several of automated vehicles taking to the roads in
vehicles are assisted by a technological control
system to drive in a convoy with very tion drive from Munich to Rotterdam with
April. MAN participated in the demonstra-
little spacing, is a highly promising solution a platoon prototype. Two serial vehicles
for the mobility of the future. Due to greatly equipped with car-to-car communication
reduced distances, automated and networked
platoon driving allows for reduced ment drove on the motorway, observing a
and the necessary on-board sensor equip-
fuel consumption. Holding the EU Council minimum safety distance of 10 metres. The
Presidency in 2016, the Netherlands decided demonstration tours were designed to promote
political discussion and encourage the
to highlight the potential of this approach
by organising the “European Truck Platooning
Challenge 2016”. This involved convoys cepts in the long
realisation of such innovative vehicle con-
term.
Oldest MAN truck in the Middle East
Best MAN driver at the
Dakar Rally 2016: Hans Stacey
raced to fourth place.
Photos: Robert W. Kranz / Ralleywerk.com, MAN (2)
Proud owner: Walid Seif
with his MAN truck from
1956 (left) and a modern
MAN TGS
Under the auspices of MAN’s centenary,
the company cooperated with MAN importer
Terramar to find the oldest MAN truck in the
Middle East – and succeeded. Built in 1956, a
truck from Damascus proved the winner of
the contest. Owner Walid Seif reported that
the vehicle has been in his family for five decades
and three generations. It travelled everywhere
in the region – from Jordan to Iraq and
Lebanon, while always providing reliable and
tireless service. “We installed an eight-cylinder
engine 25 years ago – and the truck has
been running since then without any need of
repairs,” says Seif. The vehicle is still underway
on the roads of the Middle East today,
transporting goods between Damascus and
the Lebanon on a weekly basis.
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