pulled onto the a42 today as i do most days, in the first layby was an artic with a traffic cop sat behind, assumed he’d got a pull for speeding as the first section after you cross the m1 is down hill and very easy to let it get past 60mph, a mile or two later i was passed by a wagon going a fair bit quicker than me, i was on the limiter at the time and it got me thinking just how many wagons i’ve seen in the last few weeks obviousley not using the limiter, today alone i would say in excess of thirty wagons passed going to fast on flat roads to be legal, strangely most were in company livery, so have drivers decided on mass that if the foreigners can do it so can we?
wasn’t until i thought about it that i realissed just how much this has increassed in the last few months!
Fair point Paul B, wondered similar just lately, I’ve sat at 56 on the limiter and its surprising how many trucks, both foreign and english that just romp past you. 
Yeah, seem to be a lot of Dutch with no limiters about lately. 
Nearly all foreigners pee past or I should I say go faster than most of us. 
And they have no WTD either. 
Agree with the above points, but none of these wagons will beat the National Express hurtling down the middle lane 
Dan.
If you can catch me i’ll tell you. I had 3 scania’s pass me last week on the M77( see rob i left the M8) I was sitting at 56 and i could not see them a few mins later.
As I’ve told you before, when towing my van I am happy to keep to wagon speed so’s to get towed and not get in the way.
This usually means in France travelling between 55 and 60. However as soon as I landed in England I couldn’t believe the speeds required to keep up. Nearly always in excess of 60. Mostly UK trucks too.
Salut, David.
the foreigners obviousley run off the limiter, it’s rare to actually see one at 56 and theres always been the odd o/d wagon come flying past but what i’ve noticed is a lot more fleet wagons doing the same. don’t actually know what the law is on limiters, i know as far as the wagons goes a limiter has to be fitted and it has to have a sticker displayed showing the type of limiter and that it’s at 56 for an mot etc but if tacho’s aren’t submissable as evidence of speeding does that mean you can’t get caught? in all the times i’ve have had roadside checks never once have they checked the fuse! i’ve heard plenty of stories of lads fitting isolator switches in the cab so they can cut off the limiter when it suits, not much use to me as my wagon strugles to stay on it when loaded anyway plus it’s my diesel, maybe it’s the wtd and a lot of drivers going onto trip money that’s making it tempting?
i go to holyhead every night and nearly every wagon flys past me and i’m going 56 on a 50 limit
i remember a french man loaded in leeds telling me he was going to dover and hoped there was no traffic as he wanted to do it in 4 1/2 hrs 
so like an idiot i asked how he will manage that and his reply was
" you can do it … 74 all the way"
Dan:
Agree with the above points, but none of these wagons will beat the National Express hurtling down the middle laneDan.
Where, where? All the Nat ex coaches i’ve been on won’t even do 62 mph properly, usually 61.
usually car speedos are -5 mph this is built in and will vairy most truck in the uk will sit between 52-54 or 40-45 for tesco (sorry couldnt resist that one) so a truck passing you if your on the limiter may onl;y be doing 56-58 on the maximum alloowed tolerance
don’t think thats possible as a tacho head has to be checked for calibration every two year on a rolling road which has it’s own speedo if theres a discrepency between recorded speed on the chart and actual speed you either have to have it recalibrated if possible or the head replaced. i had mine done earlier this year but can’t remember what the allowable tolerance was but it was very small, something like +/- 1% mph.
i wonder if once checked and certified the limiter can be altered with an adjustment to allow a greater speed and then put back for the next check?
i know theres a few firms that beleave that 52mph is the optimum in terms of time on the road and fuel consumption so it’s obviously possible to have the limiter set at something other than 56 although someones told me today that the law is actually 85k which is only 53mph.
this is the point i made last week about that container running without his limiter. it was only a couple of days after the accident which closed the A34 due to 5 trucks hitting each other. if it is employer pressure, the drivers should do something about it. personally, i would tell them to foxtrot oscar. i do that anyway though
I’m sure those of us who drive DAF and Scania trucks will know how to get more speed out of them without disabling or tampering with the speed limiter. 
If I wanted to, mine would quite happily sit at 70mph from M62 J28 to the railway bridge just before J30 with about 10 tonne or more on the back, coupled with some carefully planned gas pedal and clutch pedal foot work 
.
I’ve noticed this week in particular that the majority of new (53/04/54/05-plate) FM and FH12’s seem to be coming out of the factory doing about 57mph, especially B&Q’s FH12’s…
Rob K:
I’m sure those of us who drive DAF and Scania trucks will know how to get more speed out of them without disabling or tampering with the speed limiter.If I wanted to, mine would quite happily sit at 70mph from M62 J28 to the railway bridge just before J30 with about 10 tonne or more on the back, coupled with some carefully planned gas pedal and clutch pedal foot work
I’ve noticed this week in particular that the majority of new (53/04/54/05-plate) FM and FH12’s seem to be coming out of the factory doing about 57mph, especially B&Q’s FH12’s…
Yes, but don’t tell eveybody. 
Drove some 05 CF’s recently that said cruise and limiter were set at max 54 mph , but peed past most trucks. 
i think when them blue and white trucks from up north (tomorrows delivery today.or something like that) are ordered they dont even bother fitting limiters on the assembley lines then thry dont have to bother disabeling them.
even pass the parcel boys and thats saying something
jon
A guy I know who works for the ministry as an M.O.T. inspector tells me that at the test anything registering 92kph and above is a failure, so 91kph is fine.
Most dealerships will set the limiter to whatever you want as its no skin off their nose if you get caught with an uncorrectly set limiter, although some Merc dealers won’t as MB Headoffice take a dim view of dealers condoning illegal running, and anybody using the plug in laptop thingy they use for accessing the truck computer has to have a personal plug card which leaves a signature on the truck computer with date, times and activity etc.
Another thing that can noticably increase the speed of a truck is the fitment of remould tyres. Some some brands are packing upto an extra inch of tread and casing compared to a brand new first life tyre. When added up this puts an extra 3inchs to the tyre circumfrance, worth another 3-4 kmh unless the tacho is recalibrated to compensate.
interesting theory, what i have noticed working out of the stell works is that all the foreign shippers that come in, all run low profile tyres is this for greater speed, lower fuel consumption?
paul b:
i have noticed working out of the stell works is that all the foreign shippers that come in, all run low profile tyres is this for greater speed, lower fuel consumption?
Thats probably more to do with the 4m of headroom available throughout most of europe. Running on low profile/small diameter tyres lowers the floor level of the trailer, so with the overall roof height still at 4m this increases cubic capacity of the trailer, not really an advantage with steel haulage though 
I,ve noticed this as well,espicially foreign trucks but also trucks that grace the covers of the various truck magazines.Still i’m not bothered ,i’m paid by the hour and i shall not be sent to prison for speed limiter tampering,as according to the police it is now a jailable offence