■■■■ drinking coffee and typing lol
Bluey Circles:
what sort of box or rear diff would allow those speeds? I’m thinking regular motor 1600rpm on limiter so 125mph would need 3600 revs ■■? I’m sure on a regular truck the engine would blow or some governor would kick in. and if it is a high ratio rear diff would the truck be workable fully loaded on steep ground.
they also run bigger wheels in the desert which will raise the gearing a bit too
So what has happened to all these ‘faster’ trucks of yesteryear??
Has / did anyone think on ‘preserve for history’ etc??
many of the trucks of today would be just as quick if all the legislated extras were removed.
del949:
the video shows at the beginning the car is doing 140 kph (around 88 mph).
my old Transcontinental would eat that for breakfast ! the needle used to go off the tacho head and the trace would flat line on the outer ring and it would still be pulling.
during the 70’s there were lots of fast rucks around, 80/85mph was commonplace. early Scania 110’s were quite rapid as was of course the famous Volvo '89.
On lower weights i.e. 16 tons, Dodge K series with the Perkins 6 cylinder turbo and Eaton 2 speed axle could move quite quickly. Similar Bedfords KM’s with the 2 speed axle were sometimes quick, depending on the pump.
Daft as it sounds the fastest accelerating truck I have ever had was a little 3 wheel Scammel Townsman (3 ton class 4 artic) which would pull away in top gear and go straight up to 45 with no changes (45 was top speed!)I never had a fast AEC, Leyland or Albion though.
I can go back to the 50’s with my old man in a Leyland Comet 90 rigid. Easy 70 + and myself in an Ergo Leyland artic another easy 70 +. Trouble was that it died on hills so the old Foden with a 180 Gardner did the same trip in about the same time… not much in it at the end of the day. Hard to know exactly what speed you had cos the needle went too far round. 
Someone mentioned tyres at high speed. Yes, there was the odd blow out. Made life interesting for some. 