Share Your Desktop – June 2021

We’re back in a virtual world this month for Clare’s Share Your Desktop.

My desktop is a screenshot from the game Euro Truck Simulator 2. The subject is a DAF F241 truck, which recently joined our ‘Heritage Fleet’, seen parked up in one of our garages with a company trailer…

The irl DAF F241 type first entered service in 1973. The 3300 model was a 1982 update with improved engine performance and better sound insulation. By today’s standards, the truck is underpowered and, although it has a 16 speed gearbox, struggles to get to a cruising speed of 80kmh with anything more than a load of around 12t in the trailer. I think the normal maximum weight for tractor-trailer units back in the 1980’s was 32.5t (that’s including the load) – The current maximum is 44t or 48t with full air suspension. So struggling when the load gets to 20t is understandable with a 340HP engine – the modern ‘industry standard’ for a general haul truck is around 450HP and creeping up towards 480HP as engine efficiency improves. Very much a child of her time, she makes for an interesting change of pace over my normal ‘modern’ DAF XF and MAN TGX trucks in the game 🙂 In the real world, these trucks are almost entirely a thing of the past. If I want to see one, my best chance is at a heritage truck fair. I certainly won’t see one in London – they’d fall foul of the low emissions zone inside the M25!