The 2016 FIA European Truck Racing Championship is in full swing and after finishing first and second in the first double-header of the season, Jochen Hahn is leading the drivers’ rankings.
For the first time, the three-time European Champion’s truck was decked out entirely in Knorr Bremse’s corporate colours of blue and white. The new livery reflects an expanded commitment to truck racing on the part of commercial vehicles specialist Knorr-Bremse, which this season will also be visible at the track with the newly created TruckServices brand.
Hahn’s 5.5 tonne race truck can sprint from 0-100 km/h in just five seconds. And how’s this? If necessary, it can brake to a standstill even faster. But, there is far more to Knorr-Bremse’s involvement than just thrilling the crowds. What is tested on the track is put into practise in standard production products.
For decades now, Knorr-Bremse has been using the extreme environment of truck racing to discover just what its compressors, valves, internally vented disc brakes and actuators can do – and feeding the findings into its on-going system optimization work.
“The race track has long been an important complement for the tests we conduct in our own labs and at proving grounds and the experience we acquire with standard equipment,” says Wolfgang Krinner, management board member responsible for the workshop and replacement market at Knorr-Bremse.
“The regulations state that the components used on the track must be strictly similar to standard products, so we make only minor modifications to the standard production parts used here. As a result, we can channel the findings we harvest during the season along with the team directly into the optimization of our standard products.”
In the 2016 season, Knorr-Bremse is using the logo of the new aftermarket brand TruckServices. It’s not only on the track that trucks have to turn in top performance. In real life they have to prove themselves over many years, as opposed to the few minutes into which a truck race is condensed. So drivers and operators need systems and partners that can provide them with appropriate solutions over the full life cycle of their vehicles.
That is precisely what TruckServices stand for. As Krinner puts it: “In commercial use, trucks have to deliver not only total reliability but also cost-effectiveness. Under the new TruckServices aftermarket brand, we have brought together these two aspects with the aim of supplying the best possible solution in terms of technology and profitability for every phase of the vehicle’s life cycle.”
There is a saying: “Win on the track today; sell in the market tomorrow”. Translating the harsh conditions which its components are put under on the track into its standard production products, can only stand Knorr-Bremse in good stead. Apart from that, it’s all great fun.
