Tata Prima T1 Racing Truck : A Close Look Tata Motors provided a glimpse of its T1 Prima Truck that is about to race in the T1 Truck Race that will take place at the Buddh International Circuit on 22nd and 23d March, 2014. The race will comprise of 12 such T1 trucks with identical specifications built in the Tata Motors plant in Jamshedpur. Tata Motors aims to change the general public perception about trucks and truck drivers and they say this particular initiative will bring in some glamour to the otherwise bland trucking industry. About the race - First of its kind truck-racing event to be held in India.
- Six teams in total, each will race two Prima T1 trucks.
- International drivers have been selected for the event by Steve Horne (Organizer and Technical Advisor of the British Truck Racing Association).
- The event and truck modifications have been approved by FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile), which is the primary governing body of this event along with FMSCI (Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India).
- The one day event will have two races, beginning with a qualifying race.
- The final race will be 15 laps long and will have a rolling start.
- The overall track length has been shortened to 2.1 kms for this race.
- An event at the Irungattukottai Race Track in Chennai is in the works but not confirmed. It will not be a part of this season.
This particular Prima is a 4038.S, South-Africa spec model. Since, this is the first time such an experiment is being done in India, Tata Motors has decided to modify its standard Prima trucks for the race instead of producing race-spec trucks. If the 2014 truck racing event is a success, Tata Motors is willing to build racing variants of the Prima from scratch.
The racing Prima is powered by a 6.5L, 6-cylinder engine, which produces approximately 370 bhp @ 2100 rpm and a torque of 1550 Nm between 1200 to 1400 rpm. While the standard form of this engine produces 100 bhp less, Tata says that the gain in this power is due to a bigger and much efficient turbocharger that is attached to the engines in the T1 trucks. The Eaton 9-speed manual gearbox remains the same for now.
The height of the suspension has been lowered by removing helper springs, thus slightly lowering the overall centre of gravity of the truck.
315/80 R22.5 racing tyres fitted at the front and back. The entire wheel-rim is made up from one piece of metal, thus eradicating any joints.
The fuel-tank has been shifted from the side of the truck to the back of the cabin. The smaller tank now carries 90 litres of diesel compared to a total capacity of 625 litres, which the fuel tanks in the standard truck can hold.
The fifth-wheel coupling has also been moved back over the rear wheels. The primary aim in the modifications was to keep as much weight on the rear wheels as possible to improve traction.
This particular Prima still had its projector headlamps. The ones entering the race may not be fitted with these though. Brake Cooling on the Run:
Although the racing Prima gets better brakes with wider discs in the front and bigger drums at the rear, the R & D team at Tata Motors is developing a mechanism to cool the Prima's brakes on the move using water jets. Tata motors say that a patent is being currently filed for this mechanism and that the trucks in the race will be fitted with this system. However, the truck showcased in this thread was not fitted with such a system.
Last edited by Stratos : 7th March 2014 at 21:11.
|