FÄLLFORS AIRFIELD - FÄLLFORS, SWEDEN
This doesn't happen to me every day.
I'm sitting inside The Iron Knight,
Volvo's latest high-performance record-breaking truck.
Sitting next to me is Swedish truck-racing legend Boije Ovebrink.
In a moment he's gonna show me exactly what The Iron Knight can do.
OK, Boije, let's go.
It's grumbly, it's noisy, it's rorty
and it's fast!
It's like a jet plane! Fantastic!
The Iron Knight is all about one thing: performance.
It's custom-built to be the crown ruler of all trucks when it comes to speed
and holds two official FIA world land speed records.
Its engine delivers 2,400 horsepower
and 6,000 Newton metres of torque.
Accelerating from 0 to 100km an hour,
it takes just 4.6 seconds.
So, on paper at least, those are some pretty impressive numbers.
But what is it that makes this truck a record breaker? Let's take a look.
At its beating heart, a highly modified D13 diesel.
Behind it is the stock I-Shift Dual Clutch transmission
but specially prepared for its record-breaking attempt.
Talking of record-breaking attempts,
this D13 engine, well, that's another ball game altogether.
Two air intakes with open air filters, together with four turbochargers,
deliver the massive amount of air needed to optimise The Iron Knight's performance.
To further increase the air volume going into the engine,
the air is cooled by three water-cooled intercoolers.
The exhaust meets the least amount of resistance,
with two direct straight tubes without any mufflers.
To all that air, you need to add lots and lots of fuel
in order to get a really big bang in the combustion chamber.
Two separate high-flow fuel pumps, along with six matching fuel injectors,
have been fitted to the 13-litre engine.
When The Iron Knight is driving at full speed, it has a monster thirst,
nine litres of diesel per minute.
It has a 55-litre tank, and if Boije was to drive this truck down the road
and keep his foot flat on the floor,
it would run out of diesel in just six minutes.
So, Geert, what makes those tyres just right for a record-breaking truck?
The tyres have been buffed
on a different contour from the original tyre,
to ensure full contact area with the asphalt,
we have a special compound in the tread to ensure higher grip,
and as a bonus we reduce considerably the weight.
Looking at The Iron Knight, it looks like a fantastic commitment from Volvo.
Yes, of course, it's a huge team effort, with the engineers and mechanics
and all the support we have here today to be able to do this.
What struck me as rather unusual is you've got a standard I-Shift gearbox.
Yes, we have stock Dual Clutch I-Shift,
but, of course, we needed to change the clutch to handle 6,000 Newton metres.
That's a lot of torque.
So how does it feel to see your baby
finally out on the track breaking records?
That's great, of course. We have worked with this for many years now.
To finally see it on the testing track like this is really great.
According to the people that know,
the maximum speed that could be achieved by Iron Knight is 300km an hour.
Unfortunately our test track here isn't long enough to even achieve that,
so I guess the guys from Volvo will just have to settle for the fact
that The Iron Knight and Boije Ovebrink
are the new FIA-approved world record holders
at 1,000 metres and 500 metres.
They should be happy with that.
And that's all from me from Trucks Anatomy till next time.
It's fast, it's furious, it's The Iron Knight,
and it is a record breaker!
Thank you, Boije. I've had the time of my life.