Feature: Tatra – redefining tough

When the producers of the latest Mad Max flash-bang extravaganza went looking for a truck to serve as the sci-fi flick's battlewagon, or 'War Rig', they needed a chassis, engine and transmission combination that would be guaranteed not to interrupt the shooting schedule (no pun intended).

You need a stable and reliable platform to haul several tonnes of trailer, a tanker, half a Chevy body, an old VW Beetle shell and masses of rods, cables, platforms and guns, not to mention all the usual film-crew paraphernalia, so they turned to Tatra.

Tatra builds bullet-proof trucks in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, in the Moravia-Silesia region. The company claims it is one of the oldest vehicle manufacturers in the world, and with its first carriages and coaches built in 1850, that may well be true.

The first car arrived in 1897 and the first truck in 1898. Car production finished in 1975 but, along with a procession of various owners, the company has remained in Koprivnice, building trucks with unique mechanical features aimed at ultra-heavy-duty use.

The features offered by Tatra are crucial to the company's continued success, as any manufacturer can increase the frame gauge, add a liner, and beef up suspension and axles. But that only contributes to heavier load ratings, and is only feasible when tare weight is not really an issue.

Tatra has some specialties in its design and production processes that go directly to traction and stability; no doubt these were the primary reasons the Mad Max producers gave the Australian Tatra distributor a call…

The light industrial area of Maddington in Western Australia seems an unlikely place for the national distributor of a global truck brand, even if it is a very low-volume producer. But Larry Gill's Offroad Trucks Australia has been importing Tatra Trucks in their many forms for the last 16 years.

He has a customer list of several hundred, and they operate the vehicles in highly specialised applications in Queensland's and Western Australia's mining communities. The current range of models continues to make inroads for specialist tasks where a high-volume, mass-production truck chassis just won't pass muster.

RICH HISTORY
The Tatra company has changed hands several times since the middle of the 20th century. Currently, however, the company appears to be growing steadily, with some new capital helping it penetrate a wider range of markets.

It has been well known in Europe for designing and building trucks, cars and aircraft, as well as specialist powerplants for tanks and armoured personnel carriers. In fact, around the outbreak of World War II, Tatra's car – the Tatra 87 – was highly valued as a futuristically styled performance special, gaining particular recognition from the occupying German Officer Corp, many of whom were drawn to its aerodynamic flair and high performance.

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on whose side you were on – the swing axles and catastrophic weight distribution of its rear-engine configuration wiped out more German officers on tree-lined corners than the army did on the battlefield. Which was either a design attribute or a flaw, depending on your point of view.

Those independent swing axles also appealed to Dr Porsche, who apparently incorporated the design into the first VW.

My understanding is that the axle configuration is unique in the truck world, and it serves to keep weight evenly distributed no matter what the opposing wheels are doing. The system is a key factor in Tatra’s products having a reputation for being unstoppable. Each differential has dual crown wheels and pinions with an electrically operated locking device, and the driveshaft to each wheel is independently sprung.

Unladen, the trucks look bandy-legged from the back, reminding me of my high school PE teacher – his legs were so bowed I swear he could play tunnel ball with his ankles together. But off-road, a large obstacle that will compress or swallow a drive wheel on a conventional will have no effect on what the Tatra's opposing wheel is doing. The geometry failed to help enthusiastic drivers in early Volkswagens, but with few Tatra owners throwing their trucks around gymkhana tracks, it is of great help to Tatra's go-anywhere reputation.

The best part is that because of the modular nature of the central-backbone-tube chassis, extensions can be fitted and axles added almost at will, including steer units to maximise manoeuvrability. The conventional chassis rails are called upper frames by Tatra devotees, and can be removed for tasks where mounting height is critical.

V8 HEART
Under the cab is Tatra's own air-cooled 13-litre diesel V8, which is available in a range of outputs. It currently meets Euro 5 emissions standards and it also boasts a modular design.

I had a close look at a unit partly dissembled in the training area. It revealed an air path that draws cooling air to the hot part of the vee, where 70 per cent exits through the intercooler and the remainder through the cylinder fins.

My first thoughts were that overheating would be a potential problem, but Tatra's successful operations in the furnace-hot deserts of the Middle East indicates cooling isn't an issue. I suspect Australian operators also appreciate the benefit of a cooling system devoid of plumbing or water.

I climbed over and under a couple of Tatra models with Larry Gill recently and climbed into a fire truck he has imported fully fitted for emergency services use.

The 4x4 version reputedly has off-road performance that is the envy of its competition. The cab is a full ROPS-compliant steel unit with strictly functional floor, seating and 90-degree opening doors. With Larry's permission I jumped on the roof for some top-down photographs. The roof is flat but there wasn't even a hint of my weight denting it. As for styling – forget it…

My spin around the suburbs resulted in a feeling of invincibility. Tatra is a heavy truck, and it will never succeed in tare-weight-sensitive on-road applications. But the road handling was good and the axle and suspension flexibility and configuration meant that there was very little chop in the ride. The chassis remained level and stable no matter what was going on underneath. So, even if it looks the definition of pure utility, the ride is excellent.

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
Tatra will never sell into the biggest markets of domestic concrete pumpers and the like. It's well and truly overweight, due to engineering that is aimed at off-road mine-site and construction use. But it also sports a permit for eight tonnes over the front axle in WA (with 14.00 tyres), so in the ultra-heavy-duty arena it has few peers.

Larry made a big claim about his parts operation. He said every Tatra in Australia has a complete set of parts in-country and ready for immediate shipping. I doubted that until I was taken around the store and found all components, from entire drivelines to full cabs, stacked and ready to go. It's an impressive asset, made more so by the fact that there was no-one there behind counters. Nothing happens until something breaks – and by the look of the parts store, things rarely do.

Perhaps one of the strongest endorsements of Tatra's chassis design philosophy comes from an unlikely source – global truck giant PACCAR. A new model Tatra call the Phoenix was on site at Larry's premises – check out the Tatra promo clip for the truck (below) to see it in action. It's a Tatra chassis and running gear, with a DAF cab, PACCAR MX-13 engine and ZF transmission. Future units will have an Allison automatic. Everything else, including the transfer case, is Tatra. That’s one great testament to the value of the Tatra driveline.