Think you're a handy driver?

You'll need to know a lot more than road rules to win the Scania Truck Driver Competition…

Driving a truck and driving a truck well and with the utmost precision are two very different things, and the Scania Truck Driver Competition seeks to sort out the good from the very, very good with all the rigour and meticulousness the Swedish manufacturer applies when designing and developing its own vehicles.

Simply put, the Scania Truck Driver Competition and the Scania Bus Driver Competition aim to find the best truck driver and best bus driver in Australia, through subjecting participants to a series of thorough tests. The Scania Driver Competitions were held over October 27-28 at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria, and trucksales got along a little before the main events to see just how the best of the best would be determined.

GLOBAL HISTORY

But first, a little history… The Scania Driver Competitions began in Europe in the early 2000s, and their success was first replicated in Australia in 2007. Now held every two years, the truck and bus competitions are held one after the other, and are open to anyone who holds a valid Heavy Combination (HC) or multi-combination (MC) licence.

Thousands of drivers had entered over the years; you don't have to drive a Scania and you don't have to meet any age criteria – the age limit applied several years ago was later abandoned, as explained by Scania Marketing Manager, Ron Szulc.

"We run this competition as a way of raising the profile [of truck and bus drivers], but we want to try and get a message out about safe driving, and through safe driving achieving environmentally conscious driving and being aware of the issues that affect the industry," he says.

"So that's what we're pushing, and if we can get that through to a 60-year-old or a 25-year-old, I think we've achieved what we want to do."

Those willing to put their skills to the test complete an initial online exam, with around 500 drivers giving it a go in each field (truck and bus) in 2016. Those are then whittled down to 25 in each field and then eventually 12, via more questions and a phone interview. The 12 best truck drivers and bus drivers then head to Melbourne to duke it out in the final.

The final is split into four areas: a theory exam of 30 questions; a faux media interview (where drivers are asked for their opinion on pertinent industry issues); manoeuvring exercises (10 individual exercises to test a range of slow-speed driving skills); and an on-road drive (where participants are assessed across 12 fields).

Each participant carries their own scorebook with them, which is marked up by Scania Driver Trainers at each exercise and tallied at the end of the day.

DIVING IN

Trucksales had the opportunity to tackle the manoeuvring exercises and the on-road drive the day before the Scania Truck Driver Competition got underway, and an eye-opener it was.

It doesn't matter what truck you drive through the week, the truck driver competition is all conducted in gleaming new examples of Scania's G 480 prime mover, hooked up to a single Schmitz Cargobull trailer.

If you're not accustomed to the G 480 a Scania Driver Trainer will help familiarise you – but it's amazing how easy it is to get accustomed to this comfortable and ergonomically friendly rig.

Scania Australia says it's presently the only OEM to employ five full-time truck driver trainers (along with three bus driver trainers), and collectively they represent about a gazillion years of driving experience. Okay, that might be a slight overestimate, but they sure know their stuff and they have a remarkable knack for imparting knowledge.

They travel the length and breadth of the land to introduce and hand over new Scania trucks to customers signing on for the first time, and return to old customers to freshen up driver skills. Both achieve Scania Australia's major objective: to help operators and drivers get the most from their Scania trucks.

Scania Driver Trainers also conduct the Scania Peak Efficiency course that trucksales tackled in early 2015 – click here to learn more about it and see how it helps both drivers and operators ultimately achieve better outcomes.

SPIN THAT (STEERING) WHEEL

So, without feeling overly confident it was off to the manoeuvring exercises to put the G 480's steering lock and plethora of mirrors to the test. The nine individual exercises here form something of a torture test of slow-speed manoeuvring, all aimed at assessing a driver's ability to finely judge speed and distance. Highlights include a slalom, a tight jack-knife reverse into a loading dock, squeezing the truck between two barrels and knocking an upended yellow pipe over and between two upended blue pipes with the driver's-side steer wheel – I mean, who thinks of these things?

Hitting a cone costs points, possibly even all the points available for that exercise, while the slalom has a time limit.

Some are easier once you've seen how it's done, like remembering to use the front bumper mirror when trying to edge the front of the truck as close to the centre of a bullseye on the ground as possible, and some are just plain down to driving skill and experience – like the very tight jack-knife reverse.

Next it was on to the road drive, where I and a Scania Driver Trainer set off on a circular course around Sandown. This isn't just a test of a driver's knowledge of the road rules, it also assesses how smoothly (or otherwise) they drive, and how advanced their road craft is – will they change lanes to skirt around some upcoming low branches, and will they wait for the next green light if there's isn't enough room to squeeze across a busy intersection?

Road drive duly dispensed with, it was off to the last test of the comp – the B-Double reverse. Now I hold an HC licence, not an MC, and you can enter the Scania Truck Driver Competition with either, but Scania Australia included the B-Double reverse to add an extra element of challenge for all competitors.

That challenge involves an offset reverse of 250 metres into a 'loading bay' marked out by witches hats. This was going to be ugly…

You have 10 minutes to get the job done and during that time you're allowed to move forward once, but it was going to take a lot more than that before I could tick this drop off my run sheet. After inadvertently creating the world's longest metal concertina, a Scania Driver Trainer took pity and verbally helped me put things right. Still, it was great experience – and one which highlighted the need for plenty of practice before I tackle my MC!

CLEVER CONCEPT

I and the other journos present had enjoyed a mere taste of the Scania Truck Driver Competition, but for the 12 truck and 12 bus drivers about to showcase their skills, the pressure of facing off against some of the country's best drivers would take things to another level.

Scania Australia spends plenty to stage this event and it's not just to highlight its own products. It also pushes the message that professional drivers should be regarded as just that – professionals – and, as such, masters of their craft. Through better driving also comes better fuel economy and reduced environmental impact, along with safety benefits for everyone on the road.

So who were the best of the best in the 2016 Scania Driver Competitions? Glenn 'Yogi' Kendall of WA's Kendall Trucking & Co took out the truck competition – click here to read the news story – while in the buses it was Queensland-based Damien Christensen of Greyhound Australia. For their efforts the pair each collect a Scania watch (valued at approximately $500) and $5000-worth of travel and Coles vouchers (plus the associated fame and glory!).

With the right blend of skills and mindset, it's drivers like Glenn and Damien who are best positioned to challenge local stereotypes – and any event that unearths and celebrates such individuals has got to be a step in the right direction for Australia's wider transport industry…

Think you're a handy driver?

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