Air Leaks

Made good progress with the air leaks, mostly just loose pipework  that needed the joints opening and cleaning and resealing.

i found one leaky valve, lucky i had  bought  a spare one.

Now the workshop is Full

I finally managed to make some space in the workshop for the truck, It is now in its new home.
Now the fun starts,
First order of the day "Air Leaks" after a few hours the air pressure drops to 0, meaning you have to wait to build air pressure before you can move.
I am confident i will find all the leaks and fix them.

Mission Accomplished

It was my intention to update the blog everyday during our trip to collect the Truck, but unfortunately nearly 2000km's of driving in a truck that will only cruse at 80km an hour didn't really allow for much time to do so.

Anyway the story so far:

We collected the truck as arranged in Ostrava, in the Czech republic, from there we went to meet the marketing manager of Tatra Truck at the Tatra factory in Koprinice.

We had a fantastic time on the test track and got a tour of the factory followed by lunch in the canteen.

This was followed by a visit to the Tatra Technical Museum where i was stunned at the products that Tatra used to make,  For example they made all the luxury carriages for the Orient Express, there was also Aeroplanes, Trains, Racing Cars, Off road Buggies, and the first snow mobile ever made  to name just a few.

We also saw the Tatra 97 car which was first produced in 1936 and was the car that 2 years later inspired the design of the legendary Kdf-Wagen which later became the Volkswagen Beetle.

We  met a very nice Dutch journalist that was doing a story on Tatra Trucks.

We left the factory Just after lunch and after acquiring our Czech toll box we hit the road for Germany.
From here on it was just drive, eat, toilet for the next we drove day and night for 36 hours non stop to reach the ferry at Cherbourg,  We made cherbourg at 2.30 in the morning, i am typing this on the ferry.

Throughout the trip the Tatra truck ran seamlessly and did everything that was asked of it, i am happy i made the right choice for the project.

The truck waiting for me.

 Tyres loaded read to go

 Paperwork done, and we are off.

Inspecting the V8  12.6Ltr Power Plant

 Me Posing with two Tatra Engines

Hello Prague

Well I have settled in the hotel now, I am being collected in the morning at 7am for the long trip to Ostrava where the truck is located.

Once the business is done, it's off to the Tatra Hotel for the night, followed by the Tatra factory on Friday morning.

Wish me luck.

The time has very nearly come.

Well i am very happy to finally say :

The flight is booked everything is organised i will be on my way to the Czech Republic on 13th Jan to collect my truck.

I have to call to the Tatra factory in Koprivnice, where i have been invited by my very good friends there to drive the test track with my truck, "hopefully it will survive"

Then a drive from there across Germany and France to the ferry port at Cherbourg then home to Ireland.

The journey is approx 1768Km, i will be accompanied by my buddy Sean who will share the driving.

Wish me luck, I will update the blog with pictures etc as we travel.