Continental backing 10,000-mile transcontinental road trip
Continental Tyres is supporting an adventure seeker attempting to drive his converted MAN truck 10,000 miles from the UK to Australia.
Bobby Bolton and travelling companion, Red the Labrador, will travel through more than 25 countries on their journey Down Under, with the load bed of the former water bowser playing host to the pair’s accommodation while on the road.
Self-built by Bolton and documented on his social media channels, the 18-tonne, four-wheel-drive overland-style truck has been purposefully prepared to take on difficult and hostile terrain during his journey south.
As part of the preparations, Continental has fitted four off-road optimised HCS tyres to the truck and installed its ContiPressureCheck tyre pressure monitoring system and ContiConnect digital tyre management system, allowing temperatures and pressures to be monitored remotely as the miles are covered.
Speaking of the relationship with Continental Tyres, Bolton said: “The opportunity to work alongside Continental on my trip is one that I couldn’t pass up on.
“Having heard my dad retell a story countless times of a Continental tyre that came on the truck he bought second-hand, and managed more than 500,000 miles being swapped from drive to lift axles and regrooved twice, I knew I was in safe hands.
“The most impressive part of the HCS tyres is not the size or apparent ease by which the team at the ContiAcademy in Lutterworth was able to fit them over on the split rims, but the way they can work with the ContiPressureCheck and ContiConnect tracking and monitoring solutions.
“Being able to monitor my tyre pressures and temperatures is going to be invaluable as I cross terrains ranging from the snowy Himalayas to the arid sandy landscapes of the Middle East. I’m sure it will give my dad some peace of mind, too, as he will be able to monitor the same parameters as well as my location.”
Designed to make such missions possible, Continental says its HCS tyre provides outstanding traction, even on the very harshest of terrains. With strength engineered into every part of the tyre’s construction, the HCS achieves a high level of operational safety, long-lasting service, and outstanding resistance to damage.
Continental’s intelligent tyres, incorporating ContiPressureCheck and ContiConnect, allow truck and bus operators to continuously monitor the performance of their tyres and quickly identify potential inflation issues.
Data can be displayed on a screen in the vehicle’s cab, collected using a static yard reader or shared remotely, in real time, through the ContiConnect digital tyre management system.
