HOW BRAKE HOMOLOGATION TESTING WORKS

I’m sitting in the driver’s seat of a truck at Gerotek’s facility outside Pretoria … not a usual occurrence for a motoring scribe.The fact that the heavy goods vehicle (HGV) is loaded to 18 tonnes and is now approaching a surface-friction-transition test at 60 km/h makes it more interesting. Danie Yssel, engineer at Gerotek with more than 25 years of brake-testing experience, calmly says, “Hard braking now.” Full ABS on the dry concrete surface results in 7 m/s deceleration and the seatbelt digging into my shoulder. Hitting the wet, slippery surface moments later does not result in locked wheels as expected; instead, the ABS adapts with the truck in full control. An awesome assignment for me but all in a day’s work for Yssel.