Today’s touring technology

AL-KO ATC

My caravanning career could have been very brief, if it weren’t for Al-Ko’s ATC trailer control technology.

I was driving through France on my very first towing adventure, heading from Caen to La Rochelle on the Péage.

The caravan was towing beautifully and on a long downhill stretch, my speed had crept up unnoticed to almost 70mph.

At that moment, a large panel van went rocketing past and the powerful draught sent my caravan swerving slightly sideways. Previously, any wobbles had quickly sorted themselves out, but this time it swerved back in the opposite direction, then altered track again… I was in a ‘snaking’ situation.

In the fraction of a second it took me to think “This isn’t good!”, there was a brief graunching sound as the van brakes were applied automatically, I felt a slight deceleration and the tourer was perfectly aligned behind the tow car once again.

Much to my relief, the sensors in Al-Ko’s little box of ATC tricks had detected the unwanted lateral acceleration, calculated the van was out of control and applied the brakes to pull it back into alignment.

In just half a second, it had put me back in control and as a result, saved my skin/caravan/holiday/ego.

Needless to say, Al-Ko ATC is the