6x8 refers to the sets of wheels.

6 sets of wheels recieve drive (i.e. 3 axles), but thier are 8 sets of wheels supporting the load (i.e. 4 axles). It doesn't refer to tires.
All our vehicles are described in that manner here - because, as mentioned above - a lot of trucks here use "super-singles" (although road-trains rarely do).




And to be quite honest - you have to experience sharing the road with a "road train" to appreciate the size of them.
While such a truck that set this record is not feasible to be used on a day to day basis, real world trucks DO have between 3-7sets of trailers, and may get up to 700,000lbs gross.

Overtaking them is an "interesting experience". Because we have no speed limits on a number of our roads, the roads are single carriage-way, and the temperatures you see...
You come up behind a road train, which is doing 78-85mph flat out, pull out onto the wrong side of the road, and due to the heat haze coming off the road, you can hardly make out the front of the truck 600ft in front - let alone up the road to see if there is another of these 200t+ beasts heading towards you.

So, with blind faith, and with the throttle pinned, and with the drivers side wheel off-the road in the gravel (bear in mind with 7 or so trailers, and the speeds that these vehicles see, it is not uncommon to have the rear trailers getting 3ft sway either way).

In my old car, pulling out at 80mph in third - I would be doing about 155-160mph in fifth before I passed the tractor... I estimated, roughly that I would travel about 1.2miles before I could pass a road-train with 7 trailers - and bearing in mind, like I said before - your line of sight is limited to 400-800ft.
And with one side of the car on ashpalt, and the other, often about 3inches lower in washed out gravel.

For passengers (and drivers) that had never done it before, it was an "interesting - uniquely Australian experience".

 

So THAT's why they still make all those Aussie cars with big V8's....

 

Makes you wonder about average life span!

 

more picture.....picture please

 

Well it's not that dangerous..I mean what, 12 people live in Australia...What's the chances of them meeting on the road...

Tim

 

Yeah, I kinda conveniently left out the part about the fact that where the road trains travel - you can drive for 3 days constantly and not see another vehicle.


Artistic licence

 

Haha, knowing my luck the one time I would meet an oncoming car on the road would be the one time that I'm passing a road train.

 

At the top passing speed you are going well over 200 feet per second, for nearly a mile in the "other" lane with nowhere to go......... that's still a lot of exposure!

And how much distance does it take to stop from 150mph?

Seems like it would be a good idea to radio the roadtrain for passing advice.

 

Well, you can go from 150 mph to 0 mph in well under 1 second depending on what you hit...

Tim

 

Awww, shoot! My F150 coulda pulled that for 100 yards if I had the traction. I probably woulda been looking for a new transmission afterwards...but I bet it coulda done it!

 

I would like to have that cummins motor in my truck

 

Tim I love the way you can always provide us with the technical answers. You da man.

Let's hear it for Tim guys!

 

That's what I'm here for...

Tim

 

ok bruce, i will say it. tim, ya don't make any cents. shut up, ya dork.

 

Thank you for that Tom. We always appreciate your input.

(Tom is our behavioral science professor! And you can see why everyone adores the man.)