Sunday Drive

[AustHaflinger]

Last Sunday I had to go to a Landrover Club meeting in a town about 50km from Canberra - because of Covid 19 restrictions it was held in a large park so social distancing could be observed.

A good chance to take the Haflinger for a longer run - about 100km all round and out of the city. While a highway the road is really the equivalent of a "B" road in the UK so mostly single lane either way. Also there is a bit of a mountain range about 200-300m peak higher than departure (630m) and arrival (700m).

Went over Ok, though a bit slow up the hills (4th gear is too low - 50kph). Coming back was driving into a headwind and that really knocked speeds around. But downhill - wow the fastest I have been .

Here is the track log from the GPS - bottom is going there, top is coming back. Still reasonable performance for the trip.

Cruising speed is realistically 70kph at 4000rpm give or take 10kph but hills knock speed down and any headwind reduces speed to about 50kph. The engine really produces enough power but torque is just not up to any road work.

For those with an early Haf with 12" wheels and low speed hubs, I feel your pain

Garry

[heinkeljb]

If you have a slow vehicle, you just go at the slow speed. Simples!

If you wanted speed then a Haflinger is not the vehicle for you. Half the fun of driving one is watching the world go by and seeing things that you would miss if you went any faster. If you are going long distance, then you work out where you can stop for a break, for petrol or for the view.

Your day out is probably what most people would think of as acceptable - I am happy to drive for longer / further at similar speeds. Terrain / head winds make a big difference to your average speed but I do my planning on travelling at an average of 30mph (48.28kph) to give me a time frame and then add more time for breaks if the distance is more than about 150 mile as Lurch would probably need fuel at that point.

So all in all, you had a good day out! Hope you saw a lot of nice vehicles / had long conversations with people who wanted to know if your Haflinger was amphibious!!!!

John

[Julian B]

For those with an early Haf with 12" wheels and low speed hubs, I feel your pain

The great thing about driving a Haflinger is that you re-discover the joys of the open road. You never see anyone in front of you ... and so long as you don't look in the rear view mirror it is as if you were the only person around