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Larry’s retirement goes into overdrive 1 7

Box on: Retired V8 Supercar Like Tweet racer Larry Perkins with an overdrive unit that he originally modified for his Mercedes Unimog (in the background) but is now going into production.

Motor industry news Perkins turns his Mercedes Unimog tweak into a commercial operation in Germany

4 June 2014

By RON HAMMERTON

SIX-TIME Bathurst 1000 winner Larry Perkins has turned his retirement project into an automotive success story, developing an overdrive splitter gearbox for Mercedes-Benz’s Unimog heavy 4x4 vehicle for sale around the world.

The project came about because the former V8 Supercar race driver, team owner and engineer wanted to drive his new $240,000 Unimog – fitted out as a camper for outback adventures GoAutoNews is Australia’s number in his retirement from the racing business – at sensible highway speeds on his one journal long treks to Western Australia, while at the same time cutting fuel consumption. covering the latest news, future and new model releases, market trends, When ‘LP’ discovered the official factory overdrive splitter option had been industry personnel movements, and discontinued when the latest Unimog model was introduced, he set out to make international events. his own by modifying an older unit to suit the new Unimog.

The three prototypes worked so well that he then decided to pursue the project as Download page a commercial enterprise, ultimately with the approval of Mercedes parent company Daimler in Germany. All Mercedes-Benz models The first run of 50 units is about to go into production in Germany at Mercedes-Benz parts supplier Claas, to be sold as an aftermarket accessory under the Perkins Engineering label in Europe, Russia, South Africa and Australia from A complete list of about February next year. Mercedes-Benz models. Past, present and future models as Left: Mercedes-Benz Unimog. well as concept vehicles.

And because the unit was developed on Mercedes-Benz a shoestring compared with the typical - A-class automotive industry engineering project, - AMG GT the units are expected to sell for about $12,000 – some $3000 cheaper than - AMG Vision GT the similar factory-produced overdrive - B-class splitter sold for the previous generation - C-class Unimog. - C-Class - Citan “With the fuel savings this can achieve, - CL-class you can pay for it pretty quick,” he said. - CLA Mr Perkins, who retired from race - CLA-Class driving in 2003 and sold his V8 Supercar - CLC-Class licences to the Kelly family early last - CLK-class year, told GoAuto he enjoys the serenity - CLS of exploring the outback, often in the - CLS-class footsteps of pioneering explorers. - CLS-Class “I go to Alice (Springs) and turn left and - E-class wander around,” he said “It is a peaceful - E-Class sort of existence – a lot different to my - F-Cell previous life – and you realise how big - F 400 Carving Australia is.”

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w m - F600 Hygenius w o Click to BUY NOW! c .t . Mr Perkins owns three Unimogs – a - F700 ra re ck a er-softw heavily modified previous model on a - G-Class stretched wheelbase and decked out - G-Wagon with a queen-sized bed, shower, flushing toilet and two television screens “for - GL-Class when the wife comes along”, an ex-Army - GL-class crane truck, and a new-generation, - GLA U4000 – dubbed “my man-truck” – for - GLK more rugged off-road travel in areas - GLK-Class such as the Gibson and Tanami deserts. - M-class - MLC He said that when he drove the new Unimog about 3000km from his home in Melbourne to the West Australian - MLC-Class outback, he found driving at 80km/h a chore, as well as potentially dangerous on - R-class roads where most vehicles travel at 110km/h - R-Class - S-class “I don’t want to make a race car out of my Unimog, but at 80km/h on a road in - S-Class Australia, you are a danger to everyone else,” he said. “It is bad news.” - Shooting Brake Mr Perkins wanted to be able to drive at 100km/h instead of the recommended - SL-class 80km/h, with the five-litre, four- diesel engine revving at a more sensible - SL-Class 1800rpm instead of 2300-2400rpm. - SLA - SLC “They (Unimog) needed this overdrive," he said. - SLK-class - SLR McLaren Mr Perkins said the current Unimog had not been designed for the long-distance - SLS highway travel favoured by Australia's grey nomads. - SLS AMG "It was not designed for the sort of things guys like me get up to," he said. “So I - Sprinter said to Mercedes, ‘I am going to do this’.” - Unimog - V-Class Mr Perkins put his idea to Mercedes-Benz Australia national manager for special - Valente trucks Philip Leslie who could see the value of the project and thus put Mr Perkins - Vaneo in contact with Mercedes truck head office in Worth, Germany. - Viano In January this year, two Mercedes engineers on a visit to Australia called into Mr - Vito Perkins' workshop in Sunshine, in Melbourne’s western suburbs, to check out the unit, and formally started the ball rolling to help get the necessary company approval for Mr Perkins to use Mercedes intellectual property and permission to approach their supplier, Claas, with a production proposal. Research by brand

Mr Perkins recently travelled to Germany to finalise the arrangements for both production and distribution. Select from this list of Mercedes-Benz mainstream companies; the Brighton Mr Leslie told GoAuto that while the unit will not be sold as an official accessory on Unimogs in Australia, he would happily recommend that customers have one latest news, a list of models and mbbrighton.com.au fitted. recent car reviews (scroll down MB Brighton. The most for more brands) extensive selection & The Unimog is best known in Australia as an army vehicle, with about 2500 doing competitive pricing service with the armed forces from about 1980 to 1995. Abarth Alfa Romeo The vehicle line was discontinued as official Mercedes line for several years in Aston Martin Australia (some were independently imported), but was reintroduced as an official Audi factory niche model about two years ago. About six have been sold since then at Bentley prices starting about $200,000. BMW

Mr Perkins said his device was fitted to the back of the regular engine, replacing Chery the original automated gearbox - an eight speeder with a low-range drive - with his splitter unit that offers up to 32 ratios. Citroen Dodge One of the biggest benefits is a top gear that is 22 per cent taller than the regular Elfin gear, allowing faster but more relaxed highway cruising at a lower fuel Ferrari consumption. Fiat “At 100km/h towing my trailer (carrying a diesel-powered quad bike), the original Ford fuel consumption was about 31 litres per 100km, which is quite high, but when FPV you put the overdrive in it, it instantly comes back down to 24-25L/100km,” he Geely said. Great Wall “If you drove the truck as it was designed around 80km/h, the fuel consumption Honda was considerably less than 30L/100km. But 80km/h is just too slow for Australian highways.” HSV Hummer The three splitter gearbox prototypes, along with the precision digital drawings Hyundai necessary for production, were crafted by long-time Perkins collaborator Hollinger, Infiniti which is famous for its racing gearboxes. Isuzu Jaguar It is not the first time a Perkins invention has made an impact. He recently sold Jeep the rights to his world-first aircraft ‘black box’ to a subsidiary of Air New Zealand. Kia Designed as a safety check on aircraft engines and systems, the device was Lamborghini developed over 12 years by Mr Perkins, a long-time amateur pilot of both planes Land Rover and helicopters. Lexus Lotus Mahindra Maserati Mazda Mercedes-Benz Mini Mitsubishi

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