Whine and roses

It’s not the 800hp on offer that attracted Adam Kilmurray to a tune-up for his R560 V8 Topline but the sound from the exhaust – and he got it by going Greek

- Paul O'Callaghan

Eight hundred horsepower? “There’s no need for that in Ireland; it must burn a lot more diesel; surely something will fail on that engine; that’s just silly horsepower” are just some of the comments in response to my enquiries about an Irish Scania R560 that has been tuned to make it the most powerful truck in Ireland or, maybe, in Britain. However, rather than simply nod in agreement at the torrent of negativity, or, dare I say it, begrudgery, which we are so highly proficient at in Ireland, I decided a thorough investigation was called for.

As the truck turned out to be based a matter of miles from my home, it made sense to find out from the operator himself just how he came to operate such a ludicrously powerful machine. Adam Kilmurray, from Mount Lucas, close to Edenderry in the midlands county of Offaly, known for its proliferate of flat bog lands rather than mountainous topography more suited to a high-horsepower machine, is modest about the power output of his 2012 Scania.

An accident

“I didn’t initially set out to achieve that horsepower figure – that sort of happened by accident. As a fan of Greek V8 trucks, I was captivated by the turbo howl they gave off while changing gears. It was this sound I really wanted, as opposed to massive horsepower.”

After casually mentioning this to friend Brian Keogh, of Keogh Commercials based at Grovine, on the outskirts of Kilkenny City, Adam thought no more about that glorious sound as he happily continued to drive his Tipperaryregistered Topline in stock form. But, down in Kilkenny, Brian Keogh had done some homework of his own.