Heavy-Duty Actros
Avinash Singh Rathore (Tiger) returns from an eight-year-long hiatus in hiding for a covert operation in the sequel ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’. His rules, his team and a national mission. For the climax, has Salman Khan aka Tiger set up an escape plan from a hideout of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS) in the action flick. Inspired by realworld events in 2014 involving the abduction of Indian nurses and held hostage for 23 days, the climax of the Tiger series starts with close combat in a violent confrontation involving sophisticated firearms. From firearms used for cover in the rescue mission, the RAW agents are required to up their game. To make matters worse, they lose their sniper specialist tasked with giving cover to the escaping nurses.
It is here that the Mercedes-Benz Actros 3340S tractor trailer combination fitted with an oil tanker superstructure arrives on the scene. Piloted by agent Karan (played by actor Anant Vidhaat) and Firdaus (played by Paresh Raval), the two from the Tiger camp jump off the Heavy-Duty (HD) commercial vehicle on entering the conflict zone. The Actros cruises, in a laden state with highly inflammable fuel onboard and rolls over at a high speed. Tiger turns disaster into advantage by firing an RPG missile at the laden tanker. This causes a massive explosion and allows the men on a mission just enough time to whisk the nurses to safety. The Mercedes-Benz Actros, in the sequel, wears the tristar badge on the front fascia with pride.
Look closely and you find the front face with big air dams placed for aerodynamic refinement on the front bumper. The Actros measures 6950 mm in length, 2500 mm in width and 3360 mm in height. It has a 3300 mm wheelbase. Coupled to a trailer, in the movie it is fitted with an oil tanker superstructure with top-loading. The 6x4 tractor head sports a medium cab without sleeper in the film and boosts of sun visor, roof hatch (vent) and power windows. It also offers a JOST fifth wheel. Powered by OM 501 LA (V6), a 12-litre Euro5, sixcylinder diesel engine, the 3340S developed 394 hp at 1800 rpm and 1850 Nm at 1080 rpm. The engine is mated to a manual 16-speed forward synchromesh with telligent gearshift (G210-16), and EPS with clutch pedal. Braking on the 3340S was the Telligent braking system with ABS and ASR. The tractor head is known to ply on 315/80 R22.5 tyres. These are steered by the Integral Power Steering which offers a turning radius of eight metres. A 400-litre tank holds its fuel supply and two 12 V 165 Ah batteries are known to power the instrument console and auxiliaries of the Actros. If it wasn’t for the HD Actros, Tiger wouldn’t have succeeded in his second outing.