Red Pearl,Scania R999:Svempas:Sven Erik Bergendahl [email protected] Insta+TikTok:marcels_miniaturen

Rocketing down a runway in a 4.5-tonne convertible Scania truck with the performance potential of a Porsche is nothing but special.

When the Scania has also had its roof removed, and looks more like a hotrod than a heavy hauler, the specialty of the occasion rates up there with taking the controls of a piece of major military hardware.

Come to think of it, the sound of the Scania Red Pearl R 999 at full throttle is not far different from a jet aircraft, or a main battle tank, or a navy patrol boat at 30 knots. The handling is probably about the same, too.

And let's not even get started on the brakes...

The best place to start is with the crazy 70-year-old Swede who built this vehicle, which is wild and wacky enough to look right at home in a giant's Hot Wheels collection.

S.E. Bergendahl, a man everyone calls 'Svempa', is a lifetime lover of trucks. He might live in Sweden, where Scania and Volvo don't have quite the same kick as a long-distance Kenworth running across the badlands of the USA, but that has not stopped him turning his love into a living.

Svempa is now a European trucking icon who has built a business based on modifying trucks, with Scania as his speciality. His go-faster, look-smarter, stop-better packages will soon be coming to Australia for sales through Scania dealers, but that is another story.

This one is all about his personal R 999.

It was born because the one-time tow truck driver _ "I really don't like working when it is minus 30 and there is a truck breakdown" _ runs what amounts to an AMG or BMW M-style operation which tweaks Scania trucks to look smarter and run better.

"Everyone was always asking me 'What next? What will you do next?',"

Svempa says.

"So I decided to do the convertible. But this is not a cabriolet, this is a hotrod."

That explains the radical chop on the top, as well as the candy-apple- red paintwork which has been popular for generations with American hotrodders. And the huge chromed fuel tanks, and the side dump exhaust pipes, and even the perspex cabin floor that allows you to stare _ and I mean stare _ straight down at the giant engine and all its crazy turbo plumbing and wastegates that would turn a WRX doof-doof driver green.

And the giant 39 on the sides? Well, that would be the year that old Svempas was born.

"Ok, so I am 70. But right now I feel still that I am 25," he says, as he monkeys up the side of the Scania to begin his demonstration runs.

Soon there is a bellowing thunder as he fires the 16-litre twin-turbo V8, then a 747-style rumble and roar as he blasts down one of the deserted taxiways at Brisbane airport.

The R 999 is clearly quick, but any real reference is lost in such a deserted location.

So I jump on board for a passenger ride before taking the wheel to try it for myself.

Svempas is grinning like a troll, and a thrill junkie who has done this lots of times before and enjoys the idea of taking people right outside their comfort zone.

"There is no seat belt, but that's no problem," he cacks, before flooring the throttle.

I should explain that the big red 39 has 1000 horsepower and 4500 Newton-metres of torque. It will blast - the right word - to 100km/h in five seconds flat and the top speed is in the 200km/h region.

"Actually, it's 188 kilometres when you look at the revs and the gears. It's too heavy for any more," Svempas says. And then we are off.

There is a solid shove as he paddles up through the gears and a huge wind rush but, thanks to the runway, not a lot of speed sensation.

For someone who is used to running the gauntlet on the Hume Highway, where every Kenworth seems to cruise past at 188 with the same sort of smile as Svempas, this is not particularly exciting.

Still, it's a major achievement for a truck which started life as a regular Scania T 500 but now even has a paintjob which cost $200,000.

Svempas invested 3000 man-hours on the conversion, installing things like a low bus front axle and an Allison automatic gearbox, chopping the windscreen by 350 millimetres and lowering the whole rig so it has just 100 millimetres of ground clearance.

The tweaked engine was also given the show treatment with plenty of chrome.

"We wanted to do something that no-one had done before. In our world, you always want to come up with something new," he says.

And then he hands me the wheel. The engine is still running so the driving instructions are simple.

"Push this button for drive, then use the paddles. The brakes are ok, but not too hard on them please," Svempa says.

As I look down I can see the engine below me, and it's like staring into a volcano. But the cabin seems normal enough, if you ignore the missing roof, and I know I can do
For a start, this is a man who has been racing trucks for more than 20 years. And anyone with any sense knows that trucks were never intended to be raced.

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