Life measured by engine power
Before the retirement, Dusan Radenovic was a test driver in the Technical Testing Centre (TTC). As a member of the working teams he is particularly engaged in testing vehicle performance in driving vehicles on various terrains in our country. He strained the engines of vehicles to maximum limits, speeding them, suddenly braking, bringing them to the corners of a rollover, in order to confirm their extremes, based on defined requirements. He drove them on various terrains – sandstone, gravel road, water, and various obstacles insurmountable for other vehicles. Only a few of such experienced drivers in the country can overcome various obstacles and properly assess performance of combat and non-combat vehicles to be tested. His observations from these studies contributed to the acquisition of quality and prospective arms and military equipment for the military.The vehicle cabin has always been packed with test and measurement equipment to follow the operation of engines and other vehicle subsystems. For all that time Dusan was continuously driving, descending steep hills which usually frightened all those who dared to sit with him in the cabin. Soon after that, he would climb seemingly insurmountable hills by his skilful and virtuoso driving. At each water obstacle he would look for a suitable place for crossing, clearing the way with draft for further performance tests. His commanding officers praise him as a reliable associate and a man, ready to provide the most, which is even more than expected.
He revealed the secrets of his profession gradually during the work. After the first test task – testing of mobile surgery unit – he learned that the driver in the TTC is not an ordinary driver. He must identify the deficiencies in the vehicle, to highlight the problems and write down his opinion in the technical documentation for each investigated peace of equipment.
After the mobile surgery unit, Dusan tested mobile laundry, bakery, pharmacy units, and vehicles by renowned manufacturers of "Fiat", "Stauer Puch" Pinzgauer, Campagnola, 128 mm rocket systems Plamen C [Flame C] and Oganj [Fire], vehicles of Zastava truck factory and truck and bus producer Fabrika Autobusa Priboj (FAP) – double-axed 1118, triple-axed 2228. He started testing of four-axed vehicle 3240, but he did not complete it because of his retirement.
- When you get a new vehicle for testing, it is new both for us and for the manufacturer. It is normal that those who produced it to seek to conceal some of its shortcomings, and test drivers, who are part of the working team, have to examine it in the ride and determine whether it meets all the declared characteristics. Sometimes a test driver is on the edge of the sword, because the manufacturer may challenge his opinion. Some underestimated my remarks because I was a driver, but it was my task to prove the shortcomings. I have always used to say: "If something is wrong because of my fault, then dismiss me. It is easy. But the vehicle will still have its shortcomings. "
What Dusan loved most were field tests – in all weather conditions and seasons – and every terrain has its story and every day depended on the weather conditions, seasons, types of the terrain. He says that in the Deliblato sands, with sand and hills, grade climbing, mobility and traction performance were tested. On Fruska Gora, vehicles were passing the gravel terrains. Braking was tested on the runway in Kovin. Then they went to Kopaonik and Zlatibor. There were various paths – wet or dry with, stone or sand, with vegetation or gravel road. Apart from all that, draft on the Drina, Jadar, etc, were examined. The demands were always big, depending on the type of vehicle and requirements.Radenovic says that the test drive normally encompasses approximately 30,000 kilometers. These were lengthy terrains in which, as he says, many things used to happen on a new vehicle. If everything went according to plan, he used to pass 150 to 200 kilometers a day.
Dusan often worked together with his colleagues Goran Ilic, Dragan Dzakula and a mechanic Branko Korolija and he went to the field with Majors Aleksandar Djuric, Aleksandar Nikolic and Snezana Jovanovic.
- A test driver must love his/her job, know his/her vehicle perfectly and its capabilities, to be impartial, self-critical. I have always given myself the task that I will do my job the best I can, but not because someone forced me to do that, but because that is my job. I have always known what I did and where I was wrong. I have never attributed that to the vehicle, but if a man does not know where he was wrong, he does not know to do this job.
He says he still learns, although retired. When one hears the sound of the engine he can say exactly what is its speed and velocity. Dusan's lifetime was, indeed, measured by the engine power.
