The latest Tour vehicle for the high-profile golf equipment manufacturer is an environmentally-friendly Mercedes-Benz Actros rigid.
The premium specification 26-tonner was supplied by Immingham dealer H&L Garages. An Actros 2541 model, it is now supporting Ping’s roster of professional golfers on the 2010 European Tour, among them South African Louis Oosthuizen, winner of this year’s Open Championship at St Andrews, and Britain’s top golfer Lee Westwood, who is currently ranked number three in the world.
The truck’s 10 metre-long body features hydraulically extending pods on both sides and is the work of specialist coachbuilder WHF, of Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, which also counts many leading names in motorsport among its clients.
Inside are a comprehensively equipped mobile workshop, and a parts and accessories store – Ping’s tour technicians can build a full set of golf clubs to order in less than two hours! – as well as a luxurious lounge with comfortable seating and TV screens, where players can relax between practice sessions.
The vehicle will travel to 22 tournaments across the Continent during the course of this season; between events it is based at Ping Europe’s head office in Gainsborough.
Powered by a 410hp BlueTec® Euro 5 engine driving through a Mercedes PowerShift 2 automated gearbox, the new Actros replaces another Mercedes-Benz that Ping has stood down after seven years’ reliable service.
“We chose the Actros partly because we’d enjoyed such good service from its predecessor,” said Ping’s European Marketing Manager Dave Fanning. “But we also decided against going for the biggest vehicle possible, in the shape of an articulated tractor and trailer combination.
“Instead, we did our homework and calculated that this six-wheeled Actros rigid would give us all the space and performance we need, while at the same time being more economical – and therefore ‘greener’ – than a larger truck.”
He added: “The Actros is already proving a great success and has been very well received by technicians and players alike. It’s also a very smart, distinctive vehicle which delivers a bold statement about our own premium brand at tournaments, and serves as a mobile billboard when we’re on the road.”
image PING’s new Tour Truck