Alcon provides Graelion braking system
Tamworth based brake and clutch company, Alcon Components Ltd, has been selected by Italian specialist vehicle company, Tekne, to deliver a bespoke braking solution for their Graelion off-road multipurpose vehicle.
Above: A Tekna Graelion fitted with Alcon brakes.
Courtesy Alcon
To meet Tekne’s demanding requirements, Alcon have selected a caliper from their CIR15 family, for use on all corners. The CIR15 caliper has been proven on serious off-road use cases in numerous applications, across a multitude of sectors.
Alcon’s relationship with Tekne reaches back to 2020 when they supplied off-the-shelf brake kits for Toyota Land Cruisers. Since then, the first Graelion protype system was delivered in 2022 and Alcon are now in production, having delivered over 30 vehicles sets, to date. Compared to volume single sided calipers, the CIR15 opposed piston caliper supplied to Tekne is more suited for harsh environments. It does not have a slide mechanism, such as slide pins that can seize or wear with use in muddy conditions.
The piston sealing system is the same as Alcon have used in many off-road race applications, dating back to their first WRC calipers 40 years ago. Alcon’s CIR family of brakes also have decades of proven capability on defence applications. Alcon chose SG cast iron rather than aluminium, to increase stiffness at the pressures and loads seen on a 7500kg vehicle and to reduce electrolytic corrosion from wading and being exposed to widespread off-road conditions.
The Tekne Graelion vehicle delivers exceptional levels of mobility due to its high ground clearance design that fulfils a multitude of roles across the specialist vehicle sectors, including emergency service vehicles (fire, rescue, ambulance), utility functions (such as snowploughs), tourism (safari minibuses), mining and construction and defence. The vehicle design can be configured for various wheelbases (from 3000mm to 4250mm) and it can wade a depth up to 1100mm.
Carlo Ulacco, Design Authority for Vehicle Business Unit and Board Member at Tekne said: "Our Graelion vehicle was specifically designed to be a versatile and compact. Therefore, the choice of brake calipers, like every other component, needed to reflect this dual nature and deliver the required levels of performance and safety across the range of operation. Alcon's CIR15 calipers proved to be the perfect fit and we’ve been very pleased with the services that Alcon have provided to support our development programme."
Jonathan Edwards, Group Sales Director at Alcon said: “Being selected by Tekne to deliver a braking solution for their Graelion vehicle is great news for Alcon and underlines our capabilities in the area of specialist vehicle braking systems, for use in demanding roles. To meet the wide variety of future roles and applications, The Graelion is designed to operate in more extreme and harsh environments and our system can deal with that, improving performance and safety and reducing through life costs.
“Alcon has become the place to come to for OEMs and vehicle modification companies working in more specialist areas. We understand what’s needed and we have a proven track record in delivering bespoke and off-the-shelf braking solutions for vehicles ranging from giant 60 tonne tracked vehicles to lighter weight motorsport vehicles and everything else in between.”