Have you ever taken your Monaco coach to the hottest place you could find and pushed the engine to the highest rpm possible, just to measure the results? How about inverse chatter bumps to make sure the ride is smooth? Have you taken two wheels up on a frame-twisting curb to test the chassis strength? Or driven over enormous cobblestones to test the tires? Or taken it into standing water eight inches deep at cruising speed?

Of course you haven’t—and you don’t need to—because Monaco already puts test coaches through these grueling trials to ensure their products are as strong, safe and durable as possible.

The Only One

“We’re the only coachmaker who goes through this kind of testing,” said Scott Zimmer, Monaco’s director of chassis development. “And we spend a lot of money doing it. There’s nobody else putting the same amount of resources into research.”

The latest big investment came in the form of the R&D (research & development) Coach, a 2005 Signature Series built last year for the sole purpose of research and development. In the last eight months, Zimmer and his research teams have put 20,000 miles on the coach, primarily for the purpose of emissions testing for various engines.

“The engine companies need to know that their products are meeting emissions and that’s where we come in with [the R&D coach],” he said. “It’s kind of a partnership between us and the engine manufacturers.”

Thus far, the R&D coach has been used to test three engines (the Detroit Diesel Series 60, and Cummins ISM and ISX 600) and is having a fourth installed (a Caterpillar C-13). After testing one more engine, Zimmer says they will move on to testing prototype engines to meet the 2007 EPA emissions restrictions.

“The EPA steps up their emissions restrictions every two years,” Zimmer said. “And our goal is to stay two years ahead of that curve.”

In Zimmer’s opinion, the R&D coach represents a big leap in testing that other manufacturers haven’t yet made. “Other companies can’t do this type of testing without pulling a coach off [the production line],” he said. “That means some of their customers are going to end up with a coach that has already been used for testing and troubleshooting.”

High Temps and Big Data

The research teams—consisting of Zimmer, a driver and a group of three to five engineers depending on the engine or component being examined—conduct the tests at sites around Las Vegas, where the temperatures regularly exceed the 100-degree mark.

The testing is accomplished through the use of a towing dynamometer, a trailer built specifically for the R&D coach. The dynamometer retards the engine to allow the research team to create high engine RPMs without taking the coach to the high speeds that would normally result. “There’s only a handful of dynos like this in the country,” Zimmer said. “We’re definitely the only RV manufacturer with one this size.”

With the dynamometer working, gauges and sensors collect data from the engine, which is sent to a computer. The amount of information recorded is staggering, but it is compiled into an understandable database for future use. That data was on display at the FMCA Convention in Minot, North Dakota this August. Owners will have the chance to walk through the test coach and see for themselves exactly what the results have been.

More Than Emissions

In addition to the emissions testing, the R&D coach is being used to try out any number of prototype parts and equipment. For example, Zimmer says they’ve tried out the “latest, greatest” collision avoidance system from vendor Eaton VORAD. “I think it was also the first coach to have the Multiplex electrical system on it,” he said. “Vendors will come to us and ask us to put their newest prototypes on the coach for testing, so there’s a lot going on with it.”

The coach is already having an impact on quality. By way of example, Zimmer spoke of an instance where it was suggested that reversing the direction on a fan blade might make it work better. “So we took it out, reversed the direction, popped it back in there—and sure enough, it worked,” he said. “It’s amazing to have immediate feedback like that.”

Taking On the Torture Track

The R&D testing in Las Vegas isn’t the only research going on at Monaco Coach Corporation. For every new chassis design or redesign, over 1,000 test miles are logged to ensure strength and durability. Because of their punishing nature, 1,000 test miles translates to 50,000 real world miles.

Dean Mitchell, manager of Monaco Coach Corporation video productions, recently returned from the site where most of those miles are logged. The Bosch Automotive Proving Grounds are 90 miles from Chicago in New Carlisle, Indiana, and Mitchell was visiting to create a documentary on the type of “proving” that Monaco Coach Corporation does there. “

They have a three-mile, high speed oval that basically looks like Daytona,” Mitchell said. “It has these amazing banked corners. I parked a coach on the corner, got out, and I swear I could have tipped the coach over just by pushing on it.”

And while the high speed testing is extreme, it’s the “torture track” that is the real jaw dropper. “The torture track is right next to the main oval and it has all sorts of chatter bumps and undulations—really wicked looking stuff,” Mitchell said. “I’m surprised it doesn’t just tear the axles right off.”

While the Monaco coaches and chassis that Mitchell documented had no structural problems, the word from the professional test drivers was that other manufacturers had not been so lucky. “The drivers literally fight over who gets to take a Monaco on the torture track because they ride better,” Mitchell said. “One driver told me that a [coach from another RV manufacturer] had to be hauled off on a flatbed because the walls started to separate.”

In addition to the frame twist testing and the tire and axle testing on cobblestones six inches high, Mitchell and the video crew from Parthé Productions documented the hydroplane testing of a coach that was driven into eight inches of water at highway speed. “It made one big splash,” he said. “But the coach performed extremely well.”

When the DVD documentary on the extreme testing is finished, it will be shown at FMCA Conventions and Dealer Congress, distributed to Monaco Coach Corporation dealerships and made available for viewing on the corporate website.

“It’s pretty awesome to witness just how structurally sound our coaches are,” Mitchell said. “I think it’s something that everyone is really going to enjoy.”