The Citroen Berlingo has won the Institute of Transport Management’s ‘Best LCV [Light Commercial Vehicle] 2012′ award.

The ITM’s criteria for the award said that the winner had to “embody perennially important qualities such as reliability, cost-effectiveness and durability.”

The ITM judges were particularly impressed by the Berlingo’s environmental credentials:

“Businesses are looking for LCVs that are lighter, with lower emissions and better fuel efficiency, qualities that the Citroën Berlingo range has in spades.  In particular, the Citroën Berlingo e-HDI Airdream* models are equipped with e-HDi micro-hybrid Stop & Start technology.”

In addition, they also noted that the Berlingo “has all the equipment and space of a light commercial van” but “drives like a car”. It is the latest in a series of awards for the current Berlingo model, which has now been updated to include a range of Euro 5 engines and is also available as a chassis cab with Citroen’s Ready To Run body conversions.

The Citroen Berlingo is a popular choice with van rental companies in the small van category and has also been very successful with fleets.

*Citroen’s Airdream system is a combined regenerative power and start-stop system that is available on selected van models. Berlingo Airdream vans have Stop & Start with an advanced micro-hybrid starter/generator to restart the engine quickly and smoothly and incorporate regenerative braking to recover and store energy that would otherwise be lost.

I was at Oliver’s Mount race track in Scarborough recently and saw some great real road motorbike and sidecar racing. I’ve been to quite a bit of motor racing over the years and have always enjoyed it – although my all-time favourite was truck racing, which I once saw at Thruxton (just west of Andover) a few years ago.

If you have never been to any motor racing before, you’ll find that most of the UK’s circuits are rural affairs, many of which were once airfields – for obvious reasons, these have converted quite well to motor racing circuits over the years and are now firmly established in UK and global motorsport calendars (Silverstone and Brands Hatch in particular).

Anyway, my appetite has been whetted for some more two-wheeled action this summer, so I took a look at the British Superbike Championship schedule for the rest of the season.

There are only four rounds remaining this year:

• 27-29 Aug: Cadwell Park (near Louth, Lincolnshire)
• 9-11 Sept: Donington Park (J24 M1, 6 miles south-east of Derby)
• 23-25 Sept: Silverstone Arena (about 12 miles south of Northampton)
• Season finale 7-9 Oct: Brands Hatch (near Swanley & Dartford)

The BSB is the premier UK motorcycle circuit racing championship and has some seriously talented riders, many of whom have ridden or will ride in the World Superbike Championships. Superbikes are highly modified versions of regular road bikes like the Honda Fireblade and Ducati 1198, so they are real enough to identify with but exotic enough to be seriously fast.

Van & Minibus Hire

If you are entering any of these races or working in any of the catering or retail stalls at the event, it is not too late to book a hire van to transport your bike or gear to the race. Similarly, if you are planning to go to the race with a group of friends, you could hire a minibus to cut down on fuel costs and enable all but one of you to enjoy a few beers with your racing!

A recent visit to the giant Newark Antiques Fair at Newark Showground made me realise that many antique dealers don’t own their own vans – they simply rent a van every time they attend a big show or fair.

This has a number of advantages, I guess – most of the time they are only transporting one or two antiques at a time and so they don’t need a van – just a large car, perhaps. Driving around in an empty van all the time is costly and a bit annoying so owning a car and hiring a van makes better sense than owning just a van and is much cheaper than owning a car and a van.

If you stand at any kind of shows, fairs or exhibitions, you will probably have a similar requirement – you’ll need a van occasionally but not all the time.

Daily van hire is the ideal solution to this requirement and makes a lot of sense financially. Even ignoring the cost of purchasing a van, the annual cost of insurance, servicing and fuel will pay for quite a few days’ van rental. An added bonus is that you don’t need to find parking for a large vehicle, either.

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