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Touareg TDI tugs a Boeing 747

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Touareg TDI tugs a Boeing 747

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9 11,078 views Nov 22, 2006

Touareg TDI tugs a Boeing 747

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Volkswagen’s mighty V10 Touareg TDI managed to pull a Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet, weighing approximately 155 tonnes, across a runway at Dunsfold Aerodrome in the UK. Fitted with a special towing adaptor to connect it to the jet’s undercarriage, plus almost 4.3 tonnes of metal ballast, the Touareg itself weighed in at over 7 tonnes.

The vehicle was an ordinary production version powered by a V10 turbo diesel with 553ft-lbs of torque, and featured fully standard self-levelling air suspension, wheels and tires. The only modification was the fitment of the 4.56 axle ratio from the Touareg V8 model in place of the 3.27 gearing of the V10.

For the event, the Touareg pulled the jet over a 150m stretch seven times with an average speed of 5mph before bringing itself and the jet to rest on the SUV’s standard brakes. Follow the jump to see more high-res images.

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Comments (9)

charley Posted: 11/23/2006 3:05am PST

Astonishing ! don't you think it's one of those Top Gear's challenges coming in the next series? Or was it just a widely advertised event from volkswagen themself?

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surok Posted: 11/23/2006 3:06am PST

nahh it has to be topgear.. who else at dunsfold no less

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charley Posted: 11/23/2006 3:40am PST

yeah that's exactly what i thought :) ! Can't wait to watch it on TV !

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surok Posted: 11/24/2006 6:59am PST

wait, no its not topgear.but i think they will mention it like " during our break volkswagen brought their V10 touareg down to our base and towed a 747, we have some footage of that. "

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charley Posted: 11/24/2006 9:03am PST

Yeah exactly you're right, i've just checked on the TopGear magazine website www.topgear.com , and they say it's an event performed by VW themselves, on the same track where the stig use to do his power laps.
Although, I can't really understand why they came there. Just for J.Clarkson to talk about it in the upcoming series?

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admin Posted: 11/24/2006 9:44am PST

No, because the track they use is also for hire by private companies. It's relatively cheap, and I think the 747 was already there because you can often see it in the background of Top Gear episodes.

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T_Rabbit Posted: 12/8/2006 12:20am PST

hats off to the new generation of diesel engines.. the only other engine that can stand up to this task is the TDV8 by Land Rover.. btw this event was actually set up by VW themselves but was featured on Top Gear's rival programme, Fifth Gear. (4th December Episode - i haven't seen the episode yet so cannot confirm)

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Robby Posted: 5/27/2007 3:42pm PDT

Those engines are very close for the B747-200 but the body looks correct comments?

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Alan Brown Posted: 8/2/2007 8:45am PDT

The jet is a genuine 747 which was bought by Dunsfold Park as a "museum piece". The actual engines were removed, the engines seen in the photos are props added for the filming of Casino Royale. They are mounted side by side, as in the b52.

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