Volkswagen Touareg V10 pulls a jumbo jet

Volkswagen Touareg TDI Towing 747-200

While we’re on the topic of turbodiesel Touaregs, remember that story about how a Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI pulled a specially modified Boeing 747-200? Well, I found a video of the event as well as a decent reenactment.

The plane is not a real 747-200, but a specially modified version called the 747-XXX and it was built for use as a prop in the James Bond film Casino Royale. The plane has had its two outer engines replaced with outboard wing tanks, and its inner engines has been replaced with mocked-up dual pylon-mounted engine pods under each wing.

So while this plane isn’t really as heavy as a real 747-200 ready to fly, it’s still a decent feat. Watch the video after jump.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • Capt Shopalot (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 8:47 am

    Wow, this is cool

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 1
  • viceice (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 9:11 am

    It proves nothing. With the breaks off, a Kancil could easily pull a 747 as well. Sure it might take a few minutes to overcome inertia, but once thats done it’ll be nicely rolling down the taxiway.

    Heck, I’m pretty sure 10 burly blokes with a rope could do it too.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • mattyboy (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 9:19 am

    Viceice – I really hope you are joking or are you just plain stupid! even this lump of a motor required serious modification to perform this stunt – the final drive ratio was changed to lower the overall gearing and it needed 4300 kilos of weight adding to it in order to prevent wheel spin

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • raybrig85 (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 9:35 am

    dis car is quite tough and has a big engine…fifth had tested it with many other thing b4 tested it with dat boeing…one of my fav and in my top 3 wishlist suv

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • BanyakMasukWorkshop (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 9:46 am

    our very own malaysian strongman, the indian guy, forgot his name, pulled a 737 from standstill with straps attached to his hair.

    now thats impressive!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • szw (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 11:00 am

    watch dis quite a while ago d

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • raybrig85 (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 11:19 am

    paul…download d supercars showdown…by jeremy…another one…the good,the bad and the ugly by jeremy…quite interesting

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Fox (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    Kita punya Strongman (late) tarik jumbo jet guna rambut. Better than the Touareg. Hehehe…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • BW (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 8:17 pm

    TSK TSK… i wonder how if a hummer pull it…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • viceice (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 10:47 pm

    No Mattyboy, infact I would hope you’re the one whose kidding, otherwise you would have just made quite the public spectacle of yourself.

    It’s not about how big and powerful your engine is, it’s about how you use the power that you already have. Here’s some simple secondary school physics:

    The formula for inertia, F=ma, tell us that the greater the mass of an object, the less it will accelerate under a given force. But the point to remember is that it WILL accelerate as long as force is being applied. Even with the tiny amount of acceleration a kancil (or a man with a plane tied to his hair, what have you) will provide, the plane will eventually get up to speed.

    So yea, I don’t have to be a jerk and call you stupid, i think you quite well proved to the world you have no idea how the world around you works.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Kelvin Lew (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 11:08 pm

    Err… actually you need to overcome the friction. This is because the only component of force directly opposite the direction of travel is the frictional force. The friction in this case includes surface friction (which is dependent on the normal force component to the surface, in this case the weight of the plane), in addition to the friction in the bearings, axle, wind etc.

    The resultant force, F=ma will contribute to the acceleration, a of the plane.

    @viceice: The body will accelerate with given force but only if the force can overcome the frictional force. Which in this case is definitely not zero. And in this case is no small feat also for a car.

    @mattyboy: Once the frictional force is overcome, the object can achieve infinite velocity, as long as there is a resultant positive force (however minimal, as this results in positive resultant acceleration). But of course infinite velocity is impossible as nothing travels faster than light and the mass of the object will increase as it nears lightspeed, but I digress.

    viceice and mattyboy both have valid points just not formulated correctly enough. :)
    Cheers.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • ingolstadt (Member) on Dec 03, 2007 at 11:57 pm

    the only thing that amaze me here is the wheel’s grip.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • mystvearn (Member) on Dec 04, 2007 at 12:43 am

    Jeremy Clarkson did the same thing with a JCB

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • leedehao (Member) on Dec 04, 2007 at 1:41 am

    seriously if a Kancil can pull a 747, then they should do it for promotional purposes albeit I’m quite sure the Kancil’s bumper would be pulled off.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • arcana (Member) on Dec 04, 2007 at 7:41 am

    lol….not only the bumper….probably the car will split into 2 itself.
    the bodyshell cant take this kind of stunt…….not even counting making the plane move.
    if someone is saying that a 660c engine can pull this…i dont know…but definitely the body of the car cant…..unless the kancil is made from….i dont know….tank material?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • BanyakMasukWorkshop (Member) on Dec 04, 2007 at 10:20 am

    with all these facts in place, it just makes the feat by out strongman all the more impressive.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • albagmane (Member) on Dec 04, 2007 at 1:06 pm

    this is madness!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • mitlanevo (Member) on Dec 04, 2007 at 5:52 pm

    is Volkswagen Malaysia selling the Touareg TDI ?

    btw, nice video!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • aki_zz (Member) on Dec 04, 2007 at 7:45 pm

    a towing tractor for aircraft has around 5.7l diesel engine has about 200bhp and approx. 700nm of tourque can pull a fully loaded 747-400 easily. so this touareg surely can do it
    http://www.fmctechnologies.com/AirportEquipmentServices/GroundSupportEquipment/Tractors.aspx

    click the specs sheet at the bottom of the page

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • aki_zz (Member) on Dec 04, 2007 at 7:48 pm

    an aircraft tow tractors has almost the same engine capacity as the volks touareg can easily pull a 747-400. so it is possible.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • carcrazed (Member) on Dec 10, 2007 at 12:25 pm

    Obvious misapplication of Newtonian formula. The question is whether this is an amazing feat or it’s nothing more than as some said misunderstanding of physical law. I look at it in different perspective. One is the ability to move the object from standstill position and then the stamina to maintain that motion. Imagine all other physical force is absent and we are in space and this SUV is in collision mode with the aircraft doing 200km/hr. Upon collison would you think the aircraft will budge from its position? The SUV will crash like a mosquito crashed on a windscreen.

    Similarly, imagine this SUV alongside the aircraft already speeding at 200km/hr with a traction beam between them, do you think the aircaft will move? The 200km/h will immediately stops to 0km/hr with the SUV weighs at 2500Kg without the ballast. As you can see this is a question of inertia and momentum and not acceleration as explained from F=MA. Too much theory here…why don’t you look at towing problem to appreciate the demo.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • lchan (Member) on Dec 13, 2007 at 5:14 pm

    veceice: kancil?..Stay off the “grass” dude..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • megadisc (Member) on Dec 19, 2007 at 2:26 pm

    si beh cool man

    woo hoo…

    can try with out perdana or not ?

    i’m sure can pull the car carriage out leh !

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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