Monday 1st May 2017

Porsche Cayenne vs Airbus A380

You'll have heard about stump pulling torque before, so how about Airbus pulling?

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About a decade ago, you may remember VW used a Touraeg R50 diesel to tow a 747. Quite the achievement it was too, a ballasted SUV using a standard powertrain to pull 155 tonnes of aeroplane down a runway.

If you think it looks silly here...

Well now Porsche has upped the ante as far as silly SUV stunts go. It has used a Cayenne Diesel S to tow an Airbus A380, all 73 metres and 285 tonnes of it, to set a new Guinness World Record. And then did it with a Turbo S too, presumably just to prove the point. To be specific, the record set is for 'Heaviest aircraft pulled by a production car'.

The record was set at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, using one of Air France's A380s. The driver was Porsche GB technician Richard Payne who, after towing the plane 42 metres for the record, said "I could tell that it was working hard but the Cayenne didn't complain and just got on with it. My mirrors were quite full of Airbus, which was interesting."

... have a look at this!

Both cars were mechanically standard, the only modification being a "special towing attachment" that was fixed onto the regular tow bar of each. Talk about testing the durability!

So if your summer holiday is likely to require some very serious towing, the Porsche Cayenne could well be the car for you. Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, over to you...

 

 

[SIXSM]

Drove a Diesel S a couple of weeks ago, monster torque, seriously deceptively very fast car with a v8 soundtrack - nice! Really impressive car...

[h0b0]

It's a twin cab so is a family car in the US

[grahamr88]

Wow, Porsche, that's incredible. What next; can you prove that it's at least as fast as a man, too?

[gumsie]

grahamr88 said:

Wow, Porsche, that's incredible. What next; can you prove that it's at least as fast as a man, too?

I gotta agree here, I was a little bit unimpressed too. I can pull a car but I certainly couldn't lift one.

[hairyben]

Turn the jet around and fire her up and then we'll see whose most impressive

[Evolved]

Also underwhelmed too as I thought of this. PH loves the Porsche!

gumsie said:

grahamr88 said:

Wow, Porsche, that's incredible. What next; can you prove that it's at least as fast as a man, too?

I gotta agree here, I was a little bit unimpressed too. I can pull a car but I certainly couldn't lift one.

[edo]

SIXSM said:

Drove a Diesel S a couple of weeks ago, monster torque, seriously deceptively very fast car with a v8 soundtrack - nice! Really impressive car...

Its a cracking engine. Ours gives well into the 30's mpg which I think is pretty decent. Sounds good to.

[Vee12V]

Amen.

Evolved said:

Also underwhelmed too as I thought of this. PH loves the Porsche!

gumsie said:

grahamr88 said:

Wow, Porsche, that's incredible. What next; can you prove that it's at least as fast as a man, too?

I gotta agree here, I was a little bit unimpressed too. I can pull a car but I certainly couldn't lift one.

[akirk]

not a scientist, but surely it is only the inertia which is impressive and as long as you have enough torque / the right gearing that shouldn't be an issue, just do it slowly... once moving it is rolling resistance which is not always a reflection of weight... so why is the record for the heaviest plane moved when potentially the weight is not relevant - if it was a lump of metal of a uniform surface area in contact with the ground then weight would make sense - but a plane with wheels?

[Matt UK]

Pfft, agree.

I want to see Porsche do it properly and tow an A380 around the Nurburgring in under 10 minutes.

Or something similarly pointless.

[ChemicalChaos]

Meh. Back in 1989 Land Rover pulled an entire train, which must have weighed as much or more, with a 120hp Discovery....

[Trophy-GTA]

Should've done it the other way around with the car attached behind the aeroplane and then took the aeroplane around for a spin. Would've made a more interesting article.

[patch5674]

h0b0 said:

It's a twin cab so is a family car in the US

Not bothered to lift my lazy little fingers to google it, but I am going to assume that that Space Shuttle is possibly actually significantly lighter than an A380.

[PenelopaPitstop]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/news/land-rover-pu...

"A Land Rover Discovery Sport pulls three train carriages nearly 60 times its weight - the equivalent of towing a Boeing 757 airliner"

[njw1]

Pfft......My old diesel Mondeo could do that with a bit of old seatbelt....

[sahajesh]

The roof spoiler made all the difference, extra downforce and made the Porsche look good, not.

[RenesisEvo]

akirk said:

not a scientist, but surely it is only the inertia which is impressive and as long as you have enough torque / the right gearing that shouldn't be an issue, just do it slowly... once moving it is rolling resistance which is not always a reflection of weight... so why is the record for the heaviest plane moved when potentially the weight is not relevant - if it was a lump of metal of a uniform surface area in contact with the ground then weight would make sense - but a plane with wheels?

+1 these record attempts come across as very ignorant of basic physics. Airport tractors have a lot of torque and weight because they need to push, as well as pull, and to be able to do it day, day out. For interest, there's one that claims to be 40 tons, with potential for an additional 30 tons of ballast. Power not so easy to find information on; a bit of digging suggests the aforementioned 40t tractor has 482hp at 1900rpm, 1536lb.ft at 1300rpm, from a 12 litre V6 turbodiesel. Imagine the size of the pistons!

[CS Garth]

So now not only is the a303 going to packed with Discoveries pulling caravans but also Cayenne's pulling planes. Brilliant.

[mybrainhurts]

FFS, a dinky tractor can do that....

[stedale]

I'd be really impressed if a conveyor belt was involved...





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