The famous Jay Leno Tank Car

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STINGER05

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I finally got the the JL Tank Car after mastering the missions 11-20! :)

I was really excited to take it on a ride, so off to the Ring for a little test drive.. đź‘Ť

I had read a few things about this apparently great car on the web:
Its basically a 9500 Pund aluminum Hot Rod, powered by the engine of a Patton M47 Tank, 12 cylinders and 1800 cubic inch producing about 990 HP, and the 190 inch wheelbase also is home of a 35 gallon tank. And i thought the car looks great, like some of the race cars built in the earlier part of the last century.

Well, my excitement was short lived...the car drives like, ehrm. a tank on rubber wheels... I was expecting more like a Go-kart like handling, given the steering geometrics. Ok, the long wheelbase takes some of that away, but still, the cars was very slow to response.
Of even bigger disapointment was the engine... I was expecting rocket like acceleration, bringing me easy to speeds beyond the 200 mp/h..(320 km/h). But no, bad performance there as well (at least below my expectations).

Questions to my fellow racers : Do you share my impression/disapointment? :indiff:
- did you make some significant changes to improve the handling of the car overall? đź’ˇ


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I haven't tried it but I have a feeling Leno did the car mostly for looks, not performance. I'd guess is a blvd cruiser mostly...
 
Well, the handling is unusual (what would you expect otherwise from a brick on wheels), but it's fun to drive with. It actually drives like I expected it. :)
 
I agree ... it drives very close to what I expected. I mean, come on, the car is HUGE, extremely heavy, long wheelbase and you expect it to handle like a go-cart? Wrong, my friend. I expected it to be like a truck or something and it is :).
 
havent gotten it yet but I hope on GT5 they put in that Olds Tornado he built. Totally stock on the outside with a 1100hp engine and Corvette suspension!
 
Well the fact that it was called "The Tank car" all of my performance expectations were gone at that point.
 
1800 cubic inches! thats 29.5 LITERS! 2.4 liters per cylinder!
 
I can imagine Leno talking to the Honda crowd. "you have a 1.6L engine in that Civic? One cylinder of my car is 2.4L!"
 
Do any of the modes you can drive in with the car show the gas gauge? I saw him on a show once, and he said to drive the 100 miles to the show, he had to fill the tank 2 or 3 times...thats insane...
 
i cant see why you expected a 990bhp car to handle like a go kart lol. What kind of karts do you race lol?
 
Little hint with a name like 'Tank Car' It aint going to handle like a go-kart. if it would handle like a kart it would be called the 'Kart Car'.
 
STINGER05
I finally got the the JL Tank Car after mastering the missions 11-20! :)

I was really excited to take it on a ride, so off to the Ring for a little test drive.. đź‘Ť

I had read a few things about this apparently great car on the web:
Its basically a 9500 Pund aluminum Hot Rod, powered by the engine of a Patton M47 Tank, 12 cylinders and 1800 cubic inch producing about 990 HP, and the 190 inch wheelbase also is home of a 35 gallon tank. And i thought the car looks great, like some of the race cars built in the earlier part of the last century.

Well, my excitement was short lived...the car drives like, ehrm. a tank on rubber wheels... I was expecting more like a Go-kart like handling, given the steering geometrics. Ok, the long wheelbase takes some of that away, but still, the cars was very slow to response.
Of even bigger disapointment was the engine... I was expecting rocket like acceleration, bringing me easy to speeds beyond the 200 mp/h..(320 km/h). But no, bad performance there as well (at least below my expectations).

Questions to my fellow racers : Do you share my impression/disapointment? :indiff:
- did you make some significant changes to improve the handling of the car overall? đź’ˇ


-
Click to expand...


No disappointment, it handles like a 7716lb (3500kg) go kart with a long wheelbase should. It has a low revving tank engine with enough grunt to get it moving though.
 
well thats it. now im not even tempted to get the driving missions done. too bad the tank car is mostly tank. i sorta had high hopes for that thing...
 
Well I wasn't surprised. I knew it was going to handle like that, but it's a pretty fun car. Has some nice top end.
 
The Tank Car looks great, but drives like a Patton..... .. Cars in the early days did not drive well, the could'nt stop,change gear or something like that....the were just cruisers exept really old race cars like them the raced on the old Indianapolis...(locking for a race car....try the Auto Union with all Driving Aids set the ZERO...and make the N-ring...)

The first Race cars were them produced by the germans in the '30's...

If your locking for a Kart, try to win The Toyota 7 Race Car....it's drives like a huge kart, with turbo on it........And locks amazing...
 
STINGER05
Questions to my fellow racers : Do you share my impression/disapointment? :indiff:
Click to expand...
Nope – Have you ever seen a picture of that car? It's ––––ing ginormous!

Here's a pic from a recent C/D article:
10272004103513.jpg


Look at the sheer size of that thing – 21 feet long, and 8900 pounds… there's no way in hell a car that long and weighing that much would handle half-decently.
 
I was disappointed mainly because of its very low top speed. :(
 
Well, everything people are dissapointed in seems to be everything I expected anyway.
It doesn't handle well because it's too long and too heavy, it doesn't accelerate well because the reciprocating mass is too heavy and the stroke is too long. It's a big piggy tanky thing, what did you all think it would be? I like it because of all that, not in spite of it.
 
SRV2LOW4ME
Do any of the modes you can drive in with the car show the gas gauge? I saw him on a show once, and he said to drive the 100 miles to the show, he had to fill the tank 2 or 3 times...thats insane...
Click to expand...

đź’ˇ Who wants to find out just how far it goes on a tank of fuel? On the Test Course, of course (sorry, bad pun intended :dopey: )

Shentar
I can imagine Leno talking to the Honda crowd. "you have a 1.6L engine in that Civic? One cylinder of my car is 2.4L!"
Click to expand...

And just look at the diameter of the tailpipes! They're big enough to fit a whole Honda in them! (well, almost :D)
 
I don't think it was for looks/performance/or a boulevard drive. But deep down inside Kazunori is in love with Jay Leno and his chin.


(Gross.)
 
@ initial post: By the way, have you seen the front tires on that thing? I wouldnt expect anything weighing 9000 pounds with tires that skinny on the front, to turn very well. especialy considering those tiers are riding on a torsion bar sprung, solid axle, located by 8 foot long leading-arms.

I am a bit disapointed that, with 900 hp and who knows how much torque, it dosen't accelerate that well, or top out verry high. Where does it redline, how many gears does it have, how much torque does it have, and can it be tuned?

[EDIT]
Does anybody know wether this thing is gas or diesel?
 
Well, my excitement was short lived...the car drives like, ehrm. a tank on rubber wheels... I was expecting more like a Go-kart like handling, given the steering geometrics. Ok, the long wheelbase takes some of that away, but still, the cars was very slow to response.
Click to expand...

If I remember right, the real "car" has something like 11.5-12 turns lock-to-lock. Try driving that on the Nurburgring.
 
how were you expecting go-kart like handling from a 9500 pound car with ****ty, skinny tires on it?!?!?!?
 
It drives like a tank on rubber wheels because.... well..... it is a tank on rubber wheels. Driving this abomination around the ring is a hellish duty. I really wouldn't sit in the passenger seat (if there even is one) of someone driving this lump of steel around the ring in real life at 100mph.
 
inferno
Does anybody know wether this thing is gas or diesel?
Click to expand...


I don't know, but it's safe to assume that it uses diesel since the engine was literally taken from a tank engine model.
 
9.jpg


I guess this car has anything that an American would wish for.... it's HUGE and has a lot of power..... and that's it. :dopey: đź‘Ť
 
I think he likes chrome?:D
 
I still want it. Just because it's so rediculous. And it must sound sick at 30 freaking liters!
 
Well, I got it and was quite dissappointed. However I didn't expect much from it since it is 3000 kg!
 
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