Hoon of the Day: Tank Drifting!

When you're a tank company of the Swedish armed forces, we'd imagine there's not much else to do but hoon around a frozen lake and practice two-track drifting techniques. Or, even possibly invent some two-track drifting techniques in your Leopard 2A4. You just know this'll spark some kind of annual event up there, which we'll see on BBC World next year. [Thanks to Jealousy for the tip.] – Mike Spinelli

[Webpark: ! ! ) (5.70Mb)]

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11:00 AM on Fri Mar 23 2007
By Mike Spinelli
8,197 views
13 comments

Comments

SwatLax at 10:30 AM on 03/23/07
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Connectedness Index: 82
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Anyone know if tanks use a steering wheel and pedal setup, or do they have separate controls for the left and right tracks (like on those really fast riding lawn mowers)?

Just curious, because if its the latter, I'd be interesting to see a cockpit shot of how you unsettle a tank.
rgseidl at 10:54 AM on 03/23/07
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Afaik, tanks feature separate levers for the left and right tracks. Each lever directly controls the speed of the electric motor from full speed ahead through stationary to full speed reverse. Turning on the spot involves going forward with one track and backwards with the other.

So yeah, just like one of those wild weedwhackers, except in Sweden it's the wild whacker who's on weed.
FreeMan at 12:09 PM on 03/23/07
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I wonder how many frozen days in the brig for posting tank-based hoonage on teh intarwebs for the plucky Swedes. But a hearty round of applause for their sacrifice!

I'm thinking that the best part of tank drifting is that if you should loose control and powerslide into a... uhh... ummmm... anything, all you have to worry about is a little scratch in the paint.
BlackIce_GTS at 12:18 PM on 03/23/07
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Hoobitank?
Also, RuTube is lol.
KVHnik at 12:26 PM on 03/23/07
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Da-rift-do in el Tanko. I guess that falls under the category of "why wouldn't a guy?"
superbmtsub at 01:29 PM on 03/23/07
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Fast and the Furious 4 - Swedish TankballZ Drift
damnElantra at 02:29 PM on 03/23/07
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makes me want to join the military!

...oh wait, nevermind
rgseidl at 02:54 PM on 03/23/07
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I just noticed that these hoons christened their tank "Scipio Africanus, Foxtrot Alpha". Talk about fricking erudite grunts. Not surprising really, every McDonald's over there features works of Impressionist art.
jeremykupfer at 05:10 PM on 03/23/07
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Now I know how to say "buffering" in Russian. That's gotta come in handy at some point in life, right?
imoody at 07:04 AM on 03/24/07
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Swatlax - some tanks do use steering wheels.
iamjames at 03:05 PM on 03/24/07
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watching 68 tons drift has got to be the coolest video ever on jalopnik.

anyone know if they have a world record for "heaviest vehicle ever drifted"?
AmishJohn at 08:23 PM on 03/25/07
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It's always funny until someone throws a track.
drank01 at 02:24 PM on 04/13/07
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just want to say this is a awesome video !!!!
done this myself several times but never filmed it.
the tank in question is a leopard 2A5 battletank, and yes it uses pedals and a steering wheel (nice little sports steer).
man i'm getting all exited again just seeing this video

signed :former tank gunner.