A massive Volvo truck has broken two speed records

Behold the fastest truck on the planet. Last week Volvo claimed that their custom built Iron Knight would break a ‘world speed record’ on an old airfield in Sweden, and in the event it actually broke two.

At the hands of former European Truck Racing champion Boije Ovebrink, the 4,500kg machine became the quickest truck in history over 500m and 1,000m, clocking two-run averages of 13.71 and 21.29 seconds respectively.

Those work out as average speeds of 81.58mph and 105mph, with the latter set en route to a top speed of 171.5mph. In a truck.

Ovebrink surpassed the benchmarks that he set in the ‘Mean Green’ in 2012 thanks in no small part to the clever engineering behind Volvo’s latest monster.

Not only does the Iron Knight weigh a full tonne less than the Mean Green, it also brings an extra 592bhp to the table.  With a 12.8-litre six-cylinder engine producing a total of 2,367bhp, it has a similar power-to-weight ratio of a McLaren P1.

That’s an extremely hefty figure, especially when combined with an equally substantial 4,425lb ft of torque. Excuse us while we lie down for a minute to process that information...

And breathe. Volvo says it is “really proud” of its efforts, not least because the records were set with the I-Shift Dual Clutch transmission commonly found on its FH series trucks.

Sadly the other components – such as the fibreglass cab and aero package – don’t come as standard on the commercial vehicles. Pity.