If you think a mass-produced car isn’t strong enough to drag tonnes of weight, think again.
Air France has just released the official video capturing the historic moment a Porsche Cayenne pulled an Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, establishing a new world record for the heaviest aircraft tow by a production vehicle.
The car has a tow rating of only under 8,000 pounds but it managed to drag a huge aircraft weighing 285 tonnes over a distance of 42 metres at Air France’s maintenance hangar.
The 60,000-square-metre hangar has been built to house the Airbus A380 and cater to the engineering and maintenance work for the Air France fleet.
[VIDEO] Behind the scene of an incredible performance with @Porsche and our #A380 💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/jvKrF2Bckq
— Air France Newsroom (@AFnewsroom) May 2, 2017
The video shows a striking contrast: a 4.8-metre long vehicle towing a massive aircraft that’s 73 metres long.
“We don’t usually go this far to test the limits of our cars, but I think today we got pretty close. I could tell that it was working hard but the Cayenne didn’t complain and just go a bit beyond what our customers might expect – they’re designed to be tough,” said Richard Payne, a technician at Porsche GB, in a statement released on Tuesday.
The feat impressed Guinness World Records adjudicator Pravin Patel. “I’ve verified amazing record attempts during my time as a Guinness World adjudicator – watching a Porsche Cayenne tow one of the largest aircraft in the world definitely ranks as among the most spectacular,” Patel said.
Air France said the test was overseen by engineers from UTAC CERAM, an independent group that provides testing and technical expertise in land transport.
