By far and wide the biggest vehicle I have driven to date is an Oshkosh HEMTT, in various forms. These 34 feet long, 20-ton 8×8 monsters are one of the most unsung workhorses of the military fleet of vehicles, with the ability to carry damn near anything that requires hauling. Cargo by the trailerload, enough ammunition to keep trigger-happy pilots cared for, and all of the fuel we could possibly require on hand, they did it all. While the fleet is undergoing an engine conversion to the Caterpillar C15 six-cylinder engine, they originally came out with a 12.1L Detroit Diesel V8 that sang that moaning diesel song and would move the giant at a rather impressive pace…for a military truck, anyways.
I can openly say that I’ve never seen a HEMTT lighting off the tires in person. I might not be able to say the same for an LMTV…or a HMMWV…or the Chevrolet Caprice that I got to drive around in Kuwait…or the Gator we used on the flight line…but I never, ever have seen a HEMTT vehicle do a burnout until seeing these videos today. I’ve seen one off-roading in sloppy mud and I’ve seen one whip donuts in a field, but never a full-blown standstill burnout. With well over 1100 ft/lbs of torque on-hand, I shouldn’t be too surprised to see this, but somehow it’s still a bit surprising. Hopefully the guilty parties got away with a little fun before the phrase “statement of charges” appeared…or in the case of the wrecker operator, one pissed-off motor pool NCO.
Language warning: Military members at play.
Nice! Had a loaded PLS with a trailer up to 72 but no burnouts. Our MP had the angriest alcoholic E-7 running it. At least he got sent to Ramadi for his drinking!
According to a CO I had, I got clocked somewhere between Taji and Balad doing 95 in a LMTV that was hauling an ISU-90 and a trailer filled with crap. Stewart and Stevenson came down and took off our governors, I just made good use of it!
You guys make me miss the old deployments, where we could have some fun. I miss rolling around FOB Ramadi in a hopped up confiscated whale body caprice, and my buddy’s Russian jeep thing on HMMWV tires. On the early deployments the contractors would remove governors, and adjust waste gates ect. My Bradly was fast as hell “to compensate for the extra armor” of course. Absolutely smoked a M1 on a route Michigan drag race. Now deployments are like being cops in the states, except it’s harder to shoot bad guys.
The HEMTT’s had Detroit’s, but they were Series 60, not two strokes.
No they didn’t have 60 series. They had 8v92s. I’ve been working on these trucks for years. The heavys all had 92s. Until the switched to the c-15 and the c-18 for the Hett
back in the early 80’s at MCAS El Toro and at WTS-37 i used to watch M35A1 Deuce halfs doing burnouts and grabbing 2nd gear