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BJ Baldwin Drives Mini Tank in Gymkhana Style for Toyo Tires Commercial

With all the hype around Ken Block’s Gymkhana and BJ Baldwin’s Recoil videos, it was only a matter of time before your favorite companies did their own stunts. But Toyo Tires decided to take things out of the urban environment and use an alternative vehicle that looks like a shrunken tank.
BJ Baldwin Drives Mini Tank in Gymkhana Style for Toyo Tires Commercial 4 photos
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
Toyo Tires FerretToyo Tires FerretToyo Tires Ferret
It's called the Ferret, and we needed to do a little research to find out what we're dealing with, even though it's got a familiar shape.

Action Vehicle Engineering put this bad boy together with custom shocks from King Shocks, a Smittybilt X20 12K Winch, and some nifty explorer lights.

It's not technically a tank, but a lightly armored scouting vehicle developed by the British. The Ferret was in production from 1952 until 1971. It's closely related to the Daimler Dingo that saw action during the Second World War.

Two people, generally a division commander and his driver, moved at high speed ahead of the main tank force to scout the enemy. They were offered only moderate protection, as the 58 mph (93 km/h) top speed was what actually kept them alive. Depending on the model, various armaments were also fitted, this one being equipped with a light caliber cannon.

The Ferret and Dingo have a common H-shaped drive train with a central differential to eliminate loss of traction though one wheel slipping.

Initially, the power came from a six cylinder 4.26-literwater-cooled Rolls-Royce B.60 petrol engine with 130 hp arriving at 3000 rpm. If you consider the power-to-weight ratio of 35.1 hp/ton, it should be very nimble for an army vehicle.

Of the 4,409 Ferrets that were ever made, none were ever sold to America. However, Canada bought 124 between 1954 and 1981 So we think that's where this one originated from since no other country in North or South America had Ferrets.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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