Face It, You Need Your Own Tank and the Howe & Howe Ripsaw EV3-F4 Was Made for You

Just a few minutes out of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, Howe & Howe construct some truly wild “rapid tracked vehicles” and there are even a few you can put in your garage. Most of the Ripsaw machines are built as unmanned machines meant to be used in combat or firefighting applications, but the company also makes a few civilian versions. These crazy vehicles can seat four and feature a tubular steel framework.

This one, the Howe & Howe Ripsaw EV3-F4, is driven by a modified 6.6-liter Duramax turbodiesel V8 that’s been tuned by Pacific Performance Engineering and it’s hooked up to a rock-solid Allison truck transmission. The current owner says this thing is capable of 800 horsepower and 1,500 lb-ft of torque and can sprint at up to 60mph.

Textron Systems, the defense contractor that bought Howe & Howe in 2019, says this machine is “the world’s fastest dual-tracked vehicle” and features a tank with a 64-gallon fuel capacity.

And as for comfort, the “floating” passenger cabin is isolated by an air-sprung suspension, includes gullwing doors, and is finished out in a “murdered” look with matte black paint. And for winter runs, the windshield is heated and high-intensity LED lamps cover 360 degrees around the vehicle to scare the neighbors. And in case you need it, the Ripsaw is kitted out with an infrared light bar, a remotely-operated spotlight and a FLIR camera.

The interior is considerably more refined than you might expect and features heated (and cooled) leather Recaro seats up front and a Bose aviation intercom system compatible with the VHF radio and stereo.

All of the controls and cameras are hooked into two 12-inch Garmin touchscreens and they have filters to make them compatible with night vision goggles.

Weighing in at a somewhat portly 10,000 pounds, the Ripsaw does have a claimed 20 inches of ground clearance and a tiny turning radius of just eight feet.

This one also happens to be one of just six built in this configuration, and as a result, it won’t come cheap.