German roadster vs. British tank – there is a challenge we don’t see every day. Maybe this is why YouTubers urged one famous tank owner to put his armored vehicle on top of everything else. Eddie Hall’s social media followers suggested he “crush a car” with the road-legal tank.
If the name Eddie Hall doesn’t jingle any bells, he is a former professional boxer and powerlifter-turned-YouTuber who purchased a tank. A real one, yes, to use for promotional events. However, when he is not busy with his marketing antics, Eddie enjoys driving the tank around his hometown and performing all sorts of shenanigans.
He went to the gas station to fill the tank tanks – that was a time (and money) consuming ordeal, as the military tracked machine has military-sized fuel containers. He also took it to the car wash and the fast-food drive-thru.
This time, Eddie got on top of things. By “things,” he meant a first-generation BMW Z4 roadster (of all the cars he could have chosen, he set his sights on a roadster!). Easy prey, no doubt about it, as the little German open-top will come out flat from under the massive tank.
Or so we thought, but Germany has an automotive reputation for a reason. This tiny car demonstrates that toughness comes in surprising shapes and sizes. An eight-ton tank can easily climb on top of a three-foot-tall automobile, but it can’t smash it. Much to the surprise of gearheaded viewers, not only did the car not collapse under the hunk of steel, but it also drove away after the torture.
And please keep in mind that Eddie climbed his CVR(T) Sabre tank on the Z4 twice. Amazingly, the windshield remained in place (cracked in a spiderweb pattern but in one piece). So did everything else (at least, all the vital driving components were still functional). Even the doors – wrinkled like a dried date – remained aligned with the body.
The convertible (ab)used in this video is the first generation of the BMW Z4 model. One hundred sixty-one inches long, 70 inches wide, and 51 inches tall, it’s a tad bigger than the tank’s turret. And weight-wise, it’s about six times less heavy than the light Sabre tank (“light” by tank standards). Depending on the drivetrain, a Z4 would weigh between 2,855 lbs. and 3,086 lbs. (1,295 kg and 1,400 kg). The tank – 18,000 lbs.
The engineers designed the small car to withstand at least twice its weight in a rollover without the A-pillars and rollbars giving in. As this YouTube video demonstrates, the vehicle can take on much bigger loads and walk… errrrr, drive away. Enjoy the video, and do not attempt this at home (regardless of whether you own a tank or any other armored or heavy machinery).
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After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads. Full profile
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