A whale of a truck
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Once upon a time a man became the owner of the world's fastest lorry by freezing a 38ft 20-ton whale named Little Irvy. Tyrone Malone toured America for 12 years with his frigid outsize pet and a charge of 50c a head to see it netted him enough to build the Boss Truck of America, which he transformed into a racing model.
Pride of his racing stable is now Super Boss, which cost $150,000. It is a Kenworth two-axle tractor 25ft long, 8ft 6in high and 8ft wide and weighing just over 7 tons. It is powered by a modified Detroit Diesel 12V71 852cuin turbocharged engine which drives through an Allison five-speed automatic transmission.
As it is capable of well over 140mph, stopping is important and Jacobs engine brakes and Wagner electric computerised brakes help to stem its Valkyrian progress.