This Tank Achieved A New Speed Record By Adopting F1′s Banned Technology

The Williams FW15 from the 1993 Formula One season may well be the greatest race car of all-time. Its key to obliterating the competition? Active suspension, a technology that for the first time ever is being used in military tanks to make them handle rough terrain more easily and at a far faster pace.

These tanks, dubbed CV90 and developed by Swedish company BAE Systems, travel 30-40 percent faster than your typical tank on rough terrain. It accomplishes this feat without adopting a larger engine, but via the “active damping” system it uses.

It works by judging the speed of the tank and the upcoming terrain and pressurizing the hydraulic dampers to keep the machine level at all times. This reduces pitch and roll, allowing drivers to keep the throttle pegged while the suspension mitigates most of the bumps.

On the racetrack in the early ‘90s, the system worked in precisely the same way: The suspension was controlled via hydraulics, and it was pre-programmed to anticipate changes in elevation and bumps. This allowed the car to maintain an optimal ride height at all times, eliminating the need to raise the car for a heavy fuel load at the start of the race, for example – therefore increasing downforce. Additionally, drivers didn’t have to deal with pitch and roll under braking and acceleration; the car knew the road ahead and set itself up without any input needed from the guy behind the wheel.