Racing car built from jet tank in France

An architect used his passion for old vehicles to build a racing car during Covid lockdowns from the disposable fuel tank of a Mirage jet.

This novel use of ‘belly tanks’ – so called because in World War Two they were fixed to the belly of fighters before being dropped when empty – became popular in America during the 1940s and 1950s.

Thibault Lagardère, from Lunel, near Montpellier, built the car, nicknamed Golgoth 1 after a comic book character, to compete in a class of the September Normandy Beach Race.

He estimates it reaches speeds of 120-130km/h.

“The running gear has to come from a vehicle from before 1949, so I used the parts from an old Renault C4,” he said.

He found the tank, which was used but not dropped during France’s operations in Africa, in Marseille.

“You can find anything there,” he said.

The tank could be lifted with one hand before the engine, a 4.5 litre, 100HP petrol engine from a Marmon military lorry built by Simca, and its transmission were fitted.

The motor is a French version of a Ford one that was designed in the 1930s.

The Normandy event does not involve vehicles racing each other or timed runs.

The emphasis is on the joy of running old machinery and watching it in action.

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