WORLD'S FASTEST

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 33, 9 February 1943, Page 2

WORLD'S FASTEST

NEW CRUISER TANK SPEED AND HITTING POWER Tank experts who saw Australian - designed tanks undergoing their army acceptance tests in New South Wales recently said they were the fastest tanks of their weight in tne world. Tanks of this type (known as the Australian cruiser tank) are now in quantity production in a group of N.S.W. factories. Endurance tests, involving a 16mile gruelling cross-country run over hills, gullies and other natural obstacles, were watched with great interest by the Minister for Munitions, Mr. Makin, the Director of Fighting Vehicles Construction, Mr. A. R. Code, and a group of armoured division officers to whom the tanks will subsequently be supplied. These officers were told that the Australian cruiser tank has one of the lowest silhouettes of any modern tank, and that it has a greater range of action than any other cruiserweight tank of either British or American origin now on service in Australia. Other points made about this tank were:— It is the first tank in the world to be powered by multiple petrol engines. It is the first to have a complete armoured steel hull cast as one solid unit. It is at least equal to and in many characteristics superior to, most of the latest-model tanks of similar class being produced anywhere in the world.