Ferret B60 woes

[AlienFTM]

I am assuming that over a 1 mile stretch I should be getting up above 35mph?

You should be doing a lot better than 35!

 

In Cyprus 76 - 77 my Mark 2 was selected for PRE (Periodic REME Examination). I had to bring it in to our base at Nicosia Airport from our outstation in Skouriotissa on the Northwest coast. The best I'd ever done the trip was 45 minutes (apparently a journalist had recently set a UN record for the trip over the mountains in a 1/2 ton Landrover in daylight in good conditions at 34 minutes) in a previous Ferret. But that Ferret had been on its way to have an electrical fault fixed: it was running on 12v and it was dark and damp. That Ferret was subsequently taken from me (cannot remember why)

 

Needless to say, this early morning trip went superbly and I rolled into camp straight up to the LAD (Light Aid Detachment) and inspection. All went well and the inspector took it for a road test around the garrison. He was more than pleasantly surprised to get 55 out of it, but he hadn't realised it was HOT, rather than just started up and rolled across the track from the vehicle park.

 

Even so, I cannot remember ever having a bad Ferret - getting less than 55 with ease. Come to think of it, thereafter I only ever drove Mark 1s.

 

I cannot remember the top speed of our Mark 5s (which I only ever commanded on an ad hoc basis) and whether the increased wheel size would compensate for the extra weight of the massive Swingfire turret: I doubt it.