This is a Tatra T815-7 10×10. Plus a few other things.
Built in collaboration across five companies and two continents, this remarkable machine is a mobile fracking rig, capable of extracting shale gas from deep inside the earth. The base is a Tatra T815-7 10×10 off-road truck, powered – in this case – by a six thousand horsepower diesel engine mounted behind the cab.
The reason for all that power is what is you can see at the rear of the vehicle, a GD-2500 Quintiplex well-pump constructed by American pump specialists Gardner Denver – itself rated at 2,500bhp – used to propel a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into the well to force the shale gas to the surface.
The engine powering this pump comes from German company MTU, whose designs are more normally associated with ships than land-based vehicles, with a Czech Talosa auxiliary gearbox allowing the twelve cylinder diesel to drive both the pump and the truck itself.
Cylinder deactivation drops the power for driving the truck, so you don’t have 6,000bhp to play with (although that does sound like it would be fun), with this ‘one engine’ solution and the vehicle superstructure created by engineering company M.G. Bryan Equipment.
It’s an amazing real-world vehicle, recreated here in LEGO form (and to an equally amazing standard) by Pavol Vanek aka Paliason. Measuring a metre long and weighing 8kg, Pavol’s brick-built replica of the M.G. Bryan ‘Percheron’ Tatra T815-7 is a huge creation, and it features a host of impressively engineered features underneath the superbly well executed Model Team exterior.
A complete 10×10 chassis, with nine differentials, full suspension, and steering on the first, second, fourth and fifth axles accurately replicates the real truck, with the steering alone driven by four linear actuators and an XL Motor.
A working twelve-cylinder piston engine sits behind the cab, LEDs illuminate the head and taillights, and there are opening doors and control panel covers.
It’s a phenomenal recreation of a unique real-world vehicle, and there’s loads more of Pavol’s astonishing model to see at both Flickr and the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click here to visit Pavol’s ‘M.G. Bryan ‘Percheron’ – Tatra T815-7 10×10′ album on Flickr, and here to visit Eurobricks where full details of the model, the real truck, and how it is used to frack for shale gas, can be found.
