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T.V. 1000 Rhino

This incredible machine was created purely for experimental work, it was never intended as a prototype for a new type of fighting vehicle.

It was designed by the Fighting Vehicle Research and Development Establishment in Surrey in 1959, mainly as a test rig for various transmission systems and was remarkable for this time, in that it skid steered like a tracked vehicle rather than the conventional method like a car. It is powered by a Rover Meteorite V8 petrol engine rated at 535 bhp and was reckoned in its day to be the most powerful wheeled vehicle in the world.

The wheels are fitted with huge (1800 x 24) heavy duty tyres which originally had variable pressure control. Although it was never intended to be a combat vehicle Rhino was tested at Lulworth as a wheeled rival to Contentious as an air portable tank destroyer. A gun sight was fitted and the driver was instructed to try and keep a target tank in his sights as he drove Rhino cross country, it proved virtually impossible.

The text included here is from the information boards displayed with this vehicle at Bovington Tank Museum.