The "Touareg tows a Boeing 747" event took place at the Dunsfold Aerodrome in England, (40 miles from London). From the very start the question was posed just how powerful is a modern, top of the range SUV with diesel engine and four-wheel drive?.

The Touareg is innately the ideal towing vehicle: Maximum load capacities are 3,500 kilos for trailers and 1,640 kilos for the rear axle. But, when instead of a 3.5 tonne boat trailer, a jet weighing over 155 tons – consisting of 511 m2 of wing surface, 4 engines, 450 seats and a fuselage the size of a block of houses – is attached to the hitch, things look quite a bit different. Careful preparations must be made.

In order for the Touareg V10 TDI to be able to tow the big bird, the weight of the Volkswagen had to be increased firstly. This sounds paradoxical but is absolutely necessary so that the power of the engine can be converted into propelling force. For this purpose steel balls and steel plates were distributed in the SUV. Extra weight: 4,345 kilos! Total weight of the Touareg: 7,030 kilos. Weight distribution: 2,755 kilos in front, 4,275 kilos in the back.

The other modifications were kept to a minimum. For the front axle drive the shorter transmission of the Touareg V8 was integrated in place of the V10 TDI transmission. The crew increased air pressure in the standard Michelin tyres to 4.5 bar. And finally, the maximum speed was limited – not out of fear that the unusual harnessed system would become airborne, but to protect the tyres. Everything else, from the engine to the shock suspension system and four-wheel drive corresponded exactly to the series production version.

An extra device was then used to hook up the Boeing 747 to the Touareg’s standard trailer hitch. The experiment could begin. Based on the maximum torque of the V10 TDI (750 Nm) and the transmission ratio, the engineers had previously calculated that the Touareg would be able to put approx. 200 tons into motion. But who would trust his calculations if a 1.7 metre high, 4.75 metre long car was suddenly attached to a 19.4 metre high jet over 70 metres long? Nobody would. Especially not when the English weather with heavy rain and headwinds were lashing across the car and jet.

But the Touareg did the job. Volkswagen technician Uwe Krieghoff took the wheel. He started the engine. Using the four-wheel drive control on the middle console he selected the "LOW" setting for reduced off-road speed. Fifty percent of driving force was now distributed to the front axle and fifty percent to the back. Krieghoff manually selected the second gear of the automatic transmission, accelerated slowly and reflected on getting the 18 head-height wheels of the 155 ton 747 rolling from a standing position. The greatest power was required in these few seconds. As soon as this harnessed system got moving, it would move. But the only thing that budged at first was the engine speed. Krieghoff continued to push down the accelerator to about the halfway position. And with not a hint of traction problems the Touareg and the jumbo jet started moving. After a distance of 150 metres Krieghoff slowed the harnessed system to a stop.

A post event check-up of the Touareg did not find any evidence of damage to the car. Everything was A-OK.