The truck mechanic and TV presenter came up with the idea of producing a replica of a 30-tonne Mark IV tank to mark the centenary of a battle in which they were first deployed. And he turned to JCB’s engineers and welders to help turn his dream into reality in time for the special anniversary.
They rose to the challenge in double-quick time with the profile parts cut, rolled and bent into shape at JCB Heavy Products in Uttoxeter before being welded together at JCB’s World HQ in Rocester.
The huge team effort ensured the tank was operational and on display in Cambrai, Northern France, on Armistice Day on 11 November.
It was at this location - exactly 100 years ago - where the original Mark IV tank helped the Allies on the Western Front to make an unprecedented breakthrough at the Battle of Cambrai.
Martin was given just five months to build an authentic reproduction of the 30-tonne tank from scratch and was quick to call on JCB’s engineering expertise. At more than 26 feet long and 10 feet wide, the 105 horsepower machine had a top speed of just four mph
Martin said: “When I first looked at this challenge, I thought ‘This is a big ask. We’re not going to see this happen.’ It is a massive undertaking and JCB was the main reason this was able to happen. They built the main part of the tank, and then the lads at the Norfolk Tank Museum put all the engine together. But JCB’s technology and knowhow was so important.
“As a challenge to build it, I’d say this is the biggest thing we’ve undertaken. There’s loads of stuff we’ve done – building push bikes to go at 100mph, converting transit vans to do 150mph, but this, I think, is the biggest one. It’s not that we’re restoring them, or modifying them – we’re building an exact replica of a Mark IV Fosters Tank, from scratch.”
Design engineer Tom Beamish added: “The manufacture of tanks was cutting-edge stuff at the time but looking back on it now, it barely seems possible with the equipment workers then would have had.
“We used modern techniques to rebuild the machine, but the biggest problem was to make it look as though it had just come off the factory line during the war. All of the welding work was done on the back side of the steel plates, so it wouldn’t be visible externally, but the specifications are exactly how they would have been back then. We even replicated the roller spacing for the tracks of the tank, so it would sound exactly the same as the original.”
The replica tank will return to the UK and remain at the Norfolk Museum. There it will form the centrepiece of a World War One display. The tank’s role and its modern-day recreation will also be told in a Channel Four documentary ‘Guy Martin’s WW1 One Tank’ on 19 November.
