drive a tank! add this incredibly fun experience to your bucket list

When I first heard that Minnesota was the only place in the country where civilians could drive military tanks, my response was simple: \"Why haven\'t I heard of this before?
\"It\'s not like new.
Owner Tony Borglum founded his company in 2007, opened a tank and was well received, but there was little nationwide publicity, which was crazy.
Crazy, because you can\'t do anything in this country, and because it\'s fun.
When I realized what I was doing, I called two friends, one in New York, and one in San Francisco, to go skiing, golfing and other adventures with me.
My speech was simple: \"There is a place in Minnesota where we can drive real tanks on the obstacles in the woods.
And machine guns.
You can use a 60-ton tank. You want to go?
Friend 1: \"Who won\'t ? \"
Friend 2: \"I went in.
\"So we bought a ticket to Minni apores, which is a very easy to get to the airport, less than an hour and a half by car from there and it was 20-
As the Akry venue for the world headquarters of tanks-
There, I spent the most interesting day of my life. (
If you go to the local airport by private plane, they will pick you up
A lengthened Hummer, of course! )
I have written about the car driving school, the winter driving school, and I am driven at a speed of 200 miles per hour by professional drivers who are closed and open wheel racing, I did serious off-road driving and I flew in World War I-
James Bond\'s two-wing aircraft and pigeons
Underwater propulsion vehicle.
This is more interesting than these experiences. It rocked.
These are tanks!
You can drive a car, drive a jet fighter, and even operate heavy construction machinery and excavators in more places than you can drive a tank.
\"People are eager to be unique when traveling,\" Borglum said . \".
\"I have something here that you can\'t do anywhere else even in Vegas.
Most people have never seen tanks at close range, not to mention driving them.
Where you are going to open the tank, 75% of my customers are from other places.
Someone flew here from Moscow.
We have people from all over the world and from every state.
Before military enthusiasts and video game enthusiasts start writing, clarify that there is no definition of \"tank.
\"This concept was invented by the British to overcome the physical defense of trench warfare, and the United StatesS.
The definition of the military is different from that of NATO, Russia, Britain or Israel.
Some purists focus on purpose (
Support Infantry)
Some of the goals (line of site)
But I will accept the broader definition of Borglum.
Really big, heavy, military machine, running on the pedals, crushing anything on their roads and looking like a tank.
Useful to me.
In this case, Borglum has three tanks, all British.
According to him, the United StatesS.
The military is not very keen on selling excess tanks to individuals, Russians will only have trash, while in the UK, high quality hardware is common, and some collectors are like we do with classic cars, go to the bar with the tank.
So he got his fleet.
He has multiple of these three versions)
Across the pond.
The two are Abbots and the most recent one: vf432apc-
The smallest of the three is 15 tons-
It is currently planned to be used in 2026, and the oldest one is the v433spg (self-propelled gun)
Service stopped on 1995.
But the big bad boy here is the chief main battle tank, everything you will imagine when you close your eyes and imagine the \"tank --
Except that it\'s much bigger than you think.
The behemoth is 10 feet high, 10 feet wide and 25 feet long (
Not a gun, it\'s 14 feet more.
Nearly 61 tons.
This is equivalent to 22 Chevrolet SUVs.
The chief is still in the Army in the 21 st century, too big for tourists to drive on the obstacle track, and his purpose is to achieve another special purpose here: car crushing, it\'s driven in it-
Or through-
A normal full-size car.
If the chiefs of Borglum look familiar, and one of the people with the same name as me Larry looks familiar, it might be because they are in the postRevelation-
The movie \"rule of fire\".
As he explains, \"They are the coolest modern tanks you can buy.
The only option is something from Russia/eastern Europe, which is basically nonsense.
The chief is a bad guy.
\"There is no harm for the British to use automatic transmissions on tanks, while many other countries use manuals, which makes it easier for guests to drive.
The day of driving the tank is like this: You show up on the tank and take about an hour\'s orientation, their history, procedures and safety: \"From us, we have never had an accident. we pay great attention to safety.
\"Next, you have a close contact with your hand --
Tour of the Chief (with photo ops)
, Inside and outside, view its normal 4-occupied positionman crew.
Then the owner issued an order: \"Let\'s open some tanks!
You are transported to the \"battlefield\" of a Hummer or military cargo truck where you will get the actual tank driving instructions.
It was a rather dramatic moment when the tanks, driven by the staff of Borglum, roared from the woods into their big entrance.
Then each guest takes turns driving (
Actually two joysticks)
A lap, about 10-
Minutes, drive around the wooded stadium of the FV433SPG from the open cockpit.
You negotiate on the forest trail, drive through the water and dirt, through the cut-down trees and so on. It’s awesome.
Really great.
Then, most guests do a second lap on the vp432apc, which is almost the same except for the two key features.
The first is aesthetic.
It doesn\'t have a big turret.
The second is more important.
You drive from the inside with Periscope, which is what the actual soldiers do most of the time in these tanks to avoid getting hit.
Since you can only see in one direction, without deep perception or peripheral vision, this is much more difficult.
Next, in order to avoid the rear tank of any form
Drive to the guest\'s disappointment, head to Borglum\'s indoor shooting range, and drive to the same building in the tank classroom as he does, and ignite the historical model of the fully automatic machine gun.
I used the M4 version preferred by the Navy SEAL team, as well as the belt feed device installed on the tripod, aiming at paper targets.
The 30-caliber machine gun favored in Rambo movies.
The newspaper is not doing well.
This is the case with the base package, unless you decide to add an optional \"crush car\" surcharge.
In this case, they built a car and saw the best year in the rearview mirror, which has been stripped of all the liquid for cleaning and safety.
Then you drive one of the 61 cars, Larry\"
Ton chief, above it.
Crushing the car is very original and satisfying and can make great pictures and great stories but it is expensive ($549)
Skills are not required compared to the obstacle course, very short-lived (About 15 seconds).
In dollar terms, this is not as cost-effective as the actual free driving of other tanks for the dollar.
Still, if you can afford it, when else can you drive 61-
The fuel tank of a car?
I vented my road rage anxiety on an unsuspecting Chevy Malibu, it was squashed fast and I still had the key.
You can choose to crush two cars ($749)
And drive each car over one of the two rubbish parked next to each other.
The car crush does require a new, clean garbage truck every time you try, and the cost is high, which is understandable.
However, the basic tank driver\'s bag is a bargain.
You can spend more money on a golf course or spend the night in a nice hotel room. The basic 4-
The Star General package chosen by most people is $549, which includes driving two tanks on the obstacle track, firing three different machine guns and allowing you to bring two guests as an audience. The 3-
The package in Star will include the first lap of a tank, a machine gun, without an audience, for $399.
$150 more.
When you consider that these huge vehicles are difficult to obtain and must be transported from overseas, the price is expensive (
Up to half a million per well)
, Very difficult and expensive to maintain, and eat a lot of fuel, for the fact that it turns out to be 3-
Plus hours of experience including amazing education and history.
This is something you will never forget.
I like it very much, and my friends like it very much. we have been highly recommending it all the time.
Driving a tank is perfect for Guy\'s vacation, Girl\'s vacation, bachelor party, and even children\'s birthday party --
The children they accept are only eight years old and do not need a driver\'s license to drive a tank.
Hey Tony, tank of memories!
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There is no charge for my package to open the tank.
I paid for all travel expenses including air tickets, hotel and ground transportation).