I drive the world’s ‘fastest’ panel van – it keeps up with Lamborghinis, GT-Rs and Audis and has a top speed of 147mph
A CRAFTY panel van owner has turned his VW motor into the world’s ‘fastest’ – with a top speed of 147mph.
Richard Milton drives a souped-up van that would put most petrolheads’ favourite motor to shame.
The owner of Kernow Transporters Ltd, from Marazion, set the world record for the fastest road-legal VW Caddy van last year.
Petrolheads and boy racers walk past The Fast and the Furious lookalikes and instead stop to take photos of this plain panel van.
From the outside, it looks like a normal grey VW van that should be shifting furniture or cleaning carpets.
In fact, the 1.6 TDI Caddy is a reliable model known for their fuel efficiency.
But inside, the wagon is built for speed.
Milton has used a VW Golf Mark 7R as a ‘donor car’ and high-spec parts from an Audi RS3, including an engine, gearbox, and fuel tank.
He can get 1300 brake horsepower out of the van and races it, beating expensive supercars like Lamborghinis.
“When I race, people get so excited. They say ‘It’s the Caddy’, racing a Porsche, or racing something like that. They absolutely love it!”
“My best time… I did a 9.72 [seconds] quarter mile, which is not bad for a van really,” he said.
Humbly, Milton says he’s reaching a “not too bad” top speed of 150mph.
There are no tools left in this van at night – just a racing helmet and a fire extinguisher.
Milton – who is adamant that he is not a boy racer – says that he doesn’t use his van to pop to the shops.
Even with ‘quieter’ road legal double exhaust, he says that: “You sort of get fed up with the noise.”
Milton has also built a following online: “I’ve got followers all over the world. Loads in South Africa, funnily enough. It’s the underdog – everyone loves the underdog.”
Milton said buying a fast car is “boring”.
“You can just go and buy one, and then you get people like there are here, now, who’ve got lots of money and can just go and buy a Lamborghini, or a brand new Porsche, thinking they’re the bees knees, and then I can go out and beat them in a panel van.”
