Iron Knight. Most powerful Volvo!

Simply put, Iron Knight is the world's fastest truck. It has an upgraded D13 diesel with a water-cooled intercooler and four turbochargers, producing 2400 horsepower and 4,5 tons putting its a power-to-weight ratio above 0.5hp/kg, which is roughly half as good as a Koenigsegg One:1's.

With a fiberglass cab and 1994 European Truck Racing Champion Boije Ovebrink in it, The Iron Knight set two FIA world records at a former airfield outside Skellefteå in northern Sweden. Reaching a top speed of 276 km/h (171mph), the Volvo covered 500 meters in 13.71 seconds from a standing start at 131.29 km/h, and 1000m in 21.29 seconds at 169km/h.

Of course Volvo Trucks did this whole thing to promote the hell out of their I-Shift Dual Clutch transmission, which was put in the recorder truck straight from a series Volvo FH with the addition of sintered discs and pressure plates. Volvo is very proud of how this unit can shift without dropping the torque, which can improve efficiency greatly when hauling stuff. And that's what trucks are all about.

Volvo built a record-smashing 2,400 HP truck as fast as a Porsche 911

Volvo’s experimental truck is dubbed the Iron Knight, a name that’s slightly misleading because its cab is made entirely out of carbon fiber in order to shed as much weight as possible. The truck features a unique design that looks more futuristic than any comparable big rig on the market today, as well as a stripped-out interior with a roll cage and a Recaro bucket seat.

The Iron Knight is based on a regular-production FH truck. Engineers have made significant modifications to the midmounted, 12.8-liter turbo diesel engine in order to bump its output up to 2,400 horsepower. The list of modifications includes installing four turbochargers, and adding a water-cooled intercooler. Surprisingly, the oil-burner’s astonishing amount of power is channeled to the drive wheels via a stock dual-clutch automatic transmission.

As a result of the upgrades, this beast is capable of hitting 100km/h from a stop in 4.6 seconds, about on par with a base Porsche 911. It covered 500 meters in 13.7 seconds, and a kilometer in 21.2 seconds. Both of those are all-time records for a big rig.

While setting land speed records in a big, heavy semi truck sounds like little more than a PR stunt, Volvo explains it’s going through the trouble for the sake of research and development. The technology features designed to make the Iron Knight as fast as a sports car will trickle down to series-produced trucks in the coming years.

While it was not custom built, the engine was tuned to maximize performance. It is able to produce 2,400 hp (1,790 kW) and 6,000 Nm (4,425 lb.ft) of torque, with a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) acceleration time of just 4.6 seconds.