For those who may not have seen this old news report before?:-

 

The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal embedded into the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The wreckage resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it was a car.

 

The type of car was unidentifiable at the scene. The lab finally figured out what it was and what had happened. It seems that a guy had somehow got hold of a JATO unit (Jet Assisted Take Off - actually a solid fuel rocket) that is used to give heavy military transport planes an bit of extra "push" for taking off from short airfields. He had driven his Chevy Impala out into the desert and found a long and straight stretch of road. Then he attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, got up some speed and fired off the JATO!

 

The facts as best as could be determined are that the operator of the 1967 Impala hit the JATO ignition at a distance of approximately 3.0 miles from the crash site.

This was established by the prominent scorched and melted asphalt at that location. The JATO, if operating properly, would have reached maximum thrust within 5 seconds, causing the Chevy to reach speeds well in excess of 350 mph and continuing at full power for an additional 20-25 seconds.

 

The driver, and soon to be pilot, most likely would have experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners, causing him to become insignificant for the remainder of the event. However, the automobile remained on the straight highway for about 2.5 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied and

completely melted the brakes, blowing the tires and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface, then becoming airborne for an additional 1.4 miles and impacting the cliff face at a height of 125 feet leaving a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock.

 

Most of the driver's remains were not recoverable; however, small fragments of bone, teeth and hair were extracted from the crater and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.

 

Epilogue: It has been calculated that this moron nearly reached Mach I, attaining a ground speed of approximately 420 mph.

 

I want one Geoff any Ideas where and how much?LOL.

 

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Ouch .... that must have hurt!

 

 

These things can only happen in "the Land of the Free!" LOL

 

Danny

Sorry - Urban Myth.

 

Funny tho

 

 

http://www.snopes.com/autos/dream/jato.htm

If he had done that at Santa Pod he wouldn't have crashed and died....no traction and always rained off.

 

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"Polished on drive"

"Dirty at 156mph"

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Z first and anything else is secondary!

John Newcomb (NukeEm)

www.geocities.com/jn300zxtt

Ah, what a shame. Still glad nobody was hurt.

 

Any other Darwin Award winners known?

He was obviously looking for ways to get rid of his turbo lag.!! LMAO

Originally posted by Geoff:

Ah, what a shame. Still glad nobody was hurt.

 

Any other Darwin Award winners known?

 

No problem Geoff.....

http://www.darwinawards.com/

 

A whole host of funnies

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

 

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