Ok now gents...I haven't gone to Snopes or any of the other sites to verify the accuracy or authenticity of the following account of this year's winner of the coveted Darwin awards which are given to the biggest idiot....in this case posthumously.....but this one really takes the cake if it's true. There are always those who will go to the max in order to get a bit more boost out of their cars, however I wouldn't recommend this methodology
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Now ladies and gentleman, the winner of this year's Darwin Award
(awarded, as always, posthumously):
The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal
embedded in 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. Police
investigators finally pieced together the mystery. An amateur rocket
scientist... had somehow gotten hold of a JATO unit (Jet Assisted Take
Off, actually a solid fuel rocket) that is used to give heavy military
transport planes an extra "push" for taking off from short airfields.
He had driven his Chevy Impala out into the desert and found a long,
straight stretch of road. He attached the JATO unit to the 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 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 i n excess of
350 mph and continuing at full power for an additional 20-25 seconds.
The driver, and soon to be pilot, would have experienced G-forces
usually reserved for dog fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners,
causing him to become irrelevant 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 calcu lated that this moron attained a ground
speed of approximately 420-mph, though much of his voyage was not
actually on the ground.
You couldn't make this stuff up, could you?
AND PEOPLE JUST LIKE THIS ARE STILL ALL AROUND US AND CAN VOTE -
SCARY, ISN'T IT?

 

I remember the first time I hear that story. I almost peed in my pants.

It's a great story, but it's not true unfortunately.

 

Interesting writeup of the story: http://www.cultdeadcow.com/cDc_files/cDc-0363.php

 

I was thinking of that story, but didn't know where to find it. Good reading.

 

That story was on the TV show "Myth Busters" and it was thoroughly disproven. They took the same car mentioned in the story and added not one but three JATO bottles and the car didn't even reach a speed that would allow it to become airborne. They drove it remotely and fired the rockets sequentually to enhance the effect but it did not work. A great fireside story at a camp out though.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!

 

The jato guy..I always enjoy reading it again
You know, kinda like never getting tired of listening to a F1 engine warm up

 

Jato???? That is my REVO R/C model!!!!, Sonny.