Let's just start this story by saying that the following video left us speechless for a couple of seconds. Not only does this jet car have 10 times more power than Lamborghini, but it's also putting rubber to road at the Rivanazzano race track, which is just a short two-hour drive from Sant'agata Bolognese.
"Mach II" is what you would call a funny car, built entirely from scratch around a massive aircraft engine. Like most mad machines of this type, its drivetrain comes from military surplus, a General Electric J85 engine pulled out of the Northrop F-5 Tiger supersonic jet fighter. Half a century ago, this airplane cost the US Air Force over 2 million dollars a piece, but you can buy just the engine for no more than you would pay for a premium German saloon.
The J85 was capable of pushing the short-winged F-5 up to a speed of 1,700 km/h (Mach 1.6) and a service ceiling of 51,800 ft (15,800 m). Because it was designed to hunt down Russian nuclear bombers, the rate of clim was an incredible 175 meters per second.
But clip the wings and add a set of racing slicks and you get a funny car capable doing 0 to 500 km/h (312 mph) in 6 seconds. Beat that Lamborghini!
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News