Extreme Fiat 600 Drag Strip Rollover Crash Shows Why You Need a Wheelie Bar

However, this is almost like riding a motorcycle without a helmet, especially if we're talking about machines that can be too powerful for their own good - one would be tempted to ask where the line is drawn and we're here to give you an example, which comes from the Fiat 600 in the footage below.

This Fiat is the type of restomod project that has been taken way past the limits of the original car - we'll remind you that even the spiciest 600 version only came with an 843cc engine (we're not talking Abarth version here). Nevertheless, given the requirements of the era (the model was born back in 1955), which saw the car tipping the scales at around 1,290 lbs (585 kg), the specs were in check at the time.

Returning to the car we have here, the owner decided to gift the posterior of the vehicle with a 1,914cc engine. Thanks to turbocharging, the unit delivers well north of 200 ponies.

When such a value is mentioned, a wheelie bar might even sound amusing, but we have to consider the overall balance of the car and this driver certainly failed to do that.

As a result, the little Fiat ended up launching on to one of its rear wheels, flipped and hit the barrier on the side of the track during a recent drag strip stint.

The 600 was out at the Santa Pod Raceway in the UK, trying to reach into the high 10s arena all weekend (yep, this is a fast little car), but as we mentioned above, things didn't exactly go as planned.

P.S.: We've added a second clip at the bottom of the page, with this showing the slow motion take on the crash.