'Top Gun' Jet-Powered Chevrolet Truck Puts Out 12,000 HP

It's a bird ! It's a plane !. No, it is a jet-powered Chevrolet truck, which by the way is a living statement of the American way of fixing a problem. For example, how do we make a Chevy truck to develop 12,000 HP? Actuallyit’s quite simple, throw away the old engine and put in a jet turbine. The actual "thing" is probably the world fastest Chevrolet truck.

The truck looks so mad you could think it has literally arrived from hell, not to mention the feeling it gives the audience when it spits fire on the track. The “mad scientist” who managed to tame this crossbreed between an airplane and a Chevy truck is Neal Darnell of Springfield Missouri.

He has been involved in motor sports most of his live and in 2002, he decided to buy a Chevrolet S10 replica which came fitted with a Pratt & Whitney jet engine. Neal had to face the huge Gs that an engine like this would put out so he would be able to race it. After he got used with his eyes being pushed to the back of his head Neal Darnell got the required licenses from both IHRA Drag Racing and NHRA.

What came after was just smoke and flames, and a lot of speed of course. The jet engine which has been fitted under the Chevy’s body puts out a humongous 12,000 horsepower, which boost the truck from 0-60mph (approx. 100km/h) in 1.5 seconds.Th average speed of the truck during a race is around 350mph (approx. 563 km/h), although Neal set a record of 275mph (442 km/h) going against an airplane back in 2005, as related by automotto.com.