Garage 54 is at it again, and rather surprisingly, their latest experiment doesn't involve abusing a poor old Lada since the car has been long dead. The Russian "scientists" are doing a follow-up to their tyre-spinning shenanigans by kicking things up a notch from the previous 385-mph attempt. The goal? Reaching the speed of sound. Ok, this may not be the most educational video on YouTube, but it sure is entertaining to watch.
Perhaps the only thing missing is a slow-motion camera to faithfully capture the helpless three-wheeled Lada as its single rear tyre blows to smithereens. The imaginative Russians initially experimented with a 17-inch wheel but that proved to be too heavy for the car's puny 60-bhp engine, so it was swapped out for a much lighter 13-inch wheel to increase the revolutions per minute and aim for the sound barrier.
Garage 54 "science" class:
Reaching 767 mph (1,235 km/h) is no easy feat and Garage 54 says it needs to rethink the whole setup to hit that velocity before the tyre explodes. The differential housing simply couldn't handle the stress and the engine was just too weak for the purpose of the experiment, while the video host says using a manual gearbox might not have been such a great idea.
Another episode of the tyre-spinning saga could involve a more powerful engine of Japanese origins linked to an automatic transmission. A beefier rear axle to handle the heavy load is also a must, but even so, Garage 54 estimates it will be hard to crack the sound barrier. Safety is also a concern and they need to be more careful because a cross brace flew 100 metres (328 feet) from the makeshift device.
Their immediate goal is to reach 1,000 km/h, which works out to 621 mph. That’s still almost double the claimed 316-mph velocity of the SSC Tuatara, though that run is shrouded in controversy.
Source: Garage 54 / YouTube