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VW Hot Rod a Real Flamer
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View this Thread in Original format
| El Kay Dee |
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Most people are content to pimp their rides with chrome spinners and a turbo kit. Not Ron Patrick. He wanted something unique for his 2000 VW Beetle. So he mounted a $270,000, 26,000-rpm, 1,350-horsepower, Navy-surplus helicopter jet turbine in the trunk.
The Stanford PhD and car computer designer spent four years making the vehicle safe to drive, but now, when he needs a boost, he just switches on an afterburner (which shoots an 8-foot-long flame out the back). The intake draws air through the windows and sunroof, creating cabin noise that sounds, as Patrick puts it, “like Iraq.” And once it kicks in, “it feels like the finger of God is pushing the car.” The jet jumps the Bug’s speed from 80 to 140 mph in less than four seconds, at which point Patrick eases up on the throttle. He estimates that at 160, “the rear end would probably start to go airborne.”
Despite all the muscle, Patrick doesn’t race. “I’m 49, so frying some 16-year-old who just saw The Fast and the Furious doesn’t do anything for me,” he says. But he has been known to light up Northern California’s freeways on weekdays between 2 and 3 am. “More than one late-night truck driver on I-5 has been passed by a low-flying comet.” If you don’t see Patrick’s ride there, you may be out of luck – his hot rod is just too much for car shows. When he entered it in the Los Angeles Grand National Roadster Show in January, he was greeted with disparaging looks and scoffs from the gearhead elite. So when the winners started revving their V-8s, Patrick responded by firing up the jet and blasting out a 6-foot-long flame. Officials screamed at him to shut it down, and then banned him for life. Luckily, he’d already received a special prize for Best Compact Custom.
- Brian Lam
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http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/...tart.html?pg=10 |
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| geroin |
| lmao, thats en awsome |
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| Engine9 |
wow thats some cool
sadly the video didnt show him actually driving and doing one of htose boosts |
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| j_spot |
welcome to last month
anyways, can you believe this thing is street legal? The jet engine can be turned on/off, so he can turn it off and drive to work like anybody else. |
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| El Kay Dee |
| quote: | Originally posted by j_spot
welcome to last month |
well it only popped up on WIRED news today so sorry for not being in the jet engine/VW loop
| quote: | | anyways, can you believe this thing is street legal? The jet engine can be turned on/off, so he can turn it off and drive to work like anybody else. |
shocking....but that seems to be his bragpoint too |
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| Stingray |
| This reminds me of that story where some dude attached a JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) to his Impala and flew into a rock wall at 300mph. |
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| Cosmic Fur |
| quote: | Originally posted by Stingray
This reminds me of that story where some dude attached a JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) to his Impala and flew into a rock wall at 300mph. |
Did they find any bits of him to put into the casket? |
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| j_spot |
I am into VW which is why I knew.
http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/
I traced the link that I found it from. Posted may 17.
so welcome to 2 MONTHS ago.
geesh wired is slow |
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| Abercrombie |
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| Misanthrope |
| quote: | Originally posted by j_spot
welcome to last month
anyways, can you believe this thing is street legal? The jet engine can be turned on/off, so he can turn it off and drive to work like anybody else. |
:rolleyes:
ridiculous.
hahaha imagine some pedestarian being fried. |
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| Cosmic Fur |
| quote: | Originally posted by Misanthrope
hahaha imagine some pedestarian being fried. |
I'd get more enjoyment out of blasting the people tailgating me. |
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