I was on BBC news today!

[alfiebeard]

Originally Posted by Sidecarbod

Somebody has already tried it, read the extract below then decide whether its a good idea or not!


You all know about the Darwin Awards - it's the annual honor given to the person who did the gene pool the biggest service by killing themselves in the most extraordinarily stupid way. Last year's winner was the fellow who was killed by a Coke machine which toppled over on top of him as he was attempting to tip a free soda out of it. And this year's nominee is: The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal embedded into the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. the wreckage resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it was a car. The type of car was unidentifiable at the scene. The lab finally figured out what it was and what had happened. It seems that a guy had somehow gotten hold of a JATO unit (Jet Assisted Take Off - actually a solid fuel rocket) that is used to give heavy military transport planes an extra 'push' for taking off from short airfields. He had driven his Chevy Impala out into the desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. Then he attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, got up some speed and fired off the JATO! The facts, as best could be determined, are that the operator of the 1967 Impala hit JATO ignition at a distance of approximately 3.0 miles from the crash site. This was established by the prominent scorched and melted asphalt at that location. The JATO, if operating properly, would have reached maximum thrust within five seconds, causing the Chevy to reach speeds well in excess of 350 MPH, continuing at full power for an additional 20-25 seconds. The driver, soon to be pilot, most likely would have experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners, basically causing him to become insignificant for the remainder of the event. However, the automobile remained on the straight highway for about 2.5 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied and completely melted the brakes, blowing the tires and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface, then becoming airborne for an additional 1.4 miles and impacting the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, leaving a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock. Most of the driver's remains were not recoverable; however, small fragments of bone, teeth and hair were extracted from the crater, and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel. Incredibly, an intact bumper sticker was recovered as well. The text on the sticker was; "How do you like my driving? Dial 1-800-EAT-SHIT.

Hi Pete,
I can understand the bit about his fingernails embedded in the steering wheel, I bet they could have found bits of ring piece in the seat if they looked hard enough eh.

Alfie B

[Sidecarbod]

Originally Posted by alfiebeard

Hi Pete,
I can understand the bit about his fingernails embedded in the steering wheel, I bet they could have found bits of ring piece in the seat if they looked hard enough eh.

Alfie B

Hi Aflie,

You've got admire the guys "have a go spirit" it must have been on hell of a ride! (while it lasted)

Pete

[Robin427]

Myth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

snopes.com: JATO Car Embedded in Cliff

[Sidecarbod]

Originally Posted by Robin427

Myth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

snopes.com: JATO Car Embedded in Cliff

Bloody hell, Father Christmas told me that it was true!

[Robin427]

He would...

[alfiebeard]

Originally Posted by Sidecarbod

Bloody hell, Father Christmas told me that it was true!

He also promised me a bike the old git.

Alfie B