Auto-Know-Better....1300hp and a Sticky Throttle...on the street.

[detritusmaximus]

 

[Don C]

Good lesson there. The accelerator pedal is necessary to go fast, but the brake pedal is critical.

 

[Vinnie]

This makes me want to put a roll cage in my car. I could then also install a 4 point harness.

In the video, the guy mentions putting in an electronic e-brake but have you ever tried enabling that while driving? I think a manually operated e-brake is a safer backup.

 

[73 Mach 1 4 me]

that’s why I keep mine completely stock, I don’t need all that power and hassle in my life. True you can still have problems like sticking throttle and brake failure. But it’s so much easier to fix and maintain when it’s stock. Plus it doesn’t cost you 23 years, 2 marriages and over 200 thousand dollars. That would of been enough to buy a completely stock perfect condition kar Kraft 429 my dream car. But it turns out I’ll never have one because one I can’t afford it and two no power steering and air conditioning. Two things I’ve come to appreciate in my later years.

 

[Precision Transmission]

Get the full analysis here straight from Uncle Tony.

 

[mrgmhale]

that’s why I keep mine completely stock, I don’t need all that power and hassle in my life. True you can still have problems like sticking throttle and brake failure. But it’s so much easier to fix and maintain when it’s stock. Plus it doesn’t cost you 23 years, 2 marriages and over 200 thousand dollars. That would of been enough to buy a completely stock perfect condition kar Kraft 429 my dream car. But it turns out I’ll never have one because one I can’t afford it and two no power steering and air conditioning. Two things I’ve come to appreciate in my later years.

Kudos. I could not have said it better. In my case I am still surprised I lived past 19 given all the crap I used to do as a young driver in cars that were very powerful. Now, in the last lap of life I have a bigger appreciation for Power Steering and A/C in our cars also. We added Classic Air A/D kits to both of or 73 Mustangs, neither of which came with A/C from the factory (Convertible and Mach 1). And, I made a point of finding and buying a 1969 Shelby GT500 with factory A/C in it. Were we to have gotten a Boss 302/351, none of which were allegedly provided with factory A/C (I say "allegedly" because I read somewhere that one Boss 351 was ordered by a Ford executive with factory A/C), I would keep those models stock with no A/C, and learn to live with it. Other than that, I simply must have A/C. Part of getting older I guess...

 

[RC92234]

They weren't going that fast but wow, those cameras really showed what even a medium-low-speed collision can do without the three point belts. Having a 'vert, I'm seriously considering finding a way to make them work. Also, I like my teeth and want to keep them.

 

[detritusmaximus]

Not that there are smart ways to lose your teeth, but that is a dumb one.

 

[DAverkamp]

Get the full analysis here straight from Uncle Tony.

Tony IMO is always worth learning from but we, at least I, didn’t really need an explanation on these two knuckleheads and their fail.

A few years ago we went to a “first annual” (and last) car show and found a parking spot right away. As I got Warden, my Bloodhound, and the lawn chairs, etc., out of the Rubicon, (72 ragtop was going thru engine swap) I looked down the parking lot and told momma I’m re-parking because I sensed I parked at the end of a “runway” so I had my Mopar brother come and help her manage the dog and items while I reparked.
3 hours later, the show winding down, and the “I’m leaving” burnouts start.
Cool to watch of course until a kid in a high HP cobble job rat rod (his uncle’s) and he floored it, great short burn-out until the carb linkage went over center and he freaked out holding the brakes melting the front bicycle tires like a fast slow-mo scene in front of us as he speared the unlucky SUV that parked in my previous spot.
He was doing at least 50 and lost a bunch of his teeth, blood, pride, and luckily not his life.

 

[73 Mach 1 4 me]

Tony IMO is always worth learning from but we, at least I, didn’t really need an explanation on these two knuckleheads and their fail.

A few years ago we went to a “first annual” (and last) car show and found a parking spot right away. As I got Warden, my Bloodhound, and the lawn chairs, etc., out of the Rubicon, (72 ragtop was going thru engine swap) I looked down the parking lot and told momma I’m re-parking because I sensed I parked at the end of a “runway” so I had my Mopar brother come and help her manage the dog and items while I reparked.
3 hours later, the show winding down, and the “I’m leaving” burnouts start.
Cool to watch of course until a kid in a high HP cobble job rat rod (his uncle’s) and he floored it, great short burn-out until the carb linkage went over center and he freaked out holding the brakes melting the front bicycle tires like a fast slow-mo scene in front of us as he speared the unlucky SUV that parked in my previous spot.
He was doing at least 50 and lost a bunch of his teeth, blood, pride, and luckily not his life.

I’ve only been to a few shows but after seeing many burnouts go wrong and seeing the aftermath, I’ll continue to leave a show with my pride and car intact.

 

[Hemikiller]

I have to agree 100% with Tony on this. These guys, at least the guy from Autotopia, should know better. The driver is clearly the "more money than sense" type, following that teenage dream. At the first sign of trouble with the throttle, they should have attempted a roadside fix, or returned to home base and get it corrected. Things don't "get better" by themselves.

IMO, the driver is criminally negligent. I hope the people he hit are okay, and sue the pants off him.

 

[steves73]

Ten years ago I frequently drove my 73 cougar to work in Toronto. Stop and go rush hour traffic with occasional 70 mph highway sections. That made me maintain everything. I know modern cars have much shorter stopping distance so I always use my shoulder belt. I don't know what I would do with an older car, as it wouldn't have the shoulder bolt point.

 

[Blayne9067]

Kudos. I could not have said it better. In my case I am still surprised I lived past 19 given all the crap I used to do as a young driver in cars that were very powerful. Now, in the last lap of life I have a bigger appreciation for Power Steering and A/C in our cars also. We added Classic Air A/D kits to both of or 73 Mustangs, neither of which came with A/C from the factory (Convertible and Mach 1). And, I made a point of finding and buying a 1969 Shelby GT500 with factory A/C in it. Were we to have gotten a Boss 302/351, none of which were allegedly provided with factory A/C (I say "allegedly" because I read somewhere that one Boss 351 was ordered by a Ford executive with factory A/C), I would keep those models stock with no A/C, and learn to live with it. Other than that, I simply must have A/C. Part of getting older I guess...

Glad I saw that video and hope everyone involved is ok, especially the people in the van.

 

[detritusmaximus]

I’ve only been to a few shows but after seeing many burnouts go wrong and seeing the aftermath, I’ll continue to leave a show with my pride and car intact.

A local ratrod show that surprisingly, I never heard of anything going wrong, but there have been some close calls.

 

[MikeGriese]

I don't have the tire budget for that kind of stuff.

 

[giantpune]

Lots of lessons to be learned from that video.

1 - If you have 5pt harnesses or 3pt seatbelts in your car, they don't do a lick of good when you sit on top of them or don't buckle them up. If you aren't gonna use them, you may as well not even have them.

2 - Don't drive your car if you know its acting up like that. He wanted to get out and show the car off for the youtube video crew filming it, so he pushed it and drove it in an unsafe condition. Throttle was sticking/engine was idling high, and they were smelling brakes long before the crash. They had plenty of warning.

3 - I'm guessing he boiled his brake fluid. He was riding the brakes hard and they were smelling brakes burning, then the brakes stopped working completely. Probably had a hundred thousand dollars invested in that car and relied on some 30yr old store brand brake fluid to stop it.

4 - Should have used the engine to slow the car. When his brakes failed, he put it in neutral. He should have slammed it into 1st gear and let that huge motor act as a brake. Could have turned a 45mph wreck into a 25mph one.

 

[detritusmaximus]

It's also another example of someone that considers themselves a 'good driver'...until something happens, then they panic and claim it was an 'accident', as if nothing could have done to prevent it.
I've known plenty of people that have kept driving cars that had issues, weak/leaking brakes, steering issues, stalling, etc. that figured there was nothing to worry about because they could compensate.."you just have to know how to drive" was one quote.
Once you get into a situation, all that goes out the window.

 

[Stanglover]

Lots of lessons to be learned from that video.

1 - If you have 5pt harnesses or 3pt seatbelts in your car, they don't do a lick of good when you sit on top of them or don't buckle them up. If you aren't gonna use them, you may as well not even have them.

2 - Don't drive your car if you know its acting up like that. He wanted to get out and show the car off for the youtube video crew filming it, so he pushed it and drove it in an unsafe condition. Throttle was sticking/engine was idling high, and they were smelling brakes long before the crash. They had plenty of warning.

3 - I'm guessing he boiled his brake fluid. He was riding the brakes hard and they were smelling brakes burning, then the brakes stopped working completely. Probably had a hundred thousand dollars invested in that car and relied on some 30yr old store brand brake fluid to stop it.

4 - Should have used the engine to slow the car. When his brakes failed, he put it in neutral. He should have slammed it into 1st gear and let that huge motor act as a brake. Could have turned a 45mph wreck into a 25mph one.

# 4 indeed. Neutral gets you only neutral.
In my past, I have had two cars that had a brake failure.
The first was in England around 1972, had to slide the car across a 3 lane highway missing cars as I went.
The other time was in my 72 Q code in around 81, when again, a brake line ruptured. This time I was able to bang it to first gear, hit the so-called "E" brake pedal, which snapped the cable, but slowed it down enough to then drive onto the sidewalk, across the road behind the traffic lights that I was trying to stop at, then across my neighbors lawn, across my lawn and finally stopped in my driveway. A change of underwear was (almost) needed. Fortunately, no damage done in either case that couldn't easily be repaired.
This is another reason I decided to install SS brake lines on my current car.