Autoblog

As a former Boy Scout, I learned a variety of creative ways to set things alight, usually involving some type of accelerant. These guys have dreamt up a way that even pyromaniac 12 year olds can't top. We're guessing that thet don't worry about rain soaking their matches -- they just wheel out the Pratt & Whitney and give a couple squeezes on the afterburner. It's an awful lot of effort to burn a pile of sticks, and if you're not careful, you could blow a semi-lit mass of twigs clear to the next block. I love the way they stand there admiring their work, drinking beer at the very end of the video. Does it get any finer than that?

Check the jump to see the video

[Source: Break.com]

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Wanna make a wheeled vehicle more interesting? Affix a jet engine to it. And that's just what the owner of the go-kart you see above did. Powering the kart is a mil-spec JFS-100 engine -- the type used as a starter (JFS = jet fuel starter) for the larger main engines on aircraft such as the A7 Corsair attack plane. In addition to the jet engine, the kart's got a push-button afterburner setup that ups the ante by creating "extra thrust, noise, and spectacular fire and smoke effects." Cool!

Instruments include an EGT gauge and an RPM Meter, all neatly organized in front of the driver. There are no hard performance numbers for this little missile, but we'll assume it's plenty fast, and the owner says that it's stable at speed and handles exceptionally well. If you're able to arrange for local pickup in Inverness, UK, it can be yours, too. The bidding opens at £5,000.

UPDATE: Videos added after the jump

[Source: eBay UK via Engadget]

Astute readers of Autoblog will no doubt remember pics of the jet-powered Volkswagen New Beetle we posted a while back. Owner Ron Patrick was recently interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle and fired up the fire-breathing Beetle on camera.

While Patrick admits the car was built more for show than go, the video of the Beetle’s brakes straining to keep the car planted while the jet engine is spooled up to 25,000 rpm proves this Franken-bug is no show pony. Patrick also admits to having flipped the jet switch on the highway while doing 100 mph.

Patrick reveals a few interesting details about his bug in the interview like the fact that it swills kerosene at the rate of 15 gallons per mile(!) and the dash-mounted flower vase was removed because any blossom would be immediately sucked into the jet’s air intake. Now that's some serious flower power.

[Source: San Francisco Gate via GermanCarBlog]

Ron Patrick wanted to prove that his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford wasn’t just a piece of useless paper framed on the wall, so he put his book smarts to use by combining a GE Model T58-8F helicopter turboshaft jet engine and a VW New Beetle. Patrick claims his one-way ticket to the Darwin Awards is street legal since he left the stock drivetrain intact. We’re not so sure about that since at any time he could flip a switch and torch the Tercel behind him with 1,350 flame-throwing horsepower.

I think what we’re all wondering is, “Yeah, but how does she handle?”

[via Engadget via Engadget Japanese via TechBlog]