Playing with cars is an expensive, and sometimes explosive hobby. After all, a high-powered engine is essentially a series of fast, controlled explosions harnessed to turn the tires at an accelerated rate. Making more power means more efficient burns and bigger explosions, and few methods of increasing power are as cheap or effective as nitrous.
When done right, nitrous can add a lot of power…but it can come with a high cost should something go wrong, like in this next video. Carscoop stumbled across this street race between a SN95 Mustang and a S-197 model, and the race gets off to explosive start for the SN95…literally.
For the uninitiated, nitrous oxide is used on performance cars to inject more oxygen, and hence performance, into cars. Movies like The Fast & The Furious have given nitrous a bad rap, and most people are able to use it effectively and with no ill effects. Yet perhaps for the same reason that is why nitrous is often found on street racers who would rather risk it all on public roads.
Unfortunately for the Sn95 Mustang driver, nitrous can, and does sometimes backfire. These nitrous backfires pack a potent punch, and in this case the Mustang suffered the consequences. The driver launched hard, but didn’t get very far before a bang, boom, and the unmistakable skittering of shattered metal interrupted the race.
The damage was intense, with the air filter blown out and the upper intake had the top completely blown off of it, something we thought only happened in the movies. The resulting fireball illuminated the other Mustang, giving you an idea of how scorched the underside of the SN95 got. Who knows how bad the internal damage might be.
That engine is pretty much done if you ask us, though it certainly makes for a good video.