Let This Crash Remind You to Take Racing Cars Seriously

If you've spent any time around race cars, you know they make very poor road cars. Race cars are generally designed to go fast on a closed track, and that singular focus makes them terribly compromised for morning runs to Starbucks. The rigors of racing put race cars through much more difficult situations than road cars, so you need to be sure every single component is checked thoroughly before going back out at full speed. Sometimes, though, looking over a component and taking a slow test drive are not enough to protect you from worst-case scenarios.

The YouTube channel Rich Rebuilds found this out the hard way earlier this week. They purchased a thousand-horsepower Cobra Daytona replica with a parachute and a roll cage, which is an interesting start for just about any racing endeavor. A thorough overview of the engine bay showed a loose throttle cable and a transmission fluid leak. But the car's engine ran its aggressive side pipes spit flames. The team felt confident taking it out for a quick test drive, so one of their crew went out with a 360 degree camera sitting out of the driver's side window.