Highway to hell?

An enthusiast in the US has built a motorised coffin on wheels, powered by a pulse jet. Its builder, Bob Maddox, has a strong interest in improbable vehicles and built the vehicle using a coffin and a small pulse jet, all mounted on a lightweight chassis and wheels. Weighing just 136kg, his Maddoxjets Coffin Car can accelerate from 0-100km/h in around nine seconds. According to Maddox, he once drove the Coffin Car at 100km/h but was concerned for its stability and wary of attempting to drive it any quicker.
February 19, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
An enthusiast in the US has built a motorised coffin on wheels, powered by a pulse jet. Its builder, Bob Maddox, has a strong interest in improbable vehicles and built the vehicle using a coffin and a small pulse jet, all mounted on a lightweight chassis and wheels. Weighing just 136kg, his Maddoxjets Coffin Car can accelerate from 0-100km/h in around nine seconds. According to Maddox, he once drove the Coffin Car at 100km/h but was concerned for its stability and wary of attempting to drive it any quicker. Presumably he was unwilling to end up in a coffin, in the ground. Maddox previously built a motorcycle powered by a similar pulse jet, although like the Coffin Car this was strictly for demonstrations and drag racing events and not road legal. Pulse jets were used to power the German V1 flying bombs used in WWII and are simple in design, but their hot exhaust gases mean these engines are unsuited to use on road.

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