You’ve probably heard those insane stories of people strapping a jet engine
to their ride. Well, now it’s a reality – a jet-powered vehicle has recently
been registered in California. And, even more bizarre, it’s a Beetle!
Its Top Gun meets a new age Herbie.
Owned by Ron Patrick, this 1350hp (1007kW) jet ‘assisted’ Beetle sets the
standard for modified cars. Ron started with the goal of creating the wildest
street-legal car possible – something that stretched the limits of acceptance.
Reckon he’s achieved it?!
So why chose a Beetle as a platform? Well, one of the main reasons is the
Beetle ‘wears it well’ – the rear glass area provides excellent through-vision
to the jet and, of course, it’s the last thing you expect to see poking out the
back...
While most people spend the first few days gazing admiringly their brand new
car, Ron shocked the neighbours by cutting a gaping hole in the back to make a
home for the jet engine. A pneumatic saw and jeweler files have achieved the
desired chip-free result – but it wasn’t easy cutting through the layers of
metal and bumper material. The irregular shapes in the back of the Beetle also
made if difficult to ‘map out’ the cut.
So now there was enough space to fit the jet – how on earth do you mount it
to the vehicle? Ron designed a strong, damage-tolerant and lightweight frame
using finite element analysis. Interestingly, the jet engine expands massively
as it gets hot and, as a result, some pretty special mounts were necessary. The
front mounts are made from rubber and the back of the jet is suspended on a
combination of sliding mounts and rubber. Thrust from the jet is transferred to
the body via an intricate arrangement of sandwich plates and contoured aluminium
billets which are slid into the frame rails. A heat blanket prevents the rear
bumper from melting when the jet is running...
Propulsion comes from a GE Model T58 which was originally designed for a
turboshaft helicopter. However, with some internal mods and a custom tailpipe,
Ron has converted it into a pure jet engine which spins up to 26,000 rpm. Output is
rated at 1350hp (1007kW) and it consumes a whopping 11,000 cfm of intake air.
Intake air for the jet is supplied through the wound down windows and open
sunroof - it gets a bit windy inside...
Nestled in the rear alongside the jet is a 19 litre dry sump system, a 53
litre Kevlar kerosene tank, a Halon fire system, a custom screen to prevent the
jet inhaling foreign objects, a dedicated battery, fuse and relay panel.
Interestingly, the jet uses a 24V starter motor that draws 700 amps for 20
seconds during start up – that’s a lot of grunt! Oh, and up to 57 litres
of kerosene can be consumed in one minute when ‘goofing around’.
Up front, Ron has something beyond a typical AutoMeter gauge stuck on the
A-pillar. Check out the trick looking billet aluminium gauge panel which
surrounds the factory gauge pod. There are three gauges for the jet – rpm (as a
percentage), oil pressure and turbine inlet temperature - Ron warns that
exceeding 650 degrees Celsius for extended periods will result in serious
damage. Switch labels are milled into the front face of the aluminium panel - in
matching VW font, of course... A throttle lever for the jet is mounted alongside
the Beetle’s transmission lever. And, yes, the factory flower vase remains -
though flowers would likely get sucked out when the big jet is spinning!
So how can this thing be driven on the road? you
ask.
Well, we’re told that the California DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles),
ARB (Air Resources Board) and CHP (California Highway Patrol) have been meeting
to try to find a way to get Ron’s Beetle off the road. At present, it appears
there’s nothing substantial for Ron to get nabbed on. In normal driving, the car
is powered by the standard Beetle engine delivering drive to the front wheels -
it’s only when Ron ‘wants to have some fun’ he’ll wind up the big GE and ignite
the afterburner. Think of it as a hybrid vehicle...
How fast is it? Nobody knows for sure – as Ron says, "the car was built to
thrill me, not kill me..." Anyone brave/stupid enough to find
out?!
And we’ll tease you with this – Ron’s next project. You’re looking at a
humble Honda Metropolitan scooter which is being prepared for fitment of twin
JFS 100 jets – just one of these jets will propel a cart to around 100 km/h...
Yee-haw!
See more of the jet Beetle and the happenings in Ron’s garage at www.ronpatrickstuff.com/
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