Installing a jet engine into a car is hardly an original idea but nevertheless an always intriguing subject.
Meet the Howmet TX, the world’s only turbine-powered car to actually win a race. Petrolicious lets the Howmet TX engineer share the story of this incredible machine which was built back in 1968 as an experiment.
Using a helicopter engine, the Howmet TX produced more than 350hp and 650lb ft of torque at 65,000rpm, featuring clever engineering solutions like a wastegate to allow the engine to operate at 80% throttle at all times in order to keep the turbine spinning at its powerband.
The Howmet TX proved it had the speed to stay with the best of its era, like Porsche’s 907 and Ford’s GT40 but some reliability issues kept the project from proving its true potential.
We don’t care though, as the Howmet TX comes from an age where the engineers were allowed to create truly unique masterpieces and push the limits of what was considered doable.
Enjoy the video.