Automotive YouTube channel Garage 54 is no stranger to wild Lada-related experiments, and their latest stunt, is no exception. In this trial, they attempt to spin a tire at speeds well above its maximum rating to see what happens.
To accomplish that, they first separated two Ladas they had previously welded together, then hooked each car up to either end of a solid axle’s output shafts. They then attached a wheel to the differential input shaft, and drove the outputs with the Ladas.
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Normally, when the input is driving the output, the gear ratios are providing a mechanical advantage in the engine’s favor, meaning it won’t have to work as hard, but some top speed at the output will be sacrificed in the process. However, when you run it the other way like the assembly used in the video, you encounter the opposite effect. The engine works a little harder to get it there, but it allows the wheel connected to the input shaft to spin at speeds much faster than it would typically experience under normal driving conditions.
The tire they’re using was rated for a maximum speed of 118 mph (190 km/h), but using a contactless tachometer and some math, they calculated that the wheel reached a maximum speed of about 385 mph (620 km/h)
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As they got it up to that speed, the tire began ballooning to the point where it debeaded itself. The unbalanced wheel also caused so many vibrations that it dug itself and the axle assembly a few inches into the ground. Upon further inspection back at their shop, they found that the tire’s structural integrity had been completely destroyed, rendering it undrivable.