The car you see above is called “Insanity” and I can’t think of a more fitting word to describe it. It’s a dragster powered by two Rolls-Royce jet engines, modeled after a Ferrari Enzo, and built over the course of 12 years by some Canadian dude in his garage. So yeah, insanity applies.
As reported by CBC, Insanity was built by Canadian Ryan McQueen, who started work on this project in 2004 after seeing a jet-powered dragster for the first time at the race. McQueen isn’t an engineer, but that didn’t stop him from selling his Corvette and getting to work designing this car from scratch.
It took McQueen five years to build the body out of fiberglass, and two years to build its steel tube frame. McQueen had a few engineering classes in high school, but he taught himself everything else as the build progressed.
“I didn’t know how to weld, engineer, bend tubing, lay up fibreglass or carbon fibre, or even know anything about jet engines,” McQueen told CBC. “I taught myself to weld. I taught myself metal fabrication.”
McQueen has thus far spent approximately $69,000 on the build ($90,000 CAD), and he hopes to race Insanity for the first time next summer. In the meantime, he’s shown off the car at various drag races, air shows, and local parades.
A jet-powered dragster made to look like a Ferrari Enzo is amazing in and of itself, but the fact that McQueen built this all on his own makes it so much better. We can’t wait to see this thing run. Supposedly, it’ll hit 400 mph thanks to 14,000 pounds of thrust.