Home-built twin-jet Ferrari most likely the most insane thing you'll see today
Us New Zealanders like to think that we embody the know-how-can-do attitude, but I suspect that Canadian Ryan McQueen would trump the majority of us. Despite limited knowledge in car building, McQueen started building this incredible, bizarre, and rather potent jet-powered Ferrari Enzo completely from scratch. The car is named 'Insanity', which I assume you'll agree is more than fitting.
Talking to CBC, McQueen said that both Google and YouTube were big helps over the course of the build.
"I didn't have a whole lot of money or a lot of skill. I just learned as I went," McQueen said.
"I didn't know how to weld, engineer, bend tubing, lay up fibreglass or carbon fibre, or even know anything about jet engines."
"Since then everything has been YouTube and Google. [...] I taught myself to weld. I taught myself metal fabrication. In fact, one of my first projects was my tubing bender to be able to bend the tubing. I needed a tool so I built it."
McQueen took five years to mould the unique Enzo body, then a further two years to construct the steel frame — with 2016 marking the 12-year anniversary of the build's start. The price of all this? Just under $100,000 in Kiwi coinage.
As you would somewhat expect, there isn't much Ferrari DNA under that big red body. Jet propulsion comes from dual Rolls Royce engines, which are reportedly good for 14,000 pounds of thrust and 650kph. To put that speed into perspective, a 'Top Fuel' dragster is capable of around 540kph on a good day.
The caveat to all of that however is that McQueen has yet to run the car. In fact, he hasn't even started it, thanks to local regulations. McQueen hopes to have the car operational by mid-2017, and hopefully by that stage it'll be his turn to inspire others on YouTube.