Miata Mailing List: March 1996, Message #41
sponsored by



     


   From: 
Subject: Warp 10, Mr. Sulu!
   Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996 14:26:32 -0500

  Something to share with all of the horsepower fanatics who are always 
screaming "More power, Scotty! More power"!  (Taken from the Associated Press, 
March 12, 1995)
    On Wednesday the Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering 
metal imbedded into the side of a cliff rising above the road, at the apex of 
a curve.
    The wreckage resembled the site of an airplane crash, but the officer on 
the scene called in an "elevated automobile collision", based upon the remains 
of a bumper.  The type of car was initially unidentifiable, and the initial 
investigation team was stumped by the abundance of foreign metallic and 
electrical components.
    The boys in the lab finally figured out what it was, and what had 
happened.  It seems that Jonathan Townes, of Maryton, had somehow acquired a 
JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) unit from a nearby military installation, where 
he worked as a mechanic.  The JATO is used to give heavy military transport 
planes an extra "push" for taking off from short airfields.  Townes had driven 
his Chevy Impala out into the desert, and found a long, straight stretch of 
road.  He then attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in,  and launched the 
JATO. 
    Investigators determine Townes was travelling somewhere between 250 and 
300 MPH when he collided with the curve.  The brakes were completely burned 
away, apparently from trying to slow the car.  Note: solid-fuel rockets don't 
have an "off" switch; once started, they burn at full thrust until the fuel is 
depleted.

    This JATO sounds even better than nitrous.  Too bad you could only use it 
once!  Just think of the expression on the face of that Z3 driver as you blast 
past him...

The (I can't verify the accuracy of the story, but it sounds like something 
someone would do) BirdMeister