There’s a process involved in removing a rear end housing from a vehicle, and although the video you see here captured over in Australia certainly shows you the most timely way to go about it, it’s anything but the right way.
This video was filmed by the crew at FullBoost.com.au, who make a living capturing some of the coolest race cars on the planet doing everything from crashing to setting world records. On this particular day, the cameras were rolling when this race car, which to the best of our knowledge is a late 1960’s or early 70’s Holden Ute coupe utility on steroids, kicks the entire rear end housing out from under the car in dramatic fashion.
Now, generally, if a vehicle is going to dump the rear end, it’s going to happen pretty early. But this one didn’t have quite the optimal timing, choosing to do so a little beyond the 1/8 mile marker when the car had a head full of steam on its way to the stripe. You can see the smoke coming from the drivers side tire, presumably from contact with the body or because the axle is locked up, as the car near the finish line. At this point, the rear end is no longer where it should be and the chances of a peaceful ending are virtually nil. After the driver wrestles the car away from a second hit into with wall, the entire rear end housing — wheels, tires, brakes, and all — comes out from under the car and bounces over the guardrail into the woods.
Clearly, there’s a considerable amount of damage to this car. The strike to the right lane guardrail was no small kiss, and no doubt the rear wheels, the differential, and the housing tore the quarter panels and the wheel tubs tens ways from Tuesday as they departed. However, the driver was able to avoid what was looking like a nasty head-on shot into the opposing guardrail, and he didn’t get on his lid either. So it’s fair to say, as destructive a failure as this was, it could’ve been worse.