Car enthusiasts have enjoyed putting their vehicles on dynamometers, or dynos, for decades now. Used to tune and, more importantly, measure horsepower and torque, dynos are no longer exotic tools confined to shops and warehouses thanks to portable, trailer-mounted models. These portable models must be used with as much, if not more care than the standard stationary dynos, otherwise disaster is sure to happen.
A disaster like the one contained in this video from the “Expo Performance 24” Show in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, where a Shelby GT500 destroys the dyno in a most spectacular fashion, and the car likely sustains serious damage itself. How no one was killed or injured is a miracle.
The video starts out normally enough, with a red 2010+ Shelby GT500 getting set up to make a dyno run. There is quite a large crowd gathered around, our first hint that something is about to go wrong. At many events, spectators are required to keep quite far back while the dyno is operational because if something goes wrong, parts tend to go flying.
Something definitely goes wrong, though what actually happened is still a mystery. In what seems like a surreal moment, almost like something out of a movie, as the driver reaches wide-open throttle, sparks fly and suddenly the car and dyno are tossed all over the place. The rollers bounce back and keep spinning while the back end of the Shelby is literally lifted off of the ground. Amazingly, nobody seems to be injured, though the Shelby definitely sustained body damage and probably suspension damage as well. We wonder too what the sudden stop of the power train did to the rear differential or transmission.
That all said, cars and dynos are infinitely more replaceable than people, and we’re just glad nobody was seriously hurt.