Mustang Attempts Burnout on Soda-bottle Tires
YouTuber Josh Mason’s Pro-Am S197 gets a dose of sugary mayhem in latest auto experiment.
For some of us, going fast is equal parts science and stupidity. We’ll spend countless hours (and dollars) dialing in our cars; adding horsepower, putting in bigger brakes, getting the suspension just right. Then, of course, we’ll put all that energy into roasting our rear tires. Or autocrossing like a lunatic. Or seeing how easily we can get our car sideways.
Speaking of sideways, drifting may be the most exciting way to embrace our inner child. At the end of the day, it’s just plain fun. But we can’t remember the last time we’ve seen something as crazy as this. Not that that’s an insult. We actually kind of love seeing Josh Mason doing burnouts in his Pro-Am S197. On tires made out of two-liter bottles full of generic soda pop, that is.
Usually, people running their cars on tires that aren’t supposed to be tires is reserved for old Russian Ladas on YouTube. But this is an entirely new thing to us. Mason’s S197 Mustang is an LS-swapped (we know, we know) turbocharged beast that’s custom-built to go sideways. As wild as this car is, seeing it on tires made of soda is just plain bonkers.
Step one involves a trip to the Dollar Tree, where Mason and his pals stock up on soda. They decide on orange Shasta and Mountain Rush, “which is like Mountain Dew, but faster.” They mount the bottles on stock Mustang wheels with Gorilla tape, then very carefully put the wheels back on the car. “This is abstract art,” Mason says as the antifreeze-colored Mountain Rush wheel goes on.
Miraculously, the bottles take the weight of the Mustang’s rear end without bursting. Then, Mason jumps in, kicks the throttle, and… well, the tape breaks loose before anything can happen. But instead of admitting defeat, Mason and friends do the next best thing: Burnouts in massive puddles of soda.
Then, idiocy becomes science. Namely: Which soda brand creates more smoke: Mountain Rush or orange Shasta? The tires are marinated in the sugary stuff, then a set of street tires mounted on the stock rims are unceremoniously roasted. Unfortunately, the front end decides to get in on the smoky action too. One of the fuel injectors catches fire under the hood. As his friend Gary says: “This is what happens: This is a casualty of science, people.” On top of the charbroiled injector, Mason says the head gasket is blown too.
Is this video just a little dumb? Yes. But is it hilarious to watch from beginning to end? You bet it is. If you love the fun that comes with wrenching on cars and want to see something you’ve never seen before, be sure to check this one out.
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