(SBS/Madman)

Blinding you with science once again.

The Mythbusters team love blowing up cars in the name of science, so these two discs showing the best car-based experiments they’ve done are only the beginning. Disc one has plenty of destructive experiments ending with the incredibly gratuitous explosions we’ve come to expect from Mythbusters, though the most horrifying destruction happens while testing the myth that a dead body left in a car could stink it out so bad it would be unsellable, no matter how much it was cleaned. Leaving a couple of dead pigs to fester in a Corvette, they return to it later with weapon-grade cleaning chemicals and spend hours hosing and retching while trying to get rid of the smell. It’s fascinating in a morbid way, especially when they hook up with a crew of crime-scene cleaners to learn their secret techniques. It’s easily the most gruesome thing they’ve ever done. The second disc turns the tables and tests myths involving cars harming people. Could a broken drive shaft drop down into a pothole and make a car pole-vault? Could a tissue box flying around inside a car during a crash pick up enough velocity to actually kill you? Could a thief trying to crowbar a door open trigger the side airbag, launching the crowbar upwards with deadly force? About the only myth they don’t get around to testing is the one about the guy with the hook for a hand getting it caught in the door as someone drives off, but there’s always volume 2 for that.

****   

JODY MACGREGOR

Comments (1)

Write Comment
Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged.
Name:
Comment:
Code:*