Video: watch a 4,000bhp Corvette go into orbit

As brown trouser moments go, this is well up there with the brownest. It comes courtesy of Daniel Pharris who was piloting (quite literally) a crazy 4,000bhp twin turbo Corvette at the recent Radial Revenge event at Tulsa Raceway Park, Oklahoma.

Lining up against Brandon Pesz in a nitrous-fed Camaro, when both drivers pinned the throttle their cars lifted the wheels and started to wheelie. But where Brandon came off the throttle, Daniel kept it lit. With no wheelie bars, black tac rear tyres and 4,000bhp, 250 feet down the strip the car rocked back until the back deck hit the tarmac – ollieing the C7 dragster into the atmosphere.

Luckily, because he was going so fast, the carbonfibre bodywork jettisoned off the chassis (preventing it from tomahawking down the track), as the dragster sailed 300-feet through the air before crashing back to terra firma, sliding across the track and coming to a halt at the finish line. 

“Well as most saw, I took flight like I was headed to the Bahamas,” Pharris said afterwards. “Things like that aren’t supposed to happen but unfortunately sometimes do. These things aren’t like driving Miss Daisy to the grocery store — more like riding a bull. You have to be prepared for anything with 4000-plus horsepower.”

Damn right, Daniel. And we’re just glad everybody was OK. Remember, kids: motorsport is dangerous. Especially when you’re dancing with over four thousand horsepower under your right foot.