This Jet-Engine Ride Will Break Your Heart, Eardrums

It's powered by German missile tech, so you know it's good

December 14, 2016 9:00 am

A lot of things might go through your head while skydiving.

“What the hell am I doing?” “Don’t die.” “Did I leave the oven on?”

But at-large thrill-seeker and motorhead Robert “Rocketman” Maddox says that when he’s catapulting through the open skies, he thinks about pulsejets: a type of combustion engine that essentially works in short bursts, rather than a continuous output.

That’s how his curiosity in the engines that powered the German V-1 buzz bombs in WWII came about. And we’re very happy it did. Because now we have this pulsejet-powered beauty:

Light for the blast it can produce, Maddox’s custom pulsejet motorcycle is fairly simple in design. But the roar it emits is enough to blow your hair back.

Which is why Maddox’s ride is sadly not street legal. As Silodrome points out, it would melt the front end of anyone who tried to sneak up to the tail and have a look if it were.

No, this ride is just for fun and fairs and the like. And Maddox even sells kits for anyone wanting to build one at home. Because building a jet engine is about the most badass rainy day project we can conceive of.

Or, for $54k, you can just snake this custom job on eBay.

via Silodrome

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