Can a wheel break the sound barrier in one piece?
Tyre spins. While the idea sounds mundane, it turned out to be something entertaining to watch, as proven by the crazy Russian 'scientists' at Garage 54. In its pilot installation, the folks over at the bonkers YouTube channel were able to put a snow tyre accelerated to 5,600 revolutions per minute. With the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 snow tyre rated at 118 miles per hour (190 kilometers per hour) at 1,800 rpm, the test subject reached three times its maximum allowed speed at 385 mph (620 km/h). But the guys from Garage 54 weren't happy with that. To satisfy their curiosity, they set a rather incredible goal  to break the sound barrier at 767 mph (1,235 km/h). Unfortunately, the first attempt last month was a failure. Using the same setup as what they used for the snow tyre, the tyre exploded to smithereens. The differential housing couldn't stand the stress, plus the small 60-bhp engine was just too weak to push the wheel up to sonic barrier-breaking speeds. The manual gearbox wasn't helping the cause, as well. Back for another attempt, the imaginative Russians created a new setup, using a Toyota engine that's thrice as powerful as the previous one, and uses a sports tyre rated to withstand speeds of up to over 186 mph (300 km/h). It was a success, as the tyre was recorded to reach up to 10,437 rpm or the equivalent of 828 mph (1,332 km/h). Watch the whole video atop this page to see the final results of this crazy and weird experiment.