P'art of the day: Turbonique Rocket Drag Axle

Todays p'art is probably the maddest aftermarket part of all time. Which is fitting because its the first aftermarket part to be featured here.

Turbonique was quite an interesting company. It was started in 1962 by Gene Middlebrooks who worked as a contractor for NASA's space program. Turbonique was one of those rare companies where pretty much everything they made was unique and original. But the Rocket Drag Axle was their crowning achievement.

Developed as a bolt on part the Drag Axle was essentially a hybrid of a liquid rocket and a jet turbine. The forward end of the Drag Axle replaced the centre of the standard rear differential. Turbines in the rear of the Drag Axle drove a shaft which brought power forward to a takedown gearbox. This shaft attached to the takedown gearbox converted the 60,000RPM at the turbine down to 7200RPM at the diff. This allowed the thrust delivered by the rocket motor to be fed to the rear wheels instead of just pushing the car like a jet engine.

The Rocket engine ran on a liquid called Thermolene. The chemical compostion of Thermolene was N-Propyl Nitrate. It was fairly volatile stuff, it ignited at normal temperature, melted rubber and plastic, was extremely toxic to inhale and reacted (caught fire) if it came into contact with steel or water(!). Despite this the drag axle was somehow road legal, the '60s were cool. 

The Drag Axle provided between 850bhp and 1300bhp at the rear wheels while retaining a fairly stock outward appearance. To prove its ability Turbonique installed one in a VW Beetle which was standard other than reinforced suspension, wider rear tires and a parachute. It ran a 9.63 second standing quarter at 168MPH. Surprisingly it was crashed shortly afterwards.

Unfortunately its difficult to be that kick ass without some kind of a trade off. In this case it was that the Thermolene tanks in cars equipped with a Drag Axle (or anything else Turbonique made) would regularly explode, creating a fuel air bomb type explosion that would kill the driver more often than not. Meanwhile its creator, Gene Middlebrooks went to jail over 16 counts of federal mail fraud. This was due to the Turbonique hardware coming in kit form and being advertised as ready to use. Middlebrooks got into financial trouble because he obsessively designed new parts and lost interest in parts that he had already finished. So the fraud charge was more a case of poor business acumen than malicious intent.

These days trying to get regular access to Thermolene usually lands you with arrest under the prevention to terrorism act so the few lucky people who own a rocket drag axle have modified them to run on plain old Hydrogen Peroxide, thats rocket fuel to you and me.