Like a grenade going off and blasting shrapnel about, the Trans Am clutch failure is an explosive scene. Catastrophically destroying itself and the car, the explosion releases shrapnel at speeds high enough to cut through the engine block, firewall, and pavement. Nearly hitting a bystanders leg, if it had made direct contact amputation surely would have occurred.
There is nothing funny about a clutch exploding and destroying a vehicle. According to the video footage, the clutch manufacturer warrantied the clutch, but the vehicle was still completely totaled. Could this have been avoided? Probably not, because sometimes running high amounts of power the unforeseen occurs and there is nothing you can do about it.
The clutch failure starts out as a normal burn out, using the brakes to power torque the rear wheels. However, this built small block had too much power, and literally shattered the clutch into an explosive hundred pieces. The torque effect of using the brakes during the burnout placed too much stress on the clutch, resulting in frictional heat build up that lead to disintegration. Once the heat was hot enough to lower the stress point of the metal, it released at the rotational speed of the motor which was anywhere from 4,000 to 6,500 RPM. A five pound object rotating around a one foot diameter path at 6,500 RPM will generate a g-force of 14,442. That's 72,210 pounds of force! If my calculations are wrong, please comment below. As you can see, it's very easy to cut through an engine block, firewall, and pavement with seventy two thousand pounds of force.
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