Fuel additive used by street racers can cause fiery crashes

Date: Monday, 05. June 2006

A Mustang had been racing with a Camaro on a highway just north of Toronto when the Mustang stalled and came to rest near a center barrier. Within moments, the Mustang was rear-ended causing the gas tank and nitrous oxide cylinder in the trunk to explode.

Toronto is one of the hottest illegal street-racing sites in North America, with an estimated 20,000 vehicles in the GTA modified for racing. Clandestine late night races - usually held on public roadways - regularly attract crowds of 400 to 500 spectators. Police call the nitrous oxide boosted vehicles "ticking time bombs," citing the risk of a simple rear-ender turning into a fiery fatality.

Related Links:

Further comments to this article have been disabled.

All Comments (7)

Showing 1 - 7 comments

well....,

if the tank were to rupture, it wouldnt explode, but it would add a bit of an interesting effect to the already burning car.

ok,

Mustangs have a design defect that puts the fuel tank in the rear crush zone, they have been known to explode or burst into flames when hit from the rear. It may or may not have had anything to do with the nitrous oxide.

alex,

Nitrous is not a fuel additive it is actually a gas added instead of andding more oxygen because of oxygens high tempuature when ignited

due,

man who cares

And,

So does gas.

It's not flamable,

But it explodes under the right conditions.

Bullshitttt,

Nitrous Oxide is not flamable folks...