Amazingly, the damage to the vehicle was minor and it drove off the next day
Through the Motor1.com news office, we see a lot of vehicle crashes. It’s rare that a car turns into a flamethrower. This is exactly what happened with this C6 Chevrolet Corvette. The narrator of the YouTube video, Complete Street Performance on YouTube, affectionately called it silver bullet. Although it isn’t a very creative name, the car shoots fire (which can be seen at the 2:29 mark), so it seems quite appropriate. Be aware that the video contains strong language before you click play.
This Corvette is far from stock, as you can see by its lumpy idle and high-pitched whine. Although we don’t know how much modification was done, we do know that a large camshaft and forced ignition are part of the equation. The first pull at low boost produced only 868 horsepower. The car had previously produced 1,326 HP so it was necessary to tune the engine and boost. The second pull showed a slight increase in horsepower to 881 hp. This led to Eric being verbally abused by the camera operator. Although we are certain it was in jest; here’s a tip: Don’t insult the man in the car who has a laptop and can go batshit insane with boost.
This brings us to the main reason why you clicked on this article. The video later reveals that the boost pressure for this particular run was 26 pounds. The Corvette produced 1,356 horsepower in milliseconds, according to the dyno curve. The building as well as the car were saved by quick actions with a smallish fire extinguisher.
What happened exactly? The pressure was too much for the stock LS7 intake manifold. The engine literally burst, and the raw fuel was poured into the cylinders. The open exhaust exit from the side became a huge blowtorch when it ignited. The top of the damaged intake was also engulfed in flames, but other than that, the damage was minor. The vehicle was able to get back on the road the next day with an upgraded intake manifold.