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Burnouts have a way of ending in cheers or tears. In the case of this Cadillac CTS-V seen on TikTok, it’s very much the latter.
As reported by Road & Track, the action was captured by a TikTok user named 2gsjakob. Tags indicate the burnout took place in the vicinity of a Cars and Coffee event in Tampa, Florida. The video shows a CTS-V ripping a burnout in the middle of a public road, surrounded by other cars and a handful of spectators. The supercharged V8 does an okay job of turning the tires into smoke, but not for long. There’s suddenly a large pop, followed by white smoke billowing from under the hood. The driver revs the engine once more, helplessly, to no result.
The car is pushed back by members of the crowd, revealing a large red puddle in the road peppered with plenty of metal fragments. Evidence suggests the CTS-V’s transmission exploded, explaining the fluid on the ground and the resulting loss of drive. Sadly, it appears that the catastrophic event also caused a fire that spread inside the car. Firefighters can be seen attacking the windshield with Halligan bars, and an interior shot shows parts of the dash are singed and melted.
Explosive transmission failures like these can be incredibly dangerous. The flywheel and other spinning components can store huge amounts of energy. When this is suddenly released as a transmission fails, it can send shrapnel flying in all directions at great speed.
In this case, it seems likely that fragments of the transmission punctured the firewall, given the fire that spread to the interior. The NHRA and other drag racing authorities often require transmission blankets in many racing classes for this very reason. They’re essentially like a bullet-proof vest that catches any shrapnel from an exploding transmission.
Blowing up a transmission is not the coolest way to end a burnout, especially when it totals your vehicle. With that said, it sure is one way to make a heck of a lot of smoke.
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