- LaSala set a stick-shift record with a 6.458-second pass.
- The Mustang’s left rear tire failed at 228 mph on video.
- LaSala escaped unhurt and hopes to repair the car quickly.
Brett LaSala experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows during one remarkable weekend at Florida’s Bradenton Motorsports Park. His 3,000-hp Ford Mustang set a new stick-shift record at 233.44 mph (375.7 km/h) on Friday. Two days later, its left rear tire came apart at 228 mph (366.9 km/h), ripping much of the bodywork from the car. Thankfully, LaSala escaped without injury. That said, the incident left his aptly named Snot Rocket Mustang looking like it had been attacked by something much larger and angrier.
One could simply call that physics at work. According to Dragzine, LaSala opened FL2K with a blistering 6.458-second quarter-mile pass. The Mustang covered the first 60 feet (18.3 meters) in 1.207 seconds and reached the eighth-mile mark in 4.350 seconds at 185.72 mph (298.9 km/h). It then piled on another 48 mph (77 km/h) before crossing the finish line.
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This was only LaSala’s second event since converting Snot Rocket 3.0 for outlaw stick-shift racing. The Mustang now uses a Grannas Racing ATLAS transmission based on the Tremec Magnum XL architecture, paired with a multi-disc clutch. Power comes from a twin-turbocharged 302-cubic-inch (4.9-liter) Coyote V8 built by Fast Forward Racing Engines. It reportedly produces more than 3,000 hp (2,237 kW), which should explain the rather wild speeds involved.
Disaster struck during Sunday’s eliminations while LaSala was racing Josh Manning’s Corvette. The Mustang’s left rear 275 radial failed near the top end of the track, tearing away the quarter panel, door skin, and rear bumper. “Had my first race car crash today,” LaSala wrote afterward, adding that the tire came apart at 228 mph. “Thankfully I am okay.” Those are poignant words after watching the positively wild in-car footage.
Exactly what caused the failure hasn’t been confirmed. Broadcast footage reportedly appears to show a small foreign object entering the tire’s path shortly before it came apart. Some say a mechanic left a wrench in the engine bay, and it fell out and destroyed the tire. There’s currently no evidence proving that it or anything else punctured the tire. We’ve reached out to LaSala and will update this piece if we hear back.
While LaSala escaped unharmed, the car is going to need serious repairs. Despite that, the team says it’s going to do all it can to repair the pony car before November’s World Cup Finals at Maryland International Raceway. That gives them a month to turn the record-setting wreck back into a race-winning 230-mph missile.
