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Introducing the 376mph jet-powered Shockwave truck

Who could resist a garish-looking truck with 36,000hp that puts most drag cars to shame?

Trucks are meant to potter up and down UK roads, providing the country with essential goods. But not Shockwave. This particular truck gave up its transportation days long ago in favour of going insanely fast in an insanely loud fashion. With fire aplenty.

Shockwave is powered by not one or two but three Pratt & Whitney jet engines, which combined generate an astonishing 36,000hp ─ the power of 142 Ford Focus STs or 55 McLaren 650Ss. This allows Shockwave to do a quarter of a mile in 6.5 seconds.

At full-tilt all that power gives a top speed of 376mph, making it the fastest jet-powered truck on earth. It’s no wonder, then, Shockwave drinks 180 gallons of the 190-gallon fuel capacity each performance. If Shockwave used unleaded instead of rocket fuel it would cost about £1,000 to run every time.

The fire-breathing monster, which was first built by Les Shockley nearly 30 years ago, was bought by 64-year-old Neal Darnell in 2012. When Darnell isn’t driving (or should that be piloting?), he lets his 31-year-old son Chris have a go.

How fast does a quarter of a mile in 6.5 seconds feel, you ask? “The added afterburners double the horsepower and thrust, so Shockwave literally has six times the power of the jet aeroplane these engines came in,” Chris told the Daily Mail.

“On acceleration, the driver experiences about 6G. We then stop this beast using two 16in ring slot military parachutes, which produce an impact of up to negative 9G. It is some ride,” he added.

Check out Shockwave in action below. As if you needed telling.

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