When I was a kid in the play park I wanted to go higher, faster and farther than everyone else. Always pushing the swings that little bit harder, bouncing that little bit higher on the trampoline or getting a longer run up to go even faster down the slide. Little has changed since then, so obviously I want to ride the jet-powered merry-go-round that YouTuber WhistlinDiesel has assembled.
For anyone not in the know, WhistlinDiesel is a YouTube channel designed with the sole aim of building dumb stuff that annoys people on the internet. We’ve got a whole roundup of some of its best work, which includes buying and trashing a Ferrari, and flying a helicopter indoors.
For the channel’s latest trick, Cody Detwiler and the team at WhistlinDiesel have got their hands on a jet engine and strapped it to everyone’s favorite playground apparatus: the merry-go-round.
To do this, the team starts off by assembling a custom merry-go-round that can handle the forces of the mammoth engine. Once that’s finished, they bring in the big guns: a Motorlet jet that kicks out a claimed 7,000 HP. There’s also a counterweight on the opposite side and a nifty little control panel on the ride in order to start up the engine and control its power output.
With everything in place, WhistlinDiesel fires up the engine. A burst of flame shoots out the back and it begins to spin the merry-go-round. Things start off slowly, but soon the speed ramps up.
The spectacle is, understandably, bonkers. Detwiler starts off riding onboard the creation as it spins faster and faster, before things get a touch out of hand and he’s forced to disconnect the engine to try and slow the ride down.
In order to properly see what the ride is capable of, they instead decide to remotely operate the engine and do so with everybody well clear. With the engine running, they all run to a safe distance and let it spin. The speed climbs higher and higher as they throttle up the aging jet.
Before long, the predictable happens and the engine comes flying loose of its earthy bonds in spectacular fashion. It somersaults off the ride and crosses the field at a fair rate of knots. It really is quite the sight to behold.
So if you want to see exactly what not to do with a merry-go-round, head here to check out WhistlinDiesel’s awesome video. And if you want to see more from the channel, head here to see some of our favorites.