This race car was never meant to leave the track but this US man drove it 330 miles from Georgia

This man drove a track-only race car chassis 330 miles on public roads… in the rain.

Through storms, backroads, and mechanical failures, somehow he made it home to tell the tale.

When the creator behind YouTube channel Vice Grip Garage placed a joke bid on a race-modified Mercury Capri chassis, he didn’t expect to win it.

But when he did, his mission became clear: drive this open-wheel mutant 330 miles from rural Georgia back to Tennessee.

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In his words, it was ‘officially the worst idea [he’d] ever had.’

The car had no roof, no doors, no mirrors, no lights, and no windshield wipers. It was a fully tubular frame with an 11-inch-wide seat, bald 15-year-old tires, and a V8 sitting practically in his lap.

Honestly, even calling it a car might be generous.

What he bought was a stripped-down track machine – duct-taped metal panels over a rare chassis.

The engine? A tired 355ci Chevy V8 from an ‘80s pickup, pushing 250 horsepower on a good day.

The car was waiting in a random parking lot – dead battery, flat tires, and a thunderstorm rolling in.

With no trailer, no tools, and no real plan, he hit the store for parts.

He grabbed a jack, jumper pack, zip ties, and whatever else might hold the Mercury together.

Then he strapped it all directly to the car and just started driving.

That’s when the real chaos started.

Halfway through the trip, a rear brake caliper snapped off. 

As finding parts for a retired race car is no easy feat, especially in a small town, he was out of luck.

The stainless brake line wasn’t exactly patch-friendly either.

But then a local mobile welder showed up, sealed it off, and sent him on his way with a shrug.

One crisis averted… and then the sky opened up. 

Torrential rain hammered the road, and water poured into the cockpit, soaked the footwell, and sprayed in from above the rear tires.

The bald slicks instantly lost grip – the car hydroplaned at 55mph and snapped sideways.

With zero visibility, he did the only thing he could: pulled over, drenched and rattled, and waited for the storm to pass.

A silver lining: the engine never missed a beat. 

He manually ran the fans, kept an eye on the gauges, and even after the power steering system blew apart, the V8 just kept hauling.

After two days of rainstorms and mechanical failures, he rolled into his driveway in Tennessee – with the vehicle somehow still in one piece.

He parked his new race car next to his DeLorean – a fitting neighbour, he thought, because according to him, ‘both are sketchy, miserable to drive… but really, really cool-looking.’

At the end of the day, the journey was special in its own unique way.

Safe? Not remotely. Comfortable? Not even close.

But when you mix one sketchy race car, zero prep, and 330 miles of open road, you get a story that everyone will remember.

You can watch the journey in full on Vice Grip Garage‘s YouTube channel, or in the video below:

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