A Mustang GT350 had a major engine failure at Roebling Road Raceway in Georgia, sending a bunch of oil out of its oil filter adapter housing—oil that eventually touched something hot, and turned into a massive fireball.
According to the guy behind the wheel, Joe “HiPo Joe” Charles, a snap ring in his Mustang GT350's oil cooler thermostat failed while he was driving hot lamps around Roebling Road back in April. The failed snap ring caused a plug to be pushed out of the oil filter adapter housing, sending loads of oil out of the engine. Joe thinks that oil touched the catalytic converter, and turned into a huge fireball.
But the fire wasn’t the only terrifying bit; perhaps just as terrifying was the fact that Joe, who was at the time traveling 100 MPH, lost all brakes. Joe says in his Facebook post:
The heat from the flames must have been very intense as the brake fluid boiled and the brake pedal went to the floor. So now I’m still running 100+ MPH on fire with no brakes.
With no hydraulic brakes I tried to use the emergency brake. I knew that I couldn’t yank it up because it would lock the rear wheels causing me to lose what little bit of control I had. About 20% through the travel of the lever, the cable snapped.
With no brakes, Joe popped the car into first, dumped the clutch and prayed. Luckily, the car rolled to a stop “less than 30’ from corner station and the fire extinguishers.