We’ve all had that moment, driving alongside a big rig, when we looked over at the underside of the trailer and wondered, “Would it be possible to slip underneath there and emerge unscathed?” Yes, they did it in the award-winning street racing documentary “The Fast and the Furious,” but it’s easy to see that the trailer had been modified with a “body lift” between the wheels and the chassis. It’s also infamously true that it’s possible with an unmodified big rig and a slammed Miata, though doing so will get you kicked off of your favorite forum…
Of course, should a Honda with neon underglow or a Miata end up getting steamrollered by the back wheels of a semi, nothing of value would be lost. What about a car people might actually care about, though – say, a C5 Corvette? CorvetteForum.com user Mathew702 decided to do a little bit of an experiment, under controlled circumstances. In other words, he inched his Y-body underneath a parked semi-trailer, and took photos of the results.
The answer is, “Almost.” Ever-helpful fellow forum members suggested some possible ways to get the extra half-inch or so needed to clear the underbelly of the truck:
- Airing down the Corvette’s tires
- Making sure the truck was unloaded
And our personal favorite, suggested by user “JimInPA”…
- “But if you were going 100MPH the downforce would push the car lower and you would make it right under there. Try it- I guarantee it will clear!!”
All we have to say is, Mathew, if you decide to try it (and our legal department requires that we STRENUOUSLY ask you not to), that you invest in several GoPro cameras and capture it on video from multiple angles.