Maserati MC12 For Sale On eBay: $1.6 Million (Or Nearest Offer)

Aston Vanquish Volante, Model S Battery Swap, GT-R NISMO...

McLaren To Show Le Mans Heritage Cars At Goodwood Festival Of...
Mazda To Unveil New Car Next Week, Stream Reveal On Xbox Live

2014 BMW i3 Spy Shots

2013 Tesla Model S Recalled Due To Faulty Seat Installation
Lotus Le Mans Preparation Halted After Court Seizes LMP2...

Argentina’s Bucci Special Supercar Project Edges Closer To...

2015 Porsche Cayenne Spy Shots

It's Impossible To Backflip A MINI, Right? Maybe Not...

Nelson Ireson

3,382 views Jan 3, 2013

Follow Nelson

Add to circle

Related Photo Galleries

See more photos »

So-called "extreme" sports--whether on skateboards, bicycles, or motorcycles--have made the backflip so commonplace we expect them to throw in a twist or some other flourish just to hold our interest. Not so with backflipping cars.

In fact, not many have ever been done in any form. Here, MINI claims to attempt the first-ever "unassisted" backflip in a car--a heavily modified MINI John Cooper Works Countryman, to be exact.

So--aside from the backflip itself--what makes this attempt so special? The lack of assist. People like Rhys Millen have done automotive backflips before (sometimes miffing the landing), but with the aid of special ramps that adjust the take-off angle of the front and rear axles relative to each other, assisting the rotation necessary to achieve a backflip.

After all, it's not like you can just pull up on the steering wheel and throw your body backward like you can on a bike.

Here, we see the attempt to about the half-way point; French stunt driver Guerlain Chicherit gets the rotated most of the way around, but the video cuts short just before the landing--or the crash.

Either way, we expect to see the full video in the coming days.