---
title: "This Slow-Motion Video of a Four-Ton Wrecking Ball Smashing Cars Is Mesmerizing"
description: "For science."
date: "2017-12-15"
modified: "2017-12-18"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/17022/this-slow-motion-video-of-a-four-ton-wrecking-ball-smashing-cars-is-mesmerizing"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "4k"
  - "camera"
  - "slow-motion"
  - "wrecking ball"
---

# This Slow-Motion Video of a Four-Ton Wrecking Ball Smashing Cars Is Mesmerizing

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/12/element-smash.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

We'll never tire of watching people find [creative ways to dispose of junkers,](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/14571/watch-a-bunch-of-beater-cars-go-flying-off-a-300-foot-cliff-in-alaska>) and this video showing a four-ton wrecking ball smashing into four very different cars—filmed with a 1000-fps slow-motion camera—is basically the *Citizen Kane* of crash test cinematography.

To help promote the new season of [*The Grand Tour,*](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/16867/watch-the-grand-tours-season-2-montage>) Amazon teamed up with [The Slow Mo Guys](<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUK0HBIBWgM2c4vsPhkYY4w>) on YouTube and their Phantom Flex 4K camera to smash some cars. Why? Because there are few cooler sights than watching metal crumple and deform in extreme slow-motion.

The crew gathered up their motley assortment of victims—a [Buick LeSabre,](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/9946/buick-park-avenue-plows-through-floodwaters-like-a-champ>) a Honda Element, a BMW E46 convertible, and a Ford E-Series-based RV—at an industrial area somewhere in Texas and got to smashing. You'll have to wait (or skip) through a fair amount of setup to get to each of the slow-motion money shots, but they're worth it, and even the full-speed shots have their own special violence to them.

https://youtube.com/embed/D7sj7L1uLiw

The Buick, the Honda, and eventually the RV endure full-on blows directly to the side, flipping the two taller vehicles and crushing the Buick like a beer can. Meanwhile, the guys decide to drop the wrecking ball straight down on the front of the BMW; the first blow smashes the firewall and dash, so they line it up for a second round that pancakes the front end entirely.

If anyone from the IIHS is reading this, we at *The Drive* would like to make an official recommendation that a wrecking ball test be incorporated into all [car safety certification](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/1748/8-weird-automotive-crash-tests>) going forward, with the slow-motion results documented and posted online for everyone to see. You know, for science.

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)