What It's Like Driving A Car With 14 Wheels And No Suspension

This Lada with a pyramid of rear wheels was made by Russian YouTube channel Garage 54, but does it work?

04 Oct 2021

What It's Like Driving A Car With 14 Wheels And No Suspension

Tyres are one of the most crucial aspects of any car, as you’ll no doubt be aware. But only a patch the size of a piece of A4 paper touches the floor, so it stands to reason that more tyres mean a bigger contact patch. And maybe more grip.

The more tyres you have, the more weight you could carry, too. That’s why trucks have lots more tyres than normal cars - even if one set of wheels can generally be lifted off the road when they’re not needed. These are all in a line, as you’d expect, but what would happen if you mounted the wheels on top of each other?

Granted, it’s probably not a question you’ve ever asked yourself, but the folks at Russian YouTube channel Garage 54 decided to find out. They created a setup that saw six wheels mounted in a pyramid, like a set of interlocking gears.

As is often the case with Garage 54, the car chosen for this video was a Lada sedan, which also had to feature much larger front wheels to allow the car to sit level. In the end, they switched to another Lada, with a diesel engine that they’d previously converted to run on petrol. More torque than a standard Lada engine, y’see. The engine powers the top axle on the rear end, which then spins the lower wheels and should turn the wheels that touch the ground.

Despite the tyres having different patterns and tread depths, the car could just about drive. Slowly. And only in dry conditions. As soon as the tyres get wet, they slip against each other and make progress almost impossible.

The modifications meant they couldn’t fit suspension or power steering. The result looks as uncomfortable as you’d expect, and you wouldn’t be able to drive the car on a proper road.