Jay Leno Drives Jet-Powered Racecar: The Howmet TX 

Legend status= Makes national news burning his face, turns around "wanna drive my antique jet car?" and he jumps in without hesitation.... Love you Jay!

The coolest part of turbine-powered vehicles is the start-up sound.

Holy smokes! Great to see Bob McKee is still with us! I met him at his shop in Palatine, IL, in 1973 as I was crewing for Tony Kestian who had just bought the McKee Mark 12C (Formula A/5000). I was in awe of his engineering knowledge.

Jay continues to be "one of a kind". 72 and going strong.

Of course the turbine is super cool- but I also think the Howmet is one of the prettiest racing cars of the Sixties. Phillip and Jay, thanks for giving Bob McKee the spotlight. He deserves more recognition!

If you ever get a chance to be at a car show, chit-chat with an older owner or engineer and you will forever be grateful. Those gentlemen in their element = priceless conversation.

Thank You Bob McKee for building this epic Turbine Race Car. We are all so proud of you. You deserved this.The Howmet History is amazing. I feel honored to know you and to be apart of many of the projects that have come out of your shop. Thank You Jay Leno for believing in me and talking about this project together. This truly has been an awesome Race Car for millions to see and hear on your program. I enjoyed driving along side you in the cockpit! Hit it!!😎 You’re the Best! Thanks Again Steve Stratos

I love the turbine powered cars that ran at Le Mans and Indy in the 60s. They fascinate me.

Sounds like the Batmobile from the 60s series. Very cool 😎

Jay Leno is a car enthusiast's national treasure, thank you for sharing Jay.

1:00 It's a turbine, but not a jet, because it doesn't move the car by ejecting gas. The turbine is used to turn the wheels so it's a turboshaft engine.

Love those Mk I Ford Cortina tail lights. So common to see on parts-bin specials, racers, and kits. 👍

What cool vehicle. Imagine the reactions of it was on the road.

What an awesome machine! And so nice to see it's creator appear on the show!

Amazing car, great to hear from the Bob as well about designing and building it. Love hearing about this era of racing with so much new stuff going on at the time.

That little engine so loud. I worked on turbines for Navy aircraft. It's amazing the power to weight of these engines...

So cool! I love this era of racing, where anything went! Lots of experimentation and just plain trying new things to see if they'll stick! Thanks to Philip for bringing the car, Bob for building it (!) and Jay and crew for showcasing it. Great historical episode, gentlemen! Thanks again!✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦

"Don't be afraid to open it up!" How sweet is that sound!?

Thank you Jay, and thank you to Jay's whole team and the wonderfully talented guests he has on. I can't go look at these amazing machines, but actually I can thanks to this channel, a huge privilege. Drive safe.

This is one of my favorite episodes. I always love when Jay has the older car guys on.

I saw. Howmet race at Sebring in’68. Hearing the car coming down the back straight was an amazing experience; one I’ll never forget!

Beautifully built car, can't get over the flawless finish on the dashboard!

What a hoot! This is definitely one for the "Best Ever Of Jay Leno" series!

Mr. Leno, I just watch the episode of celebrity I owe you. It’s just another example of why I watch your channel, the great way that you give back to help others. Thank you for your work with the property brothers.🙏🏽

Bob is an outside the box engineer the kind that move progress forward. 4 of a kind and this one is still pulling. Cheers to Bob. Oh Jay too. And Myers Manx guy. And the camera operator, and the pizza guy too! Cheers 🇨🇦

I want one of those engines in my pinto!

This was just the best! I love that they even got Bob the builder of the car, he really seem to know his stuff. The car looks really well built and the design and concept was just so awesome!

"Same engine as my motorcycle " classic!

The Mk 1 Cortina rear lights sold it for me

I saw one of these amazing cars at the BOAC 500 in 1969, just before starting my aircraft engineering apprenticeship with BOAC. The start of the love of turbine noise and smell of JetA1. Also seen at Goodwood FOS. Good to see they all survived.

I met Mr. Leno the first time when he had his Y2K jet bike over at the rock store in Malibu Canyon. (Every time was at the Rock Store. That place was awesome.). It was pretty damn crazy to see and he’d just had it a year or two around then. He was explaining the same story about lag before breaking and accelerating, melting bumpers of tailgaters at stop lights. Lol.

Jay always has cool cars to show and this one is really cool.

Beatiful car, wonderful flowing lines. So many of the best looking cars of all time came from the late 1950's thru the mid 1970's. Stunning car.

Never seen one, crazy Jay in jet power car

Thank you Mr. Leno for another amazing history lesson. One of my favorite episodes is the one where you’re driving your jet motorcycle🙏🏽

Thank you J for all your automotive history.

Excellent stuff again Jay. Always something different. And fascinating. Thank you for keeping us all so well entertained!

I imagine racing fans in '68 saw and heard this thing and thought the future was upon them. It has an amazing presence in sound and appearance.

So great - sounds exactly like the Batmobile from the old tv show

HI JAY AND FRIEND ,,, THE CAR MY SON SAYS SOUNDS LIKE THE OLD BAT CAR IN THE 60-70 ,, AND MAX IS 7 YR. OLD WE STILL WATCH THE OLD DAYS .. THIS CAR 22 IS GREAT!!!! THANKS...

Thanks Bill for turning me on to this , and Bob epic achievement. ! Jay you keep hitting home runs .

What an absolutely beautiful vehicle that is! Congratulations to Mr McKee for this and all of his other designs.

This is where I come to de stress, it's always positive, informative and entertaining

the 1 episode that should be 1 hour long... great stuff.

My favourite race car of all time, finally featured on my favourite car channel 🤌

Jay drives another Turban powered car! 😄

What a sound!!!

Beyond outrageous! So awesome! Thank you for sharing Jay and everyone!

I love the lines of these 50', 60's and 70's race cars. Imagine sitting on the grid before the warm up lap and the guy beside you starts up a bloody turbine.

This video was a real treat. Thank you for making it for us

This brought a big smile to us, thanks Jay

Well, that'll shut everybody up at the cars and coffee when the turbine spools up 🙂

Always love Jay's enthusiasm

Awesome , Thanks Jay & Friends 😊

The most Jay Leno car of all time

Great introduction to a skilled engineer. We need more!

One thing that is awesome about Jay is that he is old enough to hold a conversation with the older car guys, and can still understand and appreciate the newer stuff! I love this channel.

Great to see you have so much fun Jay

How great to see that automotive genius talking to Jay. And Bob McKee built Paul Newman's race cars, also. 🙌

Thanks Jay for sharing and teaching us new and reminding us of things

This is every superhero car from the 60's. Great to see a professional video of it.

I’da loved to have been there if/when someone tried to tell Jay to ‘take it easy with these crazy old cars’ 😂. He probably got the biggest smile on his face

Thanks for sharing this!! I'd love to see an updated show on the Chrysler Turbine!

thanks for having Bob on so great

That was awesome and good of you to tell the Tonight show story I was wondering how close the guy behind you could get

I watched this car race at The 12 Hours of Sebring way back then. It was fascinating to hear it leave the Hairpin turn, it sounded like a jet taking off. Didn't finish, but very cool to see, especially considering that this car and all of When Giants Raced cars, will never be seen by another generation of race fans. We got all the good stuff! Ford GT, 917 Porsche, Ferrari P3-P4, Matra, Lola, everything you see pampered in these videos...we saw racing full bore! Just the sounds would've been enough!

Cannot help but smile. What a great episode.

Leno is just another name for Legend . Remember those late night episodes long ago . Always enjoyed watching him .

So cool. I sure like the content Jay provides. It's stuff you don't get anywhere else!

Absolutely awesome!

That car looks like so much fun.

Didn't mention the most innovative part of the Howmet - the pedal doesn't control the gas turbine, it controls the waste-gate that controls the pressure between the jet exhaust and the driving turbine, so the throttle response comes from the pressure change, rather then the motor spooling up or down. Listen to the sound of the jet as Jay accelerates - very little change in the pitch of the noise, but plenty of go.

Man, how cool is that? Seems Mr. McKee dabbled in a bit of everything! I'm amazed that all 4 copies of this car are still around after all these years. I love the gauge cluster.. clear and concise, and ALL mechanical. Nothing to burn out in the middle of a race and not know what's going on under the hood!😉👍

one BADASS ride! thanks jay

Love watching this car every year at Road America.

Fabulous! Thank you!

Jay, thanks for continuing to show us great cars!

Rover ran turbine powered cars at Le Mans during the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.

That was very special. Thank you

Another piece of racing history I hadn’t heard of ! Thank you

Apparently Jay has gone 237mph on his sick turbine motorcycle. 🏍️ Somehow Jay must be intrigued about this car. He's a fan of turbines and owns at least 2 already. That car is gorgeous and God knows what the appreciation factor could be. Who knows what Jay has on the collection addition list. Tough to guess his goals either. Or he just collects for the joy of it. Talk about a gift to gearheads Mr. Leno has been. I caught a sense of his passion for cars and driving at some point in the 80s and I wondered over the years just what might be in that collection. Jerry as well. His love for the Porsche marque is always front of mind when Jerry pops up in my head. And then came RU-vid Jay and my prayers were answered. The man is insanely knowledgeable about such a wide swath of automobilia...from history to being a wrench hardened mechanic and just a general purpose Engineer, there is no one I trust more on cars. He was sorely missed in my family when he left the Tonight Show and was not "around", so to speak, in our lives. Thanks Jay and Team for another amazing car and great conversation. This is Gold.

Beautifully restored. Looks brand new. I remember this car when I was a kid.

Amazing Car, featuring a fabulous Host. Mr. Jay Leno keeps surprising us! Thank you for this fantastic video.

Jay is the real deal, i would love to work for him one day

Wow, this was so much fun to watch!!!

It sounds like the APU, Axillary Power Unit,, in a C-130 Hercules transport. And to see Bob McKee, the man who took on Lola, McLaren and Porsche in the Can-Am Series.

As a french guy I'm lucky to be able to go at every Le Mans Classic edition. It's always great to see and hear the Howmet in love action. I'm not too fond of the smell of Jet fuel but with the hundreds of other classic racing cars burning race gas (and oil sometimes!) I can live with that JetA2 perfuming the air!!

Excellent episode! Great interview.

Damn, that startup sound is amazing! Thank you jay and team for bringing this amazing car and designer to us.

Wow, so very interesting. Thanks Jay for sharing.

That looked like a lot of fun. Great job to all.

Two genuine gentlemen and Genuine Jay talkin' jet cars! 👍👍

Thrilling to watch and listen, I can't imagine the thrill of driving/riding this beauty.

Thanks Jay!

Amazing car. Always wanted to see one. Same drivetrain principle as Donald Campbell's Bluebird.

Living Legend ❤ great video

That is simply AWESOME. I haven’t thought about one of those or seen one of those in any video footage in a long time.

Wow one of the BEST,the engineering !!!

Jay Leno is National treasure

Such an incredible man/car/story! 👍👍