Ever gone 100 mph in an old International school bus with no seat belts, a worked-over 7.6-liter turbodiesel and a wobbly wheel? The guys from /TUNED did, and they lived to tell the tale. Just barely.
This week on /TUNED, Matt Farah and crew set off for Panama in search of car culture. Naturally, everything single thing they'd planned went awry. So, changing plans, they filed a travelogue that recast Matt as a sort of Anthony Bordain meets Penn Jillette meets, well, Matt Farah.
Did you know the Panama Canal is an engineering marvel with an amazing amalgam of massive moving parts, and that there's a coffee in Panama that makes every other coffee in the world taste like ashtray cider? Also, that in Panama the mannequins have huge jugs and beers are cheap as hell? You will, and other things, after you watch this.
But while they were in country, they did stumble upon the Diablos Rojos ("red devils"). Those are the aforementioned street-racing school buses — privately-owned, graffiti-covered insanity wagons with huge chrome exhausts stacks and 15,000-watt stereos — that pass for public transportation in parts of Panama City's outskirts.
And they're not just for transportation, these buses. At the hands of skilled drivers like "El Pollo," they race in 10K highway sprints, head to head, at more than 100 miles per hour. Is it legal? Well, maybe? Is it safe? Define safe. Either way, it's a must watch.
It's only part one. In part two, Matt and the crew find a fixer.
These Street-Racing School Buses In Panama Are Majorly Sketchy