Man puts car in reverse while driving 50mph to see what would really happen

If you've ever wondered what would happen if you (for some bizarre reason) put your car in reverse while driving at 50mph, then this YouTube video will be perfect for you.

There are certain things that you just shouldn't do with your car, whether it be filling it up with the wrong type of gas or playing around with the transmission in a way that could harm the vehicle's internals.

Gear sticks are a bit like the big red button you know you're not supposed to press sometimes though, and you'd be lying if you said you'd never wondered what might happen if you stuck your car in reverse while driving down the road.

Thankfully YouTuber 'Auto Vlog' is willing to risk the dangerous for us, as he pulls off that exact experiment with fascinating results.

While he has already filled up his car with vodka to see what would happen, this reversing experiment has plagued him for some time. Previous videos have seen him attempt this with both a new and old automatic which both had enough fail safes to prevent reverse from being triggered, but what happens when you try with a rusty old manual?

It did take a couple of attempts, as thankfully the gearstick makes it incredibly difficult to shift into reverse while you're driving, but the creator managed to use the force of both arms to shove it into its final position with a rather horrifying sound.

The result of this caused the car to screech to a halt while shaking like a leaf, and a fair amount of smoke was produced from the friction of wheels on tarmac.

It's probably not too healthy for the car to look or sound like this (YouTube/AutoVlog)

Of course, Mr AutoVlog was far from satisfied with just one attempt, and proceeded to pull it off a number of additional times in the video at increased speeds, causing the car to drift and weave to a halt.

Many have expressed their simultaneous horror and fascination at the experiment in the comments of the video with one user summing up the situation perfectly:

"Him: We gotta do that again! Clutch: P l e a s e n o."

One thing we can be sure of is that, while AutoVlog assures us all that this is far from a scientific experiment, it is something we've all been wondering. As a comment puts it: "This guy just solved my life's biggest question."

"I asked my dad what would happen when he puts the car into reverse while driving fast," another user explains, "he said look at YouTube there are enough stupid people to try it."

If there's ever something we can truly rely on the internet to give us, it's the answers to all those ridiculous and irrational questions we come up with in our head.