‘Motor MythBusters’ looks under the hood of real-life car myths

Can the car from “The Flintstones” be replicated into an actual functioning vehicle? Do classic Hollywood car chases hold up under the scrutiny of science? Can human urine serve as stopgap coolant for a car overheating on the highway?

These questions and more are confirmed or denied on “Motor MythBusters.”

Premiering Wednesday, Aug. 4, on the MotorTrend app and MotorTrend.com, the automotive version of “MythBusters” searches for the truth behind popular car myths using a mix of scientific method, curiosity and good, old-fashioned ingenuity. Putting them to the test are Tory Belleci of the original series, mechanic Faye Hadley (“All Girls Garage”) and engineer and race car driver Bisi Ezerioha, who conduct outrageous builds in their garage and then try them on the track before drawing their conclusions.

“What’s really fun about this new version of ‘MythBusters,’ ” Belleci, the show’s host and an executive producer, explains, “is we’re really diving into the mechanics of the vehicles and we’re doing things that people could potentially try at home. You know, we’re always saying, ‘Don’t try this at home.’ But some of the things we’re doing to these engines a mechanic could try on his own car or her own car and see if what we’re doing would work.”

One that couldn’t be replicated by the average car owner comes up in an early episode, in which the team recreates the turbo-charged beater from “Fast and Furious 8” using an early 1970s Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a boat turbo, a can of nitrous oxide and a lot of trial and error. The goal was to see if the modifications to the 50-year-old 350 engine could get the car up to the speeds in the movie – well above 100 mph.

The trouble is the runway on which the test was conducted was three miles long and it took much of that to get the auto up around the desired speed, which left Belleci, the driver, at loose ends.

“So I’m sitting there driving,” he says, “and it’s like, OK, I’m halfway down the runway and I haven’t even hit the nitrous yet. And then, boom, I hit the nitrous and then ... I have to drive for 16 seconds going at this speed. And you just see the end of the runway coming up on you so fast ... and all that’s left is just like bushes and trees. And it can get ugly.”