Crankshaft is not anymore. Long live Crankshaft. Six years after launching their YouTube channel dedicated to automobiles, Sylvain Levy and Pierre Chabrier recently announced their separation. A surprise and a shock for their 2.5 million subscribers who waited, every Thursday evening, to discover what escapades the duo had in store for them. Since 2017, the two thirty-somethings have presented and tested the craziest cars, told the history of the big brands and races in an offbeat way… and above all manhandled hundreds of cars. And for that, they did not lack imagination: take a speed bump at 170 km/h, smash a wall at 150 km/h, drive without oil or at 130 km/h with snow chains. They did all that.
Shoot the tank of a car to see if it can explode (like in the movies) too. But the video, viewed 3 million times, did not make the prefect of the Ardennes laugh who, after detecting several infractions, reported it to the courts. One year after its broadcast, Pierre, 29 years old, and Sylvain, 30 years old, will be tried next Monday, December 18, at the Charleville-Mézières judicial court, for “prohibited carrying of weapons and their ammunition” of category B and C. An offense punishable by seven years in prison and a fine of 100,000 euros. A third man, aged 25, is being prosecuted for the same reasons, and for “organizing an initiation shooting session by an unauthorized person”. For this, he faces a fine of 750 euros.
“More and more powerful” weapons
Return in October 2022. The pair sets out to verify a cinematic myth. “Does shooting a gun into the tank make a car explode?” » asks Sylvain at the start of the video. During this “scientific test”, the YouTubers are “supervised” by Maxime, a “professional” with whom they had already collaborated in the past, insists the thirty-year-old. For the occasion, a green Renault Clio and a dark blue Citroën Xantia, both at the end of their life, were transported to a field in Belleville-et-Châtillon-sur-Bar.
Pistol, assault rifle, shotgun… For around twenty minutes, the duo machine-gunned them with “increasingly powerful” weapons. Nothing works. “We are all very disappointed because we expected explosions and there were none,” Pierre quips, while, behind him, the two vehicles (finally) catch fire.
No authorization
Warned, the prefect of the Ardennes reported the video to the public prosecutor, who opened a preliminary investigation. The two videographers, it seems, were unaware of this. But Maxime, “who legally held the weapons”, was not authorized to transport them outside the shooting range, and to organize this session in a field, indicates to 20 minutes the public prosecutor of the Ardennes, Magali Josse. In this video, the prosecution identified three category C weapons and seven category B weapons, including a 5.55 caliber rifle and another 12 caliber. He requested the referral of the three men to the criminal court.
The hearing was to take place on September 11. But one of the defendants’ lawyers requested and obtained a dismissal. This legal adventure will therefore be one of the last in common for Sylvain and Pierre, who have decided to separate. We will see them together, at the beginning of 2024, on television. The duo, who met in 2016 in a Blablacar, will present the show Top Gear UK, broadcast on RMC Découverte. A last one before we go.