The concept of the spycar has been around since the invention of the car so the guys from Mythbusters decided to play a little game of chase to find out whether the techniques shown in movies work out on the road.

The first method tried out is most popular in cartoons - the car releases a collection of sharp tacks from the trunk designed to puncture the tires of the car tagging behind. Unfortunately this technique will go into a category along with other Acme products that don't flatten objects as well in real life as they do in animation.

Smoke was next, but they realized their design was originally flawed, causing the car to fill up with smoke blinding the view of the driver rather than hiding the car in its cloud.

After a noxious first try, they redesigned and found that the method popularized by comic book heroes can be performed by anyone - who has access to military strength smoke bombs.

Adam Savage attempts to leave Jamie tangled by deploying a parachute from the back of his car with the intention of releasing it to let it cover the windshield of the car behind him. This one was a failure, parachutes being dependent on the perfect wind for maximum effectiveness.

Jamie Hyneman's figured out how to attach side-shooters to the bottom of his car, and in a daring manipulative move, managed to use them to control the car behind him to get into the perfect position to deliver his final blow. If you are handy enough to figure out how to attach these to the bottom of your car, you might be able to slow them down - while narrowly avoiding a lethal end.