The driveshaft wouldn’t be snapped from the downward force. It would be snapped because it’s happily spinning away at probably a couple of thousand rpm and then suddenly the rear tires make contact (assuming this is a RWD vehicle, otherwise it would be the CV joints breaking for the same reason) and try to get traction and move the car forward, but rubber is made to stick the surfaces and there would be an astounding amount of force applied along the drivetrain that was sped up to 100mph with no resistance suddenly trying to instantly accelerate from 0mph to 100mph with a very considerable amount of resistance.
I don’t think the driveshaft rotation would be in the thousands, as the rear diff is a 3:1 ratio, and the wheel diameter further effectively increases the ratio. Driveshafts are suprisingly slowly rotating parts.
But I still agree it would likely fail, as the weakest element in the drive train.
Even if its tires were just 1 mm from the pavement?
Yes
The driveshaft wouldn’t be snapped from the downward force. It would be snapped because it’s happily spinning away at probably a couple of thousand rpm and then suddenly the rear tires make contact (assuming this is a RWD vehicle, otherwise it would be the CV joints breaking for the same reason) and try to get traction and move the car forward, but rubber is made to stick the surfaces and there would be an astounding amount of force applied along the drivetrain that was sped up to 100mph with no resistance suddenly trying to instantly accelerate from 0mph to 100mph with a very considerable amount of resistance.
I don’t think the driveshaft rotation would be in the thousands, as the rear diff is a 3:1 ratio, and the wheel diameter further effectively increases the ratio. Driveshafts are suprisingly slowly rotating parts.
But I still agree it would likely fail, as the weakest element in the drive train.