What happens when you a 2,500 horsepower engine mounted on the rear of a car? First, the car does a ?wheelie? and second the car rolls over. So how does this happen? There are essentially three forces on the car in this case. The gravitational force pulls down; There is the force that the ground pushes up on the car; The friction force pushes on the tire at the point of contact with the ground. This force pushes the car in the direction that it is accelerating.