Land Speed Records

On Wednesday, Britain’s BLOODHOUND team will take the next step in their attempt to break the land speed record when they test Europe’s largest hybrid rocket engine at the Aerohub, located at Newquay Cornwall Airport. The static test for the BLOODHOUND SSC car’s rocket system will be the largest rocket fired in Britain in 20 years and, if successful, will open the way toward building a car capable of doing 1,000 mph (Mach 1.4, 1,600 km/hr).  Read More

Despite the coming of the electric vehicle during the last decade, there were far more electric vehicle manufacturers in the world 100 years ago than there are today. Hundreds of manufacturers, a large proportion of them electric, competed in the fledgling automotive marketplace. This competition drove these manufacturers to seek new and novel ways to seek publicity, and when a French Automobile magazine ran top speed trials in December 1898, it sparked a flurry of record attempts and six land speed records in just four months. The electric Jamais Contente, which was the first purpose-built speed record attempt car, prevailed in this early tussle by raising the land speed record to 105.878 km/h (65.79 mph) in April 1899.  Read More

Work to design a new version of the Buckeye Bullet capable of speeds in excess of 400 mph has begun. The Ohio State University team has revealed that Version 3 is to be an entirely new battery electric vehicle featuring an optimized body and fin shape based on aerodynamic simulations undertaken at the Ohio Supercomputer Center. Other drag-reduction tweaks - such as driver position and the strategic addition of wind deflectors - are currently being considered, ahead of construction and testing during the next academic year.  Read More

Just over six months after making a joke bet in his front garden, Michael Thompson has lived up to his idle boast of being able to make anything out of wood. Unlike other bike designs where wood is just one of several materials used in the construction - like the duo from Audi and Renovo, which has a hardwood frame - every part of the Splinter Bike is made from either birch plywood, Lignum Vitae, Ekki or an old broom handle. His friend, and accomplished triathlete, James Tully now has the unenviable and certainly uncomfortable task of riding the 31 kg (68 pound) engineering marvel into the record books.  Read More

Soon to go to auctioneers hammer is this silver trophy presented to daredevil and racing legend Sir Malcolm Campbell to commemorate his first world water speed record (126.33mph) on Lake Maggiore on September 1, 1937. Campbell is somewhat of a rarity in that he successfully competed in some of the earliest motorcycle and car racing events, won Grands Prix, broke the Land Speed Record nine times, the World Water Speed record four times, and was the first human to drive over 300 mph, and fought in WW1 in the RAF, yet he died of natural causes. Few such daredevils escaped death in their pursuits – his son Donald among their number.  Read More

With a wind speed of just 30mph (48kmh), British engineer Richard Jenkins has set a new land speed record for a wind-powered vehicle at blistering 126.1mph. Driving the Ecotricity sponsored all carbon fiber land yacht Greenbird across the Ivanpah dry lake bed on the Nevada / California border Jenkins eclipsed the previous benchmark set a decade ago by American Bob Schumacher by almost 10 mph. It also continued a the rivalry between Britain and the United States for setting speed records that dates to the 1920s, when Sir Malcolm Campbell set several records on land and sea.  Read More

June 21, 2007 Acting as a champion for alternative fuels and engine design, the group behind the British Steam Car Challenge has a lofty goal in its sights; a record-breaking 150mph run on British soil, followed by a 200mph run on the Bonneville salt flats of Utah. Steam engines run on external combustion, meaning they're not fuel specific like internal combustion engines. The steam-powered streamliner will run a 12,000rpm turbine engine producing 225kw of power.  Read More