Speed ​​records: land, sea and air

speed records

Throughout history, man has always tried to improve himself. And this also applies to speed. From the end of the XNUMXth century to the present day, there have been many attempts to surpass previous speed records on land, sea and in the air. Therefore, in this article we bring you the most outstanding feats in terms of speed records it means. Some are really shocking!

land speed record

Thrust SSC speed records

ThrustSSC (Thrust SuperSonic Car) It is a jet vehicle developed by the British Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers and Jeremy Bliss. This vehicle was made specifically to break the land speed records it had previously set. And he did it on October 15, 1997, piloted by Andy Green (Royal Air Force fighter pilot).

On that occasion, it would reach a speed of 1228 km/h, becoming the first land vehicle to officially break the sound barrier. He did it in the Black Rock desert, in Nevada (USA), a surface that is flat and large enough for this vehicle to be piloted.

This vehicle is on display at the Coventry Transport Museum in England. Therefore, you can visit it if you wish.

This vehicle has a length of 16.5 meters long, and 3.7 meters wide. Also, far from what you might think, it has a very high weight, almost 10 tons. The thrust that it was capable of developing was 223 kN, which generates 102.000 hp, despite the fact that their jet engines are not designed to operate at maximum speed. Two Rolls-Royce Spey Turbofan afterburning engines used in the F-4 Phantom II jet fighter were used to achieve this power.

The shape of the vehicle is completely aerodynamics, and one of the biggest concerns was that the vehicle would not take off from the ground at those speeds. Also, this vehicle lacked tires, which would have disintegrated at those speeds. Instead it used metal alloy wheels. Also, any small bump or rock in the road could have dire consequences, so he made sure the surface of the dirt track used was as flat and clean as possible.

these engines they burned about 18 liters of fuel per second, with an approximate consumption of 4850 liters per 100 km. The thermal power released by these engines was 630 MW, taking into account that the effective power achieved was 76 MW, which means that the vehicle had an efficiency of approximately 12%. In short, a beast that you can see in the following video in action, and I recommend that you turn on the sound to hear when you break the sound barrier:

Bloodhound lsr it was the successor to the Thrust SSC, another British vehicle to break the speed records set by its predecessor. It was believed that this vehicle could reach a top speed of 1609 km/h. This time it had been built with an afterburning Rolls-Royce Eurojet EJ200 Turbofan jet engine and an additional rocket engine. The chosen pilot was the same, Andy Green. Everything was ready to set the new record, but in 2018 the company would go bankrupt.

At that time, a businessman named Ian Warhust would buy this project to continue it, renamed Bloodhound LSR. But the lack of funds and the COVID-19 pandemic would once again stall the project. Finally, in 2021 would be put up for sale again...

Other land speed records

Did you know…? exist more speed records amazing things you should know about, such as:

  • The motorcycle speed record is held by Rocky RObinson with the Ack Attack, a motorcycle that would achieve the speed record on September 25, 2010, reaching 605,698 km/h.
  • The speed record for a battery-powered radio-controlled car is held by Nic Case, with his RC Bullet. It reached a speed of 25 km/h on October 2014, 325,12.
  • There was a speed record for a steam engine that would reach 238,679 km/h. It was the Inspiration piloted by Don Wales. The record was set on August 25, 2009.
  • There is also another speed record for a wind-powered vehicle. The Ecotricity Greenbird piloted by Richard Jenkins would achieve about 203,09 km/h on March 25, 2009.
  • It is surprising to know that another human-powered vehicle, Todd Reichert, would manage to break another land speed record on September 17, 2016, with 144,17 km / h.
  • You also hold a solar powered land speed record, it's the Sky Ace TIGA driven by Shinozuka. It reached 91,332 km/h in 20014.
  • The speed record on ice is held by Janne Laitinen, who would manage on March 9, 2013 to drive an Audi RS 6 at a speed of 335,7 km/h.
  • Eugene Cernan has the honor of holding the speed record on the lunar surface. In 1972 he would reach 18 km/h with the Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle LRV-003.
  • There are also speed records on Mars for the Spirit and Opportunity roves, although these were not piloted. The speed was 0.18 km/h.
  • There are even other speed records for rails, such as that of the Super Roadrunner that would reach 10.326 km/h, ten times more than the previous attempt of a vehicle that had managed to reach 1000 km/h. Really impressive.
  • As for the speed record for steam trains, it is held by the LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard driven by Joseph Duddington and Thomas Bray in 1938, reaching 202,6 km/h.
  • As for modern trains, it is worth noting the SCMaglev L0 Series Shinkansen that on April 21, 1954 would reach 603 km/h.

As an additional curiosity, to say that on the night of July 16 to 17, 2006, another national speed record on wheels would be achieved in Spain. It would be during the homologation tests of the new Siemens AVE 103-002 train that would cover the Madrid-Barcelona line. At that time one of the Spanish speed records by reaching 403,7 km/h, a speed higher than the previous mark established on 390 km/h.

speed record in water

There is an underwater speed record. This one is flaunted by the Soviet submarine that would reach 57 km/h or 31 knots. However, we must also highlight the torpedoes launched by these submarines, reaching 200 knots or 370 km/h in the case of the Russian VA-111-Shkval supercavitation torpedo. But this does not interest us as much as the record on the surface of the water, achieved by a speedboat called Spirit of Australia. It was built with wood by Ken Warby and would break the world speed record on October 8, 1978.

Ken himself piloted this barge on the Tumut River. he would get an official speed of 511,11 km/h or 275,98 knots, and with a maximum speed of 300 knots or 555 km/h. It's all thanks to a Westinghouse J34 jet engine developed by the Westinghouse Electric Company in the late 1940s and used in fighter planes.

It must be said that Warby would build another second jet boat in the 90s, the Aussie Spirit powered by a Westinghouse J34 but he would never make the record with it. Also, Warby and his son Dave are currently working on a new Spirit of Australia II powered by a Bristol Siddeley Orpheus jet engine taken from an Italian Fiat G.91 fighter. In 2018, Dave would reach 170 knots or 314 km/h in an unofficial test at Blowering Lake. Currently, they are still tweaking the design for another new official try…

air speed record

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

I also would not like to forget the air speed records that have been set. It is true that unmanned vehicles like the HTV-2 reached 21.245 km/h (Mach 20). It is also important to highlight the North American X-15a-2 rocket that William J. Knight piloted in 1967 and that would reach 7.270 km/h (Mach 6.7). However, if we refer to the fastest planes, we must highlight the Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird, which piloted by Eldon W. Joersz in 1976 would reach 3.529,56 km/h, that is, a speed of Mach 3.3.

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is a reconnaissance aircraft that could reach Mach 3+ and a high altitude. It was manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation and was used by the United States Air Force and by NASA. It is currently deprecated as the company is developing an unmanned successor known as the SR-72, which is scheduled for release in 2025. But for now, it remains the world speed record holder for a manned aircraft.

Also exist other speed records by air such as the Westland Lynx 800 helicopter flown by John Egginton in 1986, which would reach 400,86 km/h. Or that of the electric Rolls-Royce Accel Spirit of Innovation that Steve Jones drove in 2021 to reach 555,9 km/h.

speed records in space

Parker Solar Probe speed records

Finally, we must also highlight other speed records, but this time for space. Stellar speeds have also been achieved out there, never better said. For example, NASA's Parker Solar Probe would reach November 21, 2021 a speed of 587.000 km/h.

This space probe was launched in 2018, after years of work since it was announced in 2009. The mission was to make observations of the Sun's outer corona. To do this, it will come within 6.9 million km of the Sun. It is estimated that by 2025 it will reach its maximum speed, 690.000 km/h, or 0,064% of the speed of light. In fact, it is the fastest human-made object.


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