The land speed record battle is about to become very interesting.
Here we chart mankind’s quest to be the fastest on Earth:
1898: Jeantaud Duc – 39mph-62 kmph
Rewind back to 1898 and it was in fact an electric car, the French-built Jeantaud Duc, which held the record for being the world’s fastest car. Piloted by Chaselloup-Laubat, the first record holder crept its way up to 39.24mph and into the history books. Jeantaud carried on making cars until 1908.
1899 - La Jamais Contente – 62mph 100 Kmph
The Duc didn’t hang on to his record for long; this French car, which means “Never Satisfied” in English, was also electric powered, and the first car to crack 100 km/h. It was driven by Belgian Camille Jenatzy.
1904: DMG Mercedes Simplex – 97mph 156 kmph
Belgian Pierre de Caters took this Mercedes up to 97mph on a run at Ostende in Belgium in May 1904. The car wrung 90hp from an immense 11.9-litre four cylinder internal-combustion engine.
1913: Fiat S76 – 132mph 212 kmph
This car – universally known as ‘The Beast of Turin’ – shouldn’t officially be here. It was built specially by Fiat founder Giovanni Agnelli to break the land speed record. It featured a 28-litre 4-cylinder engine, capable of producing 300bhp.
Running at Ostende in December 1913, the American driver Arthur Duray managed a one-way speed of 132.27 mph (213 km/h), but was unable to complete a return run within the hour allotted that the record-keepers demanded.
1914: Blitzen Benz – 124mph 200 kmph
Great Britain got its first land speed record holder in June 2014 in the shape of Lydston Hornsted, at the wheel of this monstrous 21-.5-litre Benz, which produced around 200bhp. He drove at the Brooklands motor circuit, just outside London. The outbreak of World War 1 shortly afterwards put an end to such adventures for the ensuing few years.
1922: Sunbeam 350hp – 136mph 219 kmph
After the war would-be record breakers appreciated that the key to more speed was to take advantage of aircraft technology, where engines of immense power (for the time) were starting to appear. This led to the Sunbeam 350HP of 1920, which featured a 18.3-litre V12 ‘plane engine.
Irish born brewery heir Kenelm Lee Guinness drove the car to a record 136.05mph in May 1922 at Brooklands; it would be the last time a land speed record was set at a circuit rather than a beach or salt flat.
1925: Sunbeam Bluebird – 151mph 243 kmph
Malcolm Campbell bought the 350hp and renamed it ‘Blue Bird.’ Land speed record cars began to demand longer, straighter roads in order to stretch their legs towards the next major landmark. Pendine beach in Wales became a popular choice for the many British-based would-be record attempts, thanks to its long, flat landscape.
Campbell took his new acquisition to 146mph in September 1924, and the following July to 151mph.
1927: Sunbeam 1000hp – 204mph 328 kmph
200mph was the next number to conquer for the world’s most daring drivers, but the beaches of Great Britain were too short even for an 890bhp car to reach it.
So Sunbeam’s not-so-accurately named 1000HP was shipped across to the US to Daytona, Florida where the beaches provided just enough space for it to reach a 203.79mph top speed. The 1000HP Sunbeam was powered by two aircraft V12s and hit 203.79mph in 1927, driven by Briton Henry Segrave.
Unsurprisingly, tragedy was never too far away. Just one year later Indy 500 winner Frank Lockhart’s 1928 record attempt resulted in him dying on the Daytona beach after a tyre blow-out led to a high speed flip, throwing him from his car before a record could be set.
1935: Campbell-Railton Blue Bird – 301mph 484 kmph
Despite this, improvements to car performance came fast and in 1935 the 300mph limit was passed, with Sir Malcolm Campbell edging his way up to 301.13mph in his Railton Rolls-Royce Bluebird at Daytona Beach. This car used a 36.7 litre supercharged Rolls-Royce R V12 engine, capable of belting out 2269bhp.
Conventional internal-combustion engines were reaching fantastic speeds for the time, but they were soon to be replaced by new technology. However war once more intruded itself into the quest for the land speed record.
1964: Bluebird-Proteus CN7 – 403mph 649 kmph
July 1964 finally saw 400mph officially demolished with Sir Malcolm Campbell’s son, Donald, reaching 403.14mph in his gas turbine-engined Bluebird-Proteus CN7. He did the run at the very large Lake Eyre in South Australia, which for most of the time is a dry salt flat.
This run opened the door to fully jet-propelled record attempts.
1970: Blue Flame – 622mph 1001 kmph
American speed-freaks were understandably irritated by the long British dominance of land speed records, and Reaction Dynamics started development of this rocket-engined car in 1965. The car used a combination of high-test peroxide and liquefied natural gas (LNG), pressurized by helium gas.
Running at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and driven by Gary Gabelich, the car hit 622.407mph in October 1970.
1983: Thrust 2 – 633mph 1018 kmph
That record stood for 13 years. Then along came the British Thrust 2 – this car was powered by a single Rolls-Royce Avon jet engine from an English Electric Lightning jet fighter. It was driven by Richard Noble, and run at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, and in October 1983 hit 633.468mph.
1997: Thrust SSC – 763mph 1228 kmph
Richard Noble set out to beat his own record, leading the project to push the land speed record through a potentially very complicated obstacle: the sound barrier. This time the car was equipped with not one but two jet engines - Rolls-Royce Spey turbofans, borrowed from the British version of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter.
These were enough to equip the car with around 50,000 pounds force - equivalent to around 110,000 brake horsepower. Perhaps appropriately enough, Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green was given the task of driving. The run took place on 15 October 1997, again at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
1997: Thrust SSC – 763mph 1228 kmh
“It’s the loudest, highest-pitched scream I’ve ever heard,” said British Royal Air Force fighter pilot Andy Green of approaching the sound barrier, who drove the Thrust SSC to set its world record. “The car tended to pull—because of the way it was constructed with the staggered rear wheels—tended to pull hard left at around 600 miles per hour, and that was requiring up to ninety degrees of steering lock to keep it straight.”
2020: Bloodhound SSC – 1000mph? 1609 kmph
After the triumph of 1997, Noble and Green are back with a new target – to become the first car to break through the 1000mph mark. The car is powered by a Rolls-Royce Eurojet EJ200 afterburning turbofan, this time borrowed from a Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.
After a relatively modest 200mph run in Newquay in Western England in 2017, the current aim is to crack 500mph in 2019 and then 1000mph in 2020, with runs to take place in South Africa's Northern Cape desert. There are rivals aiming to do the same thing however – who will win?
