What Is Absolute Land Speed Record?
What Is Absolute Land Speed Record? The absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a wheeled vehicle on land. Land speed record or the absolute land speed record – in order to qualify as official holder of the world land speed record, a car must cover a measured distance (one mile or one kilometre) in both directions, with only a limited time allowed between runs.
The average speed achieved on the two runs is what counts. Over the years, the speed has risen from the 100 km/h (62 mph) of the earliest attempts, to the 690.9 km (429.7 mph) achieved by Donald Campbell’s Bluebird in 1964, which remains the highest speed by a wheel-driven car.
Since then, however, cars powered by pure jets and rockets have been allowed, and these have taken the record to over 1019 km/h (633 mph). Several organizations are now preparing to attempt to exceed the speed of sound, circa 1220 km/h (758 mph).
The current holder of the Outright World Land Speed Record is ThrustSSC, a twin turbofan jet-powered car which achieved 763.035 mph – 1227.985 km/h – over one mile in October 1997. This was the first supersonic record as it broke the sound barrier at Mach 1.016.