Those old timers had some guts. No roll cages, not much in the line of safety belts, leather helmets and goggles, lousy suspension and steering, narrow wobbly tires, and precious little else.
Fine with me to use a jet, folks can go after the wheel-driven record if they like. As to it being a waste of money/effort, how many things we do can be put in that category?
@Texases-plenty.The fun thing about these land speed records is the variety,when I get above 80 mph,I start getting anxious.Dont know how they do these classes,but I suppose,if you could get the sanctioning body to create a new class for you(and you thought you had a handle on it) you could be top dog for awhile,until someones shoots you out of the saddle,I suppose you could create a ground effect vehicle that would be extremely fast and probaly stable too,but think of the kinetic energy embedded in that vehicle,that thing the castrol team made which broke the sound barrier on land(awesome shock wave) was at once fascinating and terrifying-Kevin
I don’t see the power source as all that important as far as how much skill it takes to drive the thing when you’re going Mach 1.3. I’m guessing there isn’t anyone on this forum who could drive that thing at speed.
The old timers had kahunas the size of basketballs. In addition to the things OK4450 mentioned, they also had absolutely zero safety regulations and no technical inspections whatsoever. They ran whatever they cobbled together.
Yup, that was back when men were men and 100 mph was scary fast.
Reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The World’s Fastest Indian.
I think we can put the 1,000 MPH Man on the 500 pound gorilla list. One mistake and he evaporates.
""yup,that was back when men were men and 100 mph was scary fast…worlds fastest Indian"
Great movie.
I think speed is relative to your situation. Here, many of us routinely travel several hundred miles per hour, high up in a plane. But, let the plane touch down and 90 mph on the tarmac when our attention is focused on the ground due to the sudden physical contact with it, seems way too fast.
When I raced a Laser sailboat or Dart Catamaran, speeds of 10 to 20 mph depending upon the boat, seem really fast when your head is just inches from the water and you feel the spray hitting you. Now, jump in a motor boat or jet ski doing 50, and your attention is diverted farther ahead instead of at water level. The sensation of speed seems kept in perspective by the limits of your own senses.
The human can’t seem to grasp the the passing of the ground under neath at 1000 mph and looking way out on the horizon will be the only way to cope making it more manageable for the driver. So much for road kill if any animal passes in front while doing it.
The piston engined, wheel driven land speed record was up to 439 in 2012 using one turbocharged small block Chevy. There was a turbine powered car that had gone faster but I don’t know if it was entirely wheel driven. Also, they don’t drive on dirt, they drive on salt.
Hot Rod Magazine has an issue every year where they cover Bonneville Speed Weeks.