31-451: The Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird was a land speed record car driven by Malcolm Campbell . After Henry Segrave 's Golden Arrow , clearly a more powerful engine was required for Blue Bird , with a chassis and transmission to handle it. A supercharged Napier Lion VIID was used, with over three times the power of the previous Blue Bird and a large premium over Golden Arrow 's unsupercharged 900 hp (670 kW) Lion VIIA. This
62-473: A pass of 333.35 mph (536.47 km/h).< Any vehicle – car, truck, or motorcycle – able to meet the class requirements and safety regulations has been able to make an attempt to break the existing record. For automobiles running under FIA sanctioning, the record is set by averaging two runs (commonly called "passes"), one in either direction, within the space of two hours. All vehicles are separated by classes based on displacement . Vintage engines, like
93-403: A record of 308.506 mph (496.492 km/h) in 1965. According to author Rachel Kushner , Craig Breedlove had talked Lee into taking the car out for a record attempt in order to monopolize the salt flats for the day and block one of his competitors from making a record attempt. For 43 years, the world record was held by Kitty O'Neil with a speed of 512.710 mph (825.127 km/h), in
124-565: A speed of 403.10 miles per hour (648.73 km/h) on Lake Eyre , Australia. This became the official FIA LSR, although Campbell was disappointed not to have beaten Breedlove's time. In October, several four-wheel jet-cars surpassed the 1963 mark, but were eligible for neither FIA nor FIM ratification. The confusion of having three different LSRs lasted until December 11, 1964, when the FIA and FIM met in Paris and agreed to recognize as an absolute LSR
155-412: A timed mile and a new record mark must exceed the previous one by at least one percent to be validated. Records are set in either the flying kilometre or flying mile. Motorcycle land speed racing requires 2 passes the same calendar day in opposite directions over a timed mile/kilo for AMA National Land Speed Records while FIM Land Speed World Records require two passes in opposite directions to be over
186-869: A timed mile/kilo completed within 2 hours. The sport's origins date to the 1930s with the Mormon Meteor at Bonneville Speedway in Utah and in California, when the Southern California Timing Association first held meets for a variety of hot rodded vehicles. The SCTA began hosting Speed Week at Bonneville in August 1949 (then called the Bonneville Nationals ), and have done so every year since, celebrating their seventy-fifth anniversary in 2023. Top speed of
217-582: A two-way average of 446.63 km/h (277.52 mph) in September 1965. Five weeks later, Goodyear hit back against Firestone with Lee Breedlove . While recordkeeping has not been as extensive, a report in 1974 confirmed that a record was held by Lee Breedlove, the wife of then overall record holder Craig Breedlove , who piloted her husband's Spirit of America – Sonic I to a record 496.492 km/h (308.506 mph) in 1965. According to author Rachel Kushner , Craig Breedlove had talked Lee into taking
248-585: A variety of different classes within Category A. In 2008 Tom Burkland broke the piston-engined wheel-driven record for the flying mile, recording a speed of 415.896 mph (669.320 km/h). He drove the Burkland family streamliner powered by two 450+ cubic inch- displacement supercharged Donovan engines (bought second-hand), with crankshafts bolted together nose-to-nose, running on methanol . In September, 2010 George Poteet made an attempt to break
279-665: A vehicle of the North American Eagle Project running at the Alvord Desert, raised the women's four-wheel land speed class record with an official run of 632.40 km/h (392.954 mph), surpassing Breedlove's 48-year-old record. Combs continued with the North American Eagle Project, whose ongoing target is the overall land speed record; as part of that effort, Combs was killed, on August 27, 2019, during an attempt to raise
310-570: Is more than 10 mph faster than Kitty O'Neil's historic record. There is no "wheel-driven" category as such. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile validates records in a variety of classes, of which the "wheel-driven" classes are in Category A (Special cars) and Category B (Production cars). The accepted record is fastest average speed recorded over any one-mile or one-kilometer distance, averaged over two runs in opposite directions (to factor out wind) within one hour of each other. The most recent wheel-driven record holders have been from
341-515: Is standardized over a course measuring either 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) or 1 mile (1.6 km), averaged over two runs with flying start (commonly called "passes") going in opposite directions within one hour. A new record mark must exceed the previous one by at least one percent to be validated. Until 1829 the fastest land transport was by horse. The first regulator was the Automobile Club de France , which proclaimed itself arbiter of
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#1732787183042372-479: The Ford Flathead , Buick Straight Eight , Stovebolt engine and others are raced in the vintage classes. These consist of: In 1906, Dorothy Levitt broke the women's world speed record for the flying kilometer, recording a speed of 91 mph (146.25 km/h) and receiving the sobriquet the "Fastest Girl on Earth". She drove a six-cylinder Napier motorcar , a 100 hp (74.6 kW) development of
403-544: The 2011 Bonneville Speed Week, Poteet achieved 426 mph (686 km/h) In 2012, the Target 550 team of Marlo Treit and Les Davenport planned to raise the record for this class to more than 500 mph (800 km/h) in Viking 31 , built by Jim Hume . Powered by two Dodge hemis with Whipple supercharger , it has a frontal area of 8.61 sq ft (0.800 m ) and is more than 40 ft (12 m) long. The model
434-402: The FIA and other car-racing organisations, Guinness World Records does recognize gender-based land speed records. In 1906, Dorothy Levitt broke the women's world speed record for the flying kilometer, recording a speed of 154 km/h (96 mph) and receiving the sobriquet the "Fastest Girl on Earth". She drove a six-cylinder Napier motorcar , a 75 kW (100 hp) development of
465-478: The FIA in 1947. Controversy arose in 1963: Spirit of America was not recognized due to its being a three-wheeler (leading the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme to certify it as a three-wheel motorcycle record when the FIA refused) and not wheel-driven so the FIA introduced a special jet and rocket propelled class . No holder of the absolute record since has been wheel-driven. In
496-621: The K5, in a speed trial in Blackpool . In 1929, Frenchwoman Hellé Nice broke the female speed record. She reached 122.84 mph (197.7 km/h) in a Bugatti 35B on a 10 km course on the Montlhery track outside Paris . The feat was so great that the newspapers at the time named her "Queen of Speed". A subsequent record was set by Lee Breedlove, the wife of Craig Breedlove , who piloted her husband's Spirit of America - Sonic 1 to
527-694: The K5, in a speed trial in Blackpool . in 1963, Paula Murphy drove a Studebaker Avanti to 262 km/h (163 mph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats as part of Andy Granatelli 's attempt on the overall record. In 1964, she was asked by the tire company Goodyear to try to improve her own record, which she raised to 364.31 km/h (226.37 mph) in Walt Arfons 's jet dragster Avenger . The rival tire company Firestone and Art Arfons hit back against Goodyear and Walt Arfons when Betty Skelton drove Art's Cyclops to achieve
558-472: The U.S. and Australia, record runs are often done on salt flats , so the cars are often called salt cars. The FIA does not recognize separate men's and women's land speed records, because the records are set using motorized vehicles , and not muscle-powered vehicles , so the gender of the driver does not matter; however, unofficial women's records have long been claimed, seemingly starting with Dorothy Levitt 's 1906 record in Blackpool , England, and, unlike
589-495: The absolute LSR whatever is the highest speed record achieved across any of their various categories. While the three-wheeled Spirit of America set an FIM-validated LSR in 1963, all subsequent LSRs are by vehicles in FIA Category C ("Special Vehicles") in either class JE (jet engine) or class RT (rocket powered). FIA LSRs are officiated and validated by its regional or national affiliate organizations. Speed measurement
620-561: The car out for a record attempt in order to monopolize the salt flats for the day and block one of his competitors from making a record attempt. In 1976, the women's absolute record was set by Kitty O'Neil , in the jet-powered, three-wheeled SMI Motivator , at the Alvord Desert . Held back by her contract with a sponsor and using only 60 percent of her car's power, O'Neil reached an average speed of 825.127 km/h (512.710 mph). On October 9, 2013, driver Jessi Combs , in
651-540: The four-wheel record. In late June 2020, the Guinness Book of Records reclassified the August 27, 2019 speed runs as meeting its requirements, and Combs was posthumously credited with the record at 841.338 km/h (522.783 mph), noting she was the first to break the record in 40 years. Craig Breedlove 's mark of 407.447 miles per hour (655.722 km/h), set in Spirit of America in September 1963,
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#1732787183042682-547: The higher speed recorded by either body, by any vehicles running on wheels, whether wheel-driven or not. Wheel-driven land speed record Land speed racing is a form of motorsport . Land speed racing is best known for the efforts to break the absolute land speed record , but it is not limited to specialist vehicles. A record is defined as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs (commonly called "passes"). Under current FIA rules, two runs are required in opposite directions within one hour, over
713-449: The jet-powered SMI Motivator , set at the Alvord Desert in 1976. On August 20, 2019, 43 years later, American professional racer, television personality, and metal fabricator Jessi Combs attempted to break Kitty's long-standing world record at the age of 39 and at the same location. Combs died after her car suffered a mechanical failure on her second run from the opposite direction (used to establish an average to account for wind);
744-402: The mechanical failure (located on the front wheel assembly) was speculated to have been caused by hitting an object in the desert. Despite dying during the execution of the run, her record attempt was eventually validated, and her new time was posthumously ratified by Guinness on 25 June 2020, ten months after the fatal attempt. Her time was recorded as 522.783 mph (841.338 km/h), which
775-561: The next Rolls-Royce-engined 1933 Blue Bird . This motorsport-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Land speed record The land speed record ( LSR ) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), respective governing bodies for racing in automobiles and motorcycles (two or three wheels), both bodies recognise as
806-405: The piston-engined wheel-driven record for the flying mile and flying kilometer. His car, Speed Demon , built by Ron Main , is powered by a 299 cu in (4,900 cc) aluminum block 'Hellfire' V8, built by Kenny Duttweiler. Their effort was thwarted by a number of parts failures. The team stated their intention to return in 2011 to set a record over 450 mph (724 km/h), and at
837-732: The record in about 1902. Different clubs had different standards and did not always recognize the same world records until 1924, when the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) introduced new regulations: two passes in opposite directions (to negate the effects of wind) averaged with a maximum of 30 minutes (later more) between runs, average gradient of the racing surface not more than 1 percent, timing gear accurate within 0.01sec, and cars must be wheel-driven . National or regional auto clubs (such as AAA and SCTA ) had to be AIACR members to ensure records would be recognized. The AIACR became
868-624: The year earns an SCTA tropy; for the inaugural year, it went to Alex Xydias and Dean Batchelor for the So-Cal streamliner, with a speed of 193.54 mph (311.47 km/h). Since then, the trophy has gone to Mickey Thompson , Art Arfons , the Summers Brothers, Don Vesco , Al Teague , and ten-time winner George Poteet , among others. The 2023 trophy was awarded to Chris Raschke in Speed Demon (the team's eleventh win), with
899-439: Was initially considered unofficial. The vehicle breached the FIA regulations on two grounds: it had only three wheels, and it was not wheel-driven , since its jet engine did not supply power to its axles. Some time later, the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) created a non-wheel-driven category, and ratified Spirit of America ' s time for this mark. On July 17, 1964, Donald Campbell 's Bluebird CN7 posted
930-411: Was not the first use of supercharging for Land Speed Record cars , but was the first combining supercharging with the large displacement aero engines that had previously been relied upon for their gross output. Golden Arrow 's innovative vertical aerodynamic stabilising fin was also used, a first for Campbell. Campbell's nemesis Segrave was killed in an attempt on the water speed record while Campbell
961-609: Was scouting for new record courses in South Africa. On his return, Campbell set off for Daytona with the new Blue Bird , concerned at American challenges to the record. Segrave had, after all, at least been British. On 5 February 1931 he pushed the record to 246 mph (396 km/h), to great popular acclaim. On his return he learned he was to be knighted as Sir Malcolm Campbell. A year later he returned and pushed through to 251 mph (404 km/h). This record stood for another year, until he himself broke it with his next car,