Land speed records

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 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 is standardized over a course measuring either or , 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.

History

Until 1829 the fastest land transport was by horse. Then, railway speed records were set.

The first automobile record regulator was the ''Automobile Club de France'', which proclaimed itself arbiter of 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.Northey, p.1163. National or regional auto clubs (such as AAA and SCTA) had to be AIACR members to ensure records would be recognized.Northey, p.1164. The AIACR became 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.Northey, p.1166. No holder of the absolute record since has been wheel-driven.

In the U.S. and Australia, record runs are often done on salt flats, so the cars are often called salt cars.

Women's land speed record

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 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 and receiving the sobriquet the "Fastest Girl on Earth". She drove a six-cylinder Napier motorcar, a development of the K5, in a speed trial in Blackpool.Hull, Peter G. "Napier: The Stradivarius of the Road", in Northey, Tom, ed. The World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 13, p.1483.G.N. Georgano ''Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886–1930''. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985).

In 1963, Paula Murphy drove a Studebaker Avanti to 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 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 a two-way average of 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 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.

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 .

On October 9, 2013, driver Jessi Combs, in 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 , 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 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 , noting she was the first to break the record in 40 years.

Records

1898–1964 (wheel-driven)

1963–present (jet and rocket propulsion)

Craig Breedlove's mark of ,Twite, Mike. "Craig Breedlove: Toward the Sound Barrier", in ''World of Automobiles'' (Volume 2, p.231). set in '' Spirit of America'' in September 1963, 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 a speed of 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 the higher speed recorded by either body, by any vehicles running on wheels, whether wheel-driven or not.

See also

* List of vehicle speed records
* British land speed record
* Production car speed record
* Railway speed record
* Motorcycle land speed record
* Aero-engined car
* Pioneer 2M – Soviet Union attempt at the land speed record in early 1960s
* Budweiser Rocket – Claimed but not verified to have reached and to have broken the sound barrier in 1979
* North American Eagle Project – Aiming for , the project was abandoned after one of its drivers was killed in the car.
* Bloodhound LSR – Project aiming for .
* Rosco McGlashan – Australia's fastest man on the land. His Aussie Invader team is building a fully rocket-powered LSR car with an attempt at the record currently on hold pending funding.

References

External links

* – Australian challengers to the supersonic showdown

Speed Record Club
– The Speed Record Club seeks to promote an informed and educated enthusiast identity, reporting accurately and impartially to the best of its ability on record-breaking engineering, events, attempts and history.

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Record progressions