Distance versus time: the land speed record through history

It sounds so simple, when speed record breaking is distilled to its essence; cover a set distance in the shortest possible time.

But they omit so much of what lies behind such endeavours that they sell it short. Since Frenchman Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat and Belgian Camille Jenatzy went head-to-head in their battle to become the fastest man on earth in 1898, it has been about so much more than simply building a vehicle with the greatest possible power output, then inserting a driver with instructions to keep his right foot nailed to the floor.

World speed record attempts have never been just a story of cold scientific research, development and execution. Far from it. Up until the Seventies the intuitive mechanical opportunism and attitude of the hot rodder was often as much a part of some of the stories as the complex amalgam and application of engineering skill, but the underlying foundations have always embraced pure human courage, passion and indefatigable endeavour.