On January 4, 1967, Donald took his boat out for morning training, the sky was covered with clouds, and the wind blew with furious force. After acceleration, the boat flew out of the water and exploded, and Campbell himself simply disappeared.

After acceleration, the boat flew out of the water and exploded, and Campbell himself simply disappeared, leaving descendants not only with dozens of world speed records, but also the secret of his own death - after all, the rescuers who arrived at the scene did not find any remains, not even a scrap of clothing.

Donald Campbell(1921-67), a famous racing athlete, did not leave the exact date of his birth to history. He had three hereditary diseases: articular rheumatism, heart disease and a desire to overtake speed.

If the parents shared responsibility for the first two, then the blame for the third lies entirely with the father. Sir Malcolm Campbell, who gave life to Donald, was no less famous than the presidents, kings and prime ministers of the planet. He competed with speed in racing cars, speedboats, and sports airplanes.

At the end of the 1930s, the Englishman held dozens of world records and several severe disasters. But providence protected Malcolm, who received the title of Sir from the King of Britain for his achievements in the world of speed.

Donald, who closely followed his father's successes, decided to follow in his footsteps. In one decade, he raised the bar for the speed record for a racing boat on water to an incredible result - 440 kilometers per hour!

Having returned the palm to Britain and the Campbell family on the water, Donald stood on solid ground and decided to set a new record on land. In his design bureau, in company with the best engineers, he created the Bluebird supercar. Its price of 12 million German marks made everyone swoon, but the famous Campbell name attracted sponsors.

The first attempt to break the world speed record on land failed - the car, racing along the bottom of a dry salt lake, reaching a speed of 500 kilometers per hour, suddenly flew into the air. To everyone's surprise, the racer remained safe and sound. But soon Donald successfully accelerated to an insane speed of 648 kilometers per hour.

Donald devoted the entire 1966 to creating a new jet-powered racing boat. In early 1967, Campbell and his superboat arrived at Lake Coniston.

His activities attracted the attention of numerous British construction firms and government departments.

Campbell died in his Bluebird jet boat, which he was trying to accelerate to a speed of 300 mph (483 km/h). Until his death, he held the established world speed record on water: 276.33 mph (444.89 km/h).

The K-7 accident occurred due to a series of events: at high speed, the boat lost stability and began to jump. Then the thrust disappeared, and on the fifth jump the boat was lifted into the air. Campbell himself described the last seconds on the radio: “Damn, there’s so much [noise] here...” he managed to say. “My nose turned up... I’m now... Oh...”

This moment shocked the whole world. Campbell was a superstar of his time - the fastest man on water and land (each of his cars was called a Bluebird). From 1955 to 1964 he set seven water speed records. And in 1964, he became the first person to set two speed records in a year: on water and on land (649 km/h). The attempt on Lake Coniston was actually a PR campaign to gain support and money for the construction of a rocket car, in which he dreamed of accelerating to 1352 km. But a terrible accident put an end to the dream.

In 2001, the jet boat was raised from the depths of the sea. After restoration it starts again

But soon the superboat will return to the same lake. And this is not a remake, but the most original one. How is this possible? Yes, thanks to New Castle native Bill Smith. In March 2001, Bill, a professional diver, lifted the Blue Bird from the bottom. And two months later I found Campbell. He was buried on the shore of the lake...

Bill and Project Bluebird volunteers now assemble K-7s at a workshop in North Shields. They use all valid original parts. When the jet boat broke up, most of them sank to the bottom of Coniston, to a depth of 42 meters. Some remains floating on the surface. In particular, the sponson floats: they were picked up, but were later lost. And Campbell's mascot, the teddy bear Mr. Whopit, remains with the family. Bill now has the fuselage, steel frame, skin and entire fuel system. “The Bluebird was essentially a shell, a fuselage with a jet engine,” says Bill. “The engine was too damaged from water, but besides that, among what we found, there were a couple of shoe boxes of unusable parts. Everything else is working.”

Almost. The impact was such that the metal was crumpled like paper. But since aluminum does not corrode in clean water, fragments of the “body” can be used again. The Bluebird will be rebuilt from the pieces and parts that have been collected - at least those that didn't completely fall apart on impact. And no new copies.

Bill's team will work with the found metal: they have their own know-how. “There are a hundred ways to cut, bend, pull and weld metal,” says Bill. “But the hardest thing is squeezing it.” Stretch the toffee and then try to give it its original shape - this is real black magic.” Some panels were torn in two and needed to be repaired and welded. Bill is deeply immersed in this business, and his 15 assistants devote every free minute to him. Various companies help them, donate all sorts of necessary things - paint and rivets, for example. Bill says they live entirely on donations.

In fact, there is a 16th volunteer. Bluebird does not yet have a pilot. But most likely it will be 44-year-old Ted Walsh, a computer scientist who, in his spare time, participates in motorboat races on Lake Windermere. The Bluebird will be a real work machine and the Cumbrian authorities have already given permission for the speed limit on Lake Coniston to be raised from 16km/h to 160+km/h for this start. What will it be like to steer? “That’s why I’m asking,” says Ted. - But the honor is great. I'll have to adapt as I go. It’s like Lewis Hamilton racing in a Maserati from the 50s, still capable of its maximum speed. Although I won’t accelerate to maximum speed...”

160 km/h on water is very, very fast. True, a modern Class 1 racing boat tops out at 250 km/h, but there is no risk of the Bluebird capsizing again.

Many criticized Bill for raising the remains: they say Campbell and K-7 should have remained at the bottom of the lake. The captain remains with the ship, they said. But even the critics have one thing in common: their admiration for Campbell. He was a true Briton with a fearless soul. A national treasure, just like his rocket boat. Some believe that with his death the English spirit of discovery went away...

Thanks to Bill and his comrades, he will return.

Many of us dream of setting our own speed record, but this usually comes with some difficulties, such as paying a fine for speeding. And this is simply a dangerous activity.

As for professional racers, they do this in specially designated places under the supervision of professional mechanics, doctors and, of course, representatives of the committee, who, in fact, record speed records. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the ten most interesting records set both on land and on water.

1. Land speed record

The absolute land speed record was set on October 15, 1997 by Andy Green, a British Air Force pilot. He did this on Black Rock Desert with a TurboSSC jet engine. He became the first driver to reach supersonic speed and break the sound barrier. Let us remember that the speed of sound is 1225 km/h, and Andy was able to accelerate to 1228 km/h.2. Underwater speed record

Usually such information is kept in the strictest confidence, since such records are set mainly by submarines, and this is a state secret. Therefore, there is only unofficial data on this matter. In 1965, the American Gato Albacore class submarine showed a speed of around 61 km/h or 33 knots. As for our submarines, the fastest one at the moment is considered, again according to unofficial data, to be the Akula class submarine, which reaches a speed of 64 km/h. It is noteworthy that its predecessor, the Alpha class submarine, could reach speeds of up to 82.7 km/h. 3. Motorcycle speed record

American Bill Warner broke the world speed record, accelerating to 502 km/h on a tuned Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa bike.
For the race, which was held on the 2.4-kilometer runway at the US Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, Wild Brothers Racing prepared an upgraded version of the motorcycle, which is considered the fastest production bike in the world.

The modified motorcycle was equipped with a 1299 cubic centimeter engine with a Garrett turbocharger. 1000 hp motor (the standard Suzuki Hayabusa has only 197 horsepower) runs on methanol. The power unit alone costs about $160 thousand.

In addition, the motorcycle received an aerodynamic body kit, an improved gearbox, clutch, exhaust system, rear suspension and other brakes. Suzuki also installed full carbon wheels from BST, which are planned to soon be offered for production motorcycles, with Continental tires measuring 120/70 at the front and 240/40 at the rear.

The previous motorcycle speed record (448 km/h) also belonged to Warner. Previously, the record belonged to Dean Sabatinelli, who managed to reach a speed of 431 km/h on a motorcycle.
4. The fastest boat

The most interesting fact in this story is that the fastest boat was built almost on its own. Australian racer Ken Warby made it in his own yard. And the record itself was set on October 8, 1978 and was 513 km/h. At the same time, he broke his own record, set a year earlier. Then the speed was recorded at 467 km/h.
5. The fastest sailboat

The fastest sailing vessel, or rather a surfboard with a sail attached to it, popularly called windsurfing, belongs to the world champion in this sport, Fanion Maynard. He set his record in France in April 2005, beating his own, set in November 2004. The first one was 86.7 km/h, the new one was 90 km/h.
6. The fastest catamaran

Led by the French yachtsman Bruno Peiron, the Orange II vessel, only 38 meters long, was able to accelerate to a speed of 51.5 km/h during a regatta in July 2006. It is noteworthy that in 2005, the Orange II team made a trip around the world on the same ship, which took 50 days, 16 hours and 20 minutes.
7. The fastest train

In this category, first place goes to the French TGV, which is currently the fastest operating train in the world. In April 2007, during testing, he was able to reach 575 km/h. This is about the classic train. If we take magnetic levitation trains into account, then in this category the leader is the Japanese JR-Maglev, which was able to accelerate to 581 km/h. But there is another category - toy trains. The fastest of them can reach 10 km/h. Japanese train JR-Maglev
8. The fastest cyclist

Yes, and this category has its own record holders. Fred Rompelberg in 1995 was able to accelerate to 269 km/h. It seems unrealistic, but this is a recorded result. He did this by positioning himself behind the car, while falling into the so-called aerodynamic bag. 9. The fastest steam car

The British Steam Car Challenge brought together enthusiasts who were passionate (in a good way) about speed and steam cars. The team first met in 1999 and have been dreaming of a record ever since. At the beginning of August this year, the first test run took place, and even then it was possible to accelerate the British Steam to 210.8 km/h. It turns out that the record of 205.44 km/h set by Fred Marriott on the Stanley Rocket, which had stood since 1906, has fallen. But due to some hiccups, it was not officially registered. After this, another race was held on the territory of the US Air Force Base "Edwards". And the best part for the creators of the ferry car is that they managed to overcome their previous achievement. The new official record is 225.055 km/h.
10. Fastest electric car

There is an opinion that electric cars are necessarily very slow, but this certainly cannot be said about the Buckeye Bullet. This car was designed and built by Ohio State University students. The record was set on October 13, 2004 at the Bonneville Salt Lake and was 437 km/h. Apparently, the driver of this car, Roger Schroer, was somewhat dissatisfied with the result and two days later, that is, on October 15, 2004, he repeated his race and was able to reach 506 km/h. This figure was recorded in the book of records.

The speed of a motor boat is one of the most important parameters of a vessel. For motor boats purchased for boat trips or business needs associated with rapid movement through water, speed is a decisive factor when choosing a boat + motor set.

What determines the speed of a motor boat?

The speed of a motorboat directly depends on many factors characterizing both the craft itself and the state of the environment. Let's list some of them.
The speed of a motor boat depends on the power of the boat motor. As a rule, the power of a boat motor (in the case of an outboard motor) is limited by the design features of the boat hull. Manufacturers state the maximum power and maximum weight of the outboard motor that can be installed on their boat. Exceeding these parameters will certainly increase the speed of the motorboat, but is unsafe.
The speed of a motorboat depends on the propeller. A properly selected propeller can significantly affect the speed of a motorboat. Most outboard motors for small boats use three-blade propellers. The diameter of the propeller is limited within small limits by the model of the outboard motor. The most common parameter for selecting a propeller is pitch. Most often, the propeller pitch is measured in millimeters and shows the angle of inclination of the blades. The value in mm shows how much the screw will penetrate into a dense medium in one revolution. Less often, the slope of the blades is indicated in mm.
The speed of a motorboat depends on the hull of the boat. The contours of a boat's hull, its coating and weight most directly affect the speed characteristics of a motorboat: one boat glides easily through the water, but to make another move, considerable effort must be made. The contours of the hull affect the controllability and stability of the vessel, and if the boat has difficulty maintaining its course, it will not be possible to develop significant speed on it, because It is not safe. From model to model, the speed is affected by the loading of the vessel; the higher it is, the lower the speed.
The speed of the boat depends on the weather. A high wave and strong wind will not allow the motorboat to show the same speed as in calm water. When measuring real speed, the test results usually indicate not only the loading of the boat, but also the weather conditions in which the tests were carried out. In addition, the direction of the current significantly speeds up or slows down the boat.

How is the speed of a motorboat measured?

The speed of sea vessels is usually measured in knots, and the same applies to motor boats and yachts in many countries. A knot is an independent unit of measurement of boat speed, equal to 1 nautical mile per hour. The name of the unit unit comes from the principle of measuring the speed of a ship using a sector log. The measurer lowered a line into the water with a line tied to it every 50 feet (a little over 15 meters) at the end of which there was a hydrosail or simply a float. In 30 seconds, the number of nodes passing through the measuring arm was counted.
For countries with a metric system, boat speed is often measured in kilometers per hour rather than in knots. 1 knot is equal to 1.852 km/h. Those. To convert speed in knots to speed in km/h, you need to multiply the speed in knots by 1.852.
Electromechanical speed meters for a motor boat worked on the principle of approximately recalculating the number of propeller revolutions and matching this indicator to the speed of the boat in average weather conditions.

Nowadays, with the development of satellite navigation, the speed of motor boats is measured by navigation devices. This is one of the most accurate principles for measuring the speed of motor boats.

Cruising speed of a motor boat

The cruising speed of a motor boat is the speed with minimal fuel consumption. Typically, cruising speed is achieved in the middle range of engine operation. The cruising speed of a powerboat is almost always below the maximum speed. However, fuel consumption may vary significantly. For clarity, when indicating the characteristics of motor boats, a parameter is introduced such as the number of kilometers traveled on one liter of fuel. For sailing yachts the term average speed is often used, because... a sailboat is often forced to tack.

Water speed records

The fastest motor boat so far remains the Spirit of Australia, which on October 8, 1978, under the control of Ken Warby, showed a speed of 317.596 knots or 511.11 km/h.


It is still considered the fastest sailing ship. At a speed of 65.5 knots, she covered the 500-meter section on November 28, 2012.
The fastest electric boat is the Cigarette AMG Electric Drive. It was built by Mercedes-Benz engineers and can accelerate to 160 km/h, while acceleration to “hundreds” occurs in just 3.9 seconds.
Motor boats common in Russia, depending on the size and power of the motor, have a maximum speed of 40 to 90 km/h, while the average speed of movement on water on a motor boat is from 25 to 50 km/h.

In November 1977, the honorary title of world record holder passed from the American Lee Taylor to the little-known 38-year-old Australian Ken Worby: he improved the absolute water speed record by 5.1 km/h. Less than a year passed - and in October 1978, the same outstanding athlete on the same speedboat "Spirit of Australia" improved his world record by 46 km/h - from 463.77 to 510.45 km/h!

To overcome the 300-mile (483 km/h) speed limit on water - this was the goal that Ken Worby set for himself ten years ago, shortly after the life of the famous Donald Campbell was tragically cut short. Let us remember that Campbell died on January 4, 1967 during another attempt to break his own record, and he updated the absolute record on the water six times! During the second race, which ended in disaster, his “Blue Bird” reached a speed of 318 mph (518 km/h), but this achievement could not and was not registered as an official record: according to the rules, the glider must pass the measured section of the distance twice and in opposite directions.

The path to fame for the current world record holder was truly not easy and began when he was 16 years old: at a summer scout camp located on the shores of a large lake in New South Wales, young Ken independently designed and built his first boat. From those 40 km/h, which it was difficult to squeeze out of a rather worn-out engine taken from an old Ford, Worby’s sports career began. Two years later, he was already an indispensable participant in almost all powerboat competitions held in his native state. Now he could be seen driving a real sports boat, equipped with a powerful eight-cylinder Ford Cobra engine with a displacement of about 4.4 liters.

Ken Worby has won the honorary title of state champion in his class several times, and designs and builds a number of original racing boats.

In 1964, Donald Campbell appeared in Australia: he chose Lake Dumblong (in the western part of the continent) to set a new absolute speed record. On the very last day of this year - December 31 - the Blue Bird reached a speed of 444.72 km/h. However, this world record, set in Australia, was not even registered as a record for the Australian continent: after all, Campbell, although he took advantage of widespread support from local authorities and patrons, remained an English subject and performed on equipment built in England. For Worby, like other Australian athletes, this fact could not help but leave an unpleasant aftertaste in his soul. Perhaps it was then that the young athlete’s dream of bringing the honorary right to own a record to his country arose.

Having the most general information about the “Blue Bird” and only photographs of the “Hasler”, in which three years later the American Lee Taylor improved Campbell’s record (458.66 km/h), Worby began to sketch out the design of his glider. The propulsion unit was supposed to be a turbojet aircraft installation: in 1968, at a reasonable price, Worby managed to buy three such propulsion units of the Westinghouse J34 type, removed from the Neptune naval bombers that had served their service life. Having a solid reserve of spare parts, Worby, with the help of mechanics from the nearest airfield, managed to assemble one fully functional installation.

In a small garden near Warby's house in Sydney, right in the open air, a slipway was built, and the contours of an 8-meter glider gradually began to emerge on it. Patriotic Ken named his ship “Spirit of Australia” - “Spirit of Australia”. The hull was designed according to a three-point design with two side sponsons and aft alignment. To ensure that the design was both very strong and lightweight, Worby especially carefully selected the material for the manufacture of the set’s parts. He cut the parts of the frame frames from high-strength spruce slats (light masts for sports yachts and aircraft parts were previously made from this wood). The longitudinal frame was made from the finest Oregon pine. Worby's hull was covered with waterproof aircraft plywood and then covered with fiberglass. Thanks to a coating of special heat-resistant epoxy-based paint, the bottom of the glider has a smooth surface that provides minimal friction resistance.

The turbojet propulsion, having a length of more than 4 m and a weight of 545 kg, was securely fastened immediately behind the aft edge of the driver's cockpit. According to the initial technical data, the installation was supposed to develop a thrust of 1725 kg.

By the beginning of June 1974, the glider was ready, but there was simply no money left for further development. Worby spent more than 50 thousand Australian dollars on the construction of the hull and the purchase of turbines - most of the family savings made over many years. It helped that rumors of Worby's plans leaked to the press and the business community became interested in them. The Shell oil company, which was organizing a glider competition in Griffith, invited Ken to take part to begin with, promising free refueling. In these straight-track races, Spirit of Australia easily achieved a speed of 289 km/h to finish first, and in September of the same year, his average speed of two runs over the official distance of 268 km/h was recorded as a new national record.

That year, further attempts to “accelerate” the glider did not yield results. Worby felt that as speed increased, the Spirit of Australia became unstable, with a dangerous tendency to take off and capsize over the transom. In addition, it was obvious that the engine was working at the limit and needed tuning. The design of the glider was also required to be refined to reduce its aerodynamic drag.

The 1975 tests ended with a simple beer can. At full speed, the glider hit the can, the thin bottom was broken, and Worby miraculously managed to throw the glider ashore before the ship sank. The hull received significant damage, and many important and expensive parts of the jet engine also needed to be replaced.

Now Worby already felt that the rider’s experience and his intuition alone were not enough to successfully complete far-reaching plans, that it was necessary to attract specialist scientists. His consultant, and eventually his assistant, was Professor Tom Fink, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of New South Wales, who once worked with Campbell when fine-tuning the Blue Bird. Practical tests - blowing the Worby glider model in a wind tunnel were undertaken by another university employee, a leading Australian specialist in hovercraft design, Dr. Lawrence. His research and calculations made it possible to give clear recommendations on shifting the center of gravity of the glider to the bow and installing a stern stabilizer with a small load-bearing horizontal wing; the lifting force arising on this wing was supposed to prevent the boat from increasing its trim to the stern. These measures, along with a slight shift of the engine to the nose and a change in its angle of inclination to the horizon, significantly reduced the likelihood of the glider taking off and capsizing.

Research and work on fine-tuning the glider, naturally, required new and considerable costs. By early 1976, despite the support of the powerful Shell Oil Company, Ken Worby was on the verge of bankruptcy? He tried to improve his affairs by participating in powerboat races for large cash prizes. “I got involved” with three fanatics of motorboating who founded a company that bore the sonorous name “Monte Cristo”: the “depot”, which, in theory, was supposed to quickly enrich its companions, consisted of the mass production of artistic miniatures in the old style (their products were popular, especially among overseas tourists, but this did not solve the problem)...

Only the unexpected support of Australia's largest association of department stores, Fosseys, allowed the future world record holder to complete the modernization of the glider, completing all the modifications recommended by scientists (that's why the huge letters "FOSSEYS" appeared on the engine fairing next to the image of the Shell emblem - the shell).

Obviously, the passionate appeal to patrons published in the magazine Modern Boating had an effect: “You are proud to be Australians, and you prove it when you spend millions of dollars on building yachts and fighting for the America's Cup, so don't you Anyone who is ready to break the world speed record on water deserves a little support!”

In March 1976, Spirit of Australia was back on the water, and Warby immediately improved the continental record by another 17 km/h. He became convinced that achieving even higher speeds without risking life was in principle possible and began systematically fine-tuning the glider. First of all, it was decided to improve the glider control panel and change the air supply unit to the engine.

The driver of the Spirit of Australia was positioned in such a way that his head and shoulders partially blocked the air intake opening of the turbine, introducing disturbances into the flow of air sucked in by the compressor. At high speed, this “trifle” led to a noticeable loss of engine power. The matter was corrected by installing two oval-section air intakes located to the sides of the cockpit.

An additional annular combustion chamber was installed in the aft nozzle of the engine, which made it possible to increase thrust by about 100 kg.

The area of ​​the rudder blade was carefully selected. Having made sure that a slight reduction in the area of ​​the feather would not affect controllability, we cut off its lower edge by several inches; This alone reduced the water resistance to the motion of the glider at a speed of 480 km/h by more than 200 kg!

Installing a streamlined windshield reduced the aerodynamic drag of the glider and improved the driver's working conditions: now Worby was not pressed against the back of the seat by the oncoming air flow!

On November 19, 1977, everything was ready for Ken Worby's dream to come true. On the shore of the Blooming Dam reservoir, surrounded by mountains, a few assistants and friends of Ken Worby, three official representatives of the Australian Powerboat Association, and journalists gathered. However, Worby did not dare to go out on the water that day: the wind blowing along the route raised a swell, and it was impossible to count on maximum speed.

It wasn't until the next morning that Ken finally turned on the ignition and began his record-breaking runs. The speed of the straight run on the measuring section was 463 km/h. On the return course, the aircraft speedometer on the remote control showed an excellent speed of 528 km/h. Thus, the average speed was 495 km/h, and this far exceeded the existing world record and exceeded the coveted 300-mile mark! However, to Worby’s surprise, representatives of the APBA, having made calculations based on their measurements, stated that the speed was only 442 km/h. Worby demanded verification. The judges fiddled with an electronic calculator, stopwatches and their notes for a long time, after which they declared that the athlete had indeed broken Taylor's record, but by such a small amount that the result could not be registered: according to the current rules, for this the new record must exceed the previous one by at least than by a certain amount - 0.75%.

There was an obvious mistake, but there was nothing else to do but immediately repeat the races, fortunately there was still fuel left. Meanwhile, it began to rain and the wind rose again. Despite everything, the Spirit of Australia reached 299.65 mph (482.1 km/h) on the forward run and 277.535 (444.4) on the return run - it was prevented by a boat that unexpectedly went out into the lake and spun into the water area wave, and the fact that the injectors of the additional combustion chamber were clogged (it did not work during this race). And yet, the average speed of 277.535 mph (463.77 km/h) was unconditionally recorded by representatives of the APBA as a new absolute world speed record on water.

There were still a few months left before the new races at Blooming Dam, scheduled for April 1979, when in early October newspapers around the world printed a sensational message: Ken Worby walked the kilometer track at a speed of 492 km/h in one direction and 529 in the opposite direction. Ken Worby hits the 300 mile mark! He had to hurry, because racers from England and the USA had joined the fight for the absolute water speed record. We will tell you about the new candidates in the upcoming issues of the collection.

1. Land speed record

The absolute land speed record was set on October 15, 1997 by Andy Green, a British Air Force pilot, in the American Black Rock Desert. The ThrustSSC jet car helped Green become the first driver to reach supersonic speed and break the sound barrier. Let us remind you that the speed of sound is 1225 km/h, and Andy was able to accelerate to 1227.99 km/h. By the way, Andy plans to significantly improve his result this fall. Driving the Bloodhound SSC, he's set to hit 1,609 km/h (1,000 mph).

2. Fastest man on two wheels

The fastest man on two wheels, that is, a motorcyclist, is racer Chris Carr. On September 5, 2006, at the Bonneville Salt Lake in Utah, he set a record of 576.8 km/h. Chris did it on Streamliner No. 7, equipped with a turbocharged V4.

3. The fastest boat

The most interesting fact in this story is that the fastest boat was built almost on its own. Australian racer Ken Warby made it in his own yard. And the record itself was set on October 8, 1978 and was 513 km/h. At the same time, he broke his own record, set a year earlier. Then the speed was recorded at 467 km/h.

4. The fastest train

In this category, first place goes to the French TGV, which is currently the fastest operating train in the world. In April 2007, during testing, he was able to reach 575 km/h. This is about the classic train. If we take magnetic levitation trains into account, then in this category the leader is the Japanese JR-Maglev, which was able to accelerate to 581 km/h. But there is another category - toy trains. The fastest of them can reach 10 km/h.

5. Fastest cyclist

Yes, and this category has its own record holders. Fred Rompelberg in 1995 was able to accelerate to 269 km/h. It seems unrealistic, but this is a recorded result. He did this by positioning himself behind the car, while falling into the so-called aerodynamic bag.

6. The fastest steam car

The British Steam Car Challenge brought together enthusiasts who were passionate (in a good way) about speed and steam cars. The team first met in 1999 and have been dreaming of a record ever since. At the beginning of August 2009, the first test run took place, and even then it was possible to accelerate the British Steam to 210.8 km/h. It turns out that the record of 205.44 km/h set by Fred Marriott on the Stanley Rocket, which had stood since 1906, has fallen. But due to some hiccups, it was not officially registered. After this, another race was held on the territory of the US Air Force Base "Edwards". And the best part for the creators of the ferry car is that they managed to overcome their previous achievement. The new official record is 225.055 km/h.

7. Fastest electric car

There is an opinion that electric cars are necessarily very slow, but this certainly cannot be said about the Buckeye Bullet. This car was designed and built by Ohio State University students. The record was set on October 13, 2004 at the Bonneville Salt Lake and was 437 km/h. Apparently, the driver of this car, Roger Schroer, was somewhat dissatisfied with the result and two days later, that is, on October 15, 2004, he repeated his race and was able to reach 506 km/h. This figure was recorded in the book of records.

8. Fastest natural gas car

Last year, Jürgen Hohenester, a former racing driver and now head of the Hohenester Sport bureau, set a speed record for cars running on natural gas. He accelerated the 585-horsepower Audi A4 sedan (index B7) to 327.2 km/h. And this year the record was updated.

The participants are the same, but the machine has changed. This is still the Audi A4 of the previous generation with a V6 3.0 engine, but two turbochargers blow so that the “six” produces 700 “horses”. Coupled with minor aerodynamic improvements, this gave an impressive result - an incredible 364.6 km/h!

9. The fastest hydrogen car

The famous American showman Jesse James set a speed record in a hydrogen-powered car during the filming of his program. On the bottom of the dry lake El Mirage, located in California's Mojave Desert, James accelerated to 199.7 miles per hour (321 kilometers per hour).

Thus, the showman broke the previous record of 186.52 miles per hour (302 kilometers per hour), set by the BMW H2R at the end of 2004.

10. Fastest blind driver

South African resident Hein Wagner set a new world speed record for blind drivers, accelerating in a Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series sports car to 322.5 kilometers per hour and managing to maintain this speed for a kilometer.Thanks to his record, Hein Wagner intends to draw attention to the problems of blind people.The previous speed record - 308.78 kilometers per hour - was set by Belgian Luc Kostermans in a Lamborghini Gallardo supercar.