Land Speed Records

Most land-speed record holders are adrenaline junkies, who spend years sweating through engineering challenges for the chance to get out on the salt and go fast. Eva Håkansson hates that part. We caught up with her at the Melbourne EV expo for a very entertaining chat.

​Following its first public runs back in October, the team behind the Bloodhound Supersonic Car has shifted its focus to the dry lake bed in South Africa, where it hopes to shatter the world's land speed record in 2020.

Last week, we spent a few days walking the halls of the 2017 SEMA Show and staring in awe at some of the craziest cars, trucks, motorcycles and ... others ... on the planet. Here are our favorite cars of the show.

​With the likes of Bugatti and Hennessey jostling for pole position, there is plenty happening at the high-end of the hypercar game. But it looks like there is a new top dog in town, at least in terms of two-way land speed records.

​Hennessey certainly hasn't been afraid to make (and deliver on) some bold claims around its awe-inspiring supercars. That trend continues for the upcoming Venom F5, with an intriguing Instagram post suggesting a 300 mph (482 km/h) top speed may be within arm's reach.

Rolls-Royce is gearing up to unleash a new Phantom this year, and has big plans for the celebration. ​The brand will be rolling out legendary examples, including Hollywood heroes and military workhorses. Now, Rolls-Royce has revealed a Phantom II owned by Sir Malcolm Campbell will also be on show.

Climbing a power pole with five sets of jumper leads, a young Mike Corbin tapped into mains power to charge up his electric bike for a Bonneville run. Powered by silver "borrowed" from a US Navy vault, Quicksilver went on to set a land speed record that stood for 38 long years. Here's his story.

Hyundai took a 2017 Ioniq hybrid prototype to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, injected some nitrous oxide, and let 'er rip to achieve an FIA-approved production-based hybrid land speed record of 157.825 mph (253.995 km/h)​.

The electric vehicle world speed record has remained steady since the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2.5 electric streamliner set a 307.7-mph (495 km/h) mark in 2010. That changed on Monday, when the VBB-3 sped to a new electric vehicle record just over 341.4 mph (549.4 km/h).​

There are many race tracks around the world, but none can claim the all-out speed pedigree of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Western Utah. New Atlas made the trip out to this year's annual Speed Week to explore this mysterious arena of balls-to-the-wall speed.

Volvo Trucks is claiming two new world land speed records. It's custom-built "Iron Knight" truck reportedly achieved an average speed of 131.29 km/h (81.58 mph) and a time of 13.71 seconds over 500 m (1,640 ft) and 169 km/h (105 mph) with a time of 21.29 seconds over 1,000 m (3,281 ft).

The Triumph Infor Rocket Streamliner has become the fastest ever Triumph motorcycle, reaching a speed 274.2 mph (441.1 km/h). Piloted by Guy Martin, the streamliner topped the previous Triumph record of 245.667 mph (395.4 km/h) in preparation for a tilt at the motorcycle land speed record.