Record

When the Bloodhound SSC team makes its attempt to break the land speed record, the car will be traveling at 1,000 mph (1,609 km/h), but the wheels will be spinning a lot faster. To protect both the car and the driver, some high-tech answers were needed.

Hoping to put a new spin on an old technology, the Desktop Record Cutter (DRC) allows home musicians to press their music onto wax within minutes with turn-key stereo cutting technology. The machine is fully automated for ease of use, while allowing engineers to customize the DRC with upgrades.

Guinness hands DARPA’s Terahertz Electronics program the award for the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit. Developed by Northrop Grumman, the Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuit (TMIC) is a ten-stage common-source amplifier that cranks speeds of one terahertz (10¹² Hz).

Renault is king of the hot hatches once again, after its Megane R.S. 275 Trophy-R shaved four seconds from the Nürburgring lap record for two wheel-drive production vehicles. Renault achieved its record lap time of 7:54.36 by putting the R.S. on a strict diet, and bumping up its power output.

A helium-filled shell with a wind turbine in the middle, the Buoyant Air Turbine from Altaeros has already been tested to 500 feet off the ground in 45 mph winds. Now it's set to break the world record for the highest wind turbine in history.

Last week, Don Wales, grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell, opened a new multimedia exhibit celebrating the golden age of British land speed record breaking entitled “Britain & For The Hell Of It” at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire.

The mantle of world's fastest production car looks to have been broken this month with Hennessey Performance announcing that its Venom GT hit 270.49 mph (435.31 km/h) at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Back in 1965, Lee Breedlove set the women's land speed record on Utah’s Salt Lake Flats with a speed of 308.51 mph (496.49 km/h). That record stood for 48 years until this month, when Jessi Combs took her 52,000 hp Supersonic Speed Challenger to a speed of 392.954 mph (632.39 km/h).

French manufacturer Venturi Automobiles is aiming to set a new land speed record for electric vehicles with what's billed as the most powerful electric car ever made – the Venturi VBB-3.

All of the two-wheeled machines that have held the motorcycle land speed record over the past few decades have one thing in common – they don't look like motorcycles. The latest speed machine to step up to the plate is no exception: the 1000-hp Castrol Rocket.

To promote its new record label, Beck's Brewery inscribed a simple beer bottle with music, which can be played like a 19th century phonograph cylinder.

Drayson Racing is taking its B12 69/EV to the races, chasing an electric land speed record.