Streamliner

​​For over a century the Bonneville Salt Flats has drawn motoring enthusiasts to its vast open plains for its annual Speed Week, and for more than half a century one father-son duo has eyed a history-making run at the event. That dream has now been realized with a new land speed record being set.

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.

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.

It takes a certain kind of person to take on Land Speed Record (LSR) racing. When you’re doing 300 mph, or more, things can go real wrong, real fast. Now imagine doing that on a motorcycle. Now imagine going over 400 mph and you can see just how daunting, if not downright crazy, the task is.

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.

Team Steam USA's campaign to break the land speed record for steam-powered vehicles has received a shot in the arm, having been granted the use of construction molds from the Speed Demon streamliner.

The Electric Blue streamliner electric car built by BYU students has set a world land speed record in the "E1" class of 155.8 mph.

Francesco Russo of Switzerland, riding a custom-built streamliner, has beaten the world record in one-hour cycling by covering a distance of 91.556 kilometers.

An American team is hoping to break the land speed record for steam-powered vehicles, using a stock automotive steam engine.

The BUB 7 Streamliner is now the fastest motorcycle on earth (pending FIM verification) after Chris Carr set a new FIM world record and AMA national record at 367.382mph through the mile, with an exit speed of 372.534mph.