List of vehicle speed records

The following is a list of speed records for various categories of vehicles. In any category, as with many world records, there may be some dispute over the criteria for a record-setting event, the authority of the organization certifying the record, the identity of the record holder, and the actual speed achieved.

Land vehicles

ThrustSSC, which has held the land speed record since 15 October 1997

Sunswift IV, the world's fastest solar-powered land vehicle, during its world record run

VeloX3, the former world's fastest human-powered vehicle, is prepared for a run during the 2013 World Human Powered Speed Challenge

Category	Speed [km/h (mph)]	Vehicle	Operator	Date	Certifying entity	References
Land speed record	1,228 (763)	ThrustSSC	Andy Green	15 Oct 1997	FIA	[1]
Wheel-driven	775.106 (481.629)	Vesco Turbinator	Don Vesco	18 Oct 2001	FIA	[2]
Motorcycle	605.697 (376.363)	Ack Attack	Rocky Robinson	25 Sep 2010	FIM	[3]
Diesel-powered	563.995 (350.450)	JCB DieselMax	Andy Green	23 Aug 2006	FIA	[2]
Electric-powered	495.140 (307.666)	Buckeye Bullet 2.5	Roger Schroer	24 Aug 2010	FIA	[2]
Steam-powered	225.06 (139.85)	Inspiration	Charles Burnett III	25 Aug 2009	FIA	[4]
Wind-powered	203.09 (126.19)	Ecotricity Greenbird	Richard Jenkins	26 Mar 2009	NALSA	[5][6]
Human-powered bicycle	139.45 (86.65)	Aerovelo Eta	Todd Reichert	19 Sep 2015	IHPVA	[7]
Paced bicycle	268.831 (167.044)	unnamed (custom made)	Fred Rompelberg	15 Oct 1995		[8]
Solar-powered	88.8 (55.2)	Sunswift IV "IVy"	Barton Mawer	7 Jan 2011	GWR^1	[9]
Radio-controlled car	325.12 (202.02)	RC Bullet	Nic Case	25 Oct 2014	GWR	[10][11]
Tracked vehicle	82.23 (51.10)	FV101 Scorpion		26 Mar 2002	GWR	[12]
On ice	331.61 (206.05)	Audi RS6	Janne Laitinen	6 Mar 2011	FIA
Lunar rover	17.0 (10.6)	Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV-003)	Eugene Cernan	31 Jul 1972	NASA

Notes

1.^ Guinness World Records

Rail vehicles

Lt. Col. John P. Stapp rides the rocket sled at Edwards Air Force Base

Category	Speed [km/h (mph)]	Vehicle	Operator	Date	Certifying entity	References
Rocket sled	10,326 (6,416)	Super Roadrunner	(unmanned)	29 Apr 2003
Maglev rocket sled	1,019 (633)	USAF rocket sled (unnamed)	(unmanned)	4 March 2016		[13]
Rocket sled (manned)	1,017 (632)	Sonic Wind No. 1	John Stapp	10 Dec 1954
Maglev train (manned)	603 (375)	SCMaglev L0 Series Shinkansen		21 Apr 2015	GWR	[14]
Wheeled train	574.8 (357.2)	TGV POS V150		3 Apr 2007		[15]
Steam train	202.6 (125.9)	LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard	Joseph Duddington and Thomas Bray	3 July 1938		[16][17]

Aircraft

North American X-15, the fastest manned rocket-powered aircraft

SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest manned air-breathing aircraft

Category	Speed [km/h (mph)]	Mach number^2	Vehicle	Pilot	Date	Certifying entity	References
Unmanned aerial vehicle	21,245 (13,201)	~20	HTV-2	(unmanned)	22 April 2010	(unofficial)	[18]
Manned rocket-powered aircraft	7,258 (4,510)	6.83	North American X-15	William J. Knight	3 Oct 1967	GWR	[19][20]
Manned air-breathing craft	3,530 (2,190)	3.33	Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird #61-7958	Eldon W. Joersz	28 Jul 1976	FAI	[21]
Propeller-driven aircraft	870 (540)	0.82	Tupolev Tu-114	Ivan Soukhomline	1960	FAI	[22][23]
Piston-engined propeller-driven aircraft	850.1 (528.2)	0.694	Grumman F8F Bearcat Rare Bear	Lyle Shelton	21 Aug 1989	NAA
Electric aircraft	250 (160)	0.20	Alpi Pioneer 300 SkySpark	Robin Shrestha	12 June 2009		[24][25]
Helicopter^3	401.0 (249.2)	0.327	Westland Lynx 800 G-LYNX	John Egginton	11 Aug 1986	FAI
Glider (sailplane)	306.8 (190.6)	0.250	Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4DM	Klaus Ohlmann and Matias Garcia Mazzaro	22 Dec 2006	FAI
Human-powered aircraft	44.32 (27.54)	0.036	Musculair 2	Holger Rochelt	2 Oct 1985	FAI	[26]

Notes

2.^ Mach number depends on air pressure, and thus altitude, as well as speed; it is not a direct measure of speed.

3.^ Unofficial helicopter speed records by the Sikorsky X2 (460 km/h on 15 September 2010) and the Eurocopter X3 (472 km/h on 7 June 2013) would surpass this record if accepted.

Watercraft

A model of the Spirit of Australia, which set the water speed record in 1978

Category	Speed [knots (km/h; mph)]	Vehicle	Operator	Date	Certifying entity	References
Water speed record	275.98 (511.11; 317.59)	Spirit of Australia	Ken Warby	8 Oct 1978	GWR	[27]
Propeller-driven water speed record	229.92 (425.81; 264.59)	Problem Child	Dale Ishimaru	21 Apr 2006
Wind-powered watercraft	65.45 (121.21; 75.32)	Vestas Sailrocket	Paul Larsen	24 Nov 2012	WSSRC
Human-powered watercraft	18.5 (34.3; 21.3)	Decavitator	Mark Drela	27 Oct 1991		[28]
Human-powered submarine	8.035 (14.881; 9.247)	Omer 5	Sebastien Brisebois and Joel Brunet	28 Jun 2007	International Submarine Races	[29]
Ground effect vehicle (GEV)^4	350 (650; 400)	Korabl Maket (Naval Prototype) "Caspian Sea Monster"		ca. 1966–1980	(unofficial)	[30]
Underwater speed record	There is no official speed record for underwater craft, due to the secretive nature of military vessels. In 1968, a Russian November class submarine reportedly tracked an American carrier group traveling at 31 knots (57 km/h or 36 mph). Unmanned torpedo speed claims range from 70 to 200 knots (80 mph to 230 mph).					[31]

Notes

4.^ A ground effect vehicle (a.k.a. "Wing-In-Ground effect vehicle") is classified as a maritime ship by the International Maritime Organization.^[32]

Spacecraft

Apollo 10 command module Charlie Brown, the fastest manned vehicle relative to the Earth

In order to unambiguously express the speed of a spacecraft, a frame of reference must be specified. Typically, this frame will be fixed to the celestial body with the largest gravitational influence on the spacecraft, often the Earth or the Sun.

Speed records relative to the Earth

Category	Speed [km/h (mph)]	Vehicle	Crew	Date	Certifying entity	References
Earth-escaping spacecraft	58,536 (36,373)	New Horizons probe	(unmanned)	19 Jan 2006	NASA
Earth-reentering spacecraft	46,440 (28,860)	Stardust probe	(unmanned)	15 Jan 2006	NASA
Manned spacecraft	39,896 (24,790)	Apollo 10 CSM Charlie Brown	Thomas Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene Cernan	26 May 1969	NASA

Speed records relative to the Sun

Category	Speed [km/h (mph)]	Vehicle	Crew	Date	Certifying entity	References
Speed relative to the Sun	252,792 (157,078)	Helios 2 probe	(unmanned)	17 Apr 1976	NASA	[33]

See also

• Orders of magnitude (speed)

References

1. "FIA Records List Cat. C" (PDF). Federation Internationale de L'automobile.
2. "FIA Records List Cat. A" (PDF). Federation Internationale de L'automobile. Retrieved 2011-01-04.
3. "New FIM World Record". Fédération Internationale De Motocyclisme. 10 April 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
4. "Fastest steam car (FIA approved)". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Limited. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
5. "Official measurement report for 2009 North American Land Sailing Association record".
6. http://www.nalsa.org/
7. "Overview of IHPVA speed records".
8. using a dragster with a large shield as pacer and pedaling after being "towed" to 100 mph; other speed records at bicycle
9. Solar-powered car smashes speed record, Retrieved 10 January 2011
10. http://www.rccaraction.com/blog/2014/10/29/world-record-nic-case-breaks-the-200mph-barrier/
11. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/fastest-battery-powered-remote-controlled-model-car-%28rc%29
12. "Fastest Tank". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Limited. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
13. Jenson, Randahl J. "633 mph -- nothing to mach". Holloman Air Force Base. United States Air Force. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
14. "Japan's maglev train breaks world speed record with 600km/h test run". The Guardian. United Kingdom: Guardian News and Media Limited. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
15. "2007 record attempt". BBC News Online. 3 April 2007. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
16. "Mallard 75: Celebrating Britain's Steam Record". National Railway Museum. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
17. "Men who served on Mallard prepare to be reunited with famous locomotive".
18. "Falcon HTV-2". Lockheed Martin. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
19. "Fastest Speed in a Non-Spacecraft Aircraft". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Limited. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
20. "American X-Vehicles: An Inventory X-1 to X-50" (PDF). NASA. June 2003. p. 23. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
21. Swopes, Bryan (28 July 2014). "This Day in Aviation: Important Dates in Aviation History". FAI World Record for Altitude in Horizontal Flight Archives. FAI. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
22. "Tupolev Tu-114 Rossiya". Aerospaceweb.org. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
23. "FAI official database". FAI. Archived from the original on 7 October 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
24. Grady, Mary (17 June 2009). "Italian Electric Airplane Reaches 155 MPH". AVweb. Aviation Publishing Group. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
25. "SkySpark Challenge". SkySpark. DigiSly. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
26. "Fai Record File:". FAI. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
27. "Water Speed Record (Fastest Boat)". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Limited. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
28. Wall, Matthew; Drela, Mark; Finberg, Steve. "Decavitator Human-Powered Hydrofoil". Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
29. "9th International Subraces Conclude with New World Speed Records". International Submarine Races. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
30. National Research Council; Reducing the Logistics Burden for the Army After Next Committee to Perform a Technology Assessment Focused on Logistics Support Requirements for Future Army Combat Systems; Page 68 (1999)

    "This large aircraft has flown at 650 km/h (350 knots) ..."

31. Tyler, Patrick (1986). Running Critical. New York: Harper&Row. pp. 23–26, 34–46.
32. Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment (DE) (November 2001). "Wing-in-Ground (WIG) craft". International Maritime Organization. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
33. "Aircraft Speed Records". Aerospaceweb.org. Retrieved 13 November 2014.