ARZONE!
Inside the world’s fastest car
No car has ever gone as fast as ThrustSSC – here’s the story behind its record-breaking speed
Words by Mike Jennings
You might think you’ve driven quickly on the motorway, but that’s nothing compared to ThrustSSC. This Britishbuilt beast became the fastest car on the planet on 15 October 1997, and it drove so quickly that no car has been able to match it since.
ThrustSSC hit a top speed of 763.035 miles per hour and became the first land vehicle to break the sound barrier. Unbelievably, that was ThrustSSC’s second record-breaking run – the car had smashed the record nearly a month earlier when it hit a speed of 714.144 miles per hour.
It’s no surprise that this car made waves. Two Rolls-Royce engines were hauled out of RAF fighter jets to provide the grunt, and it had an eye-watering 102,000 brake horsepower – more than 670 times more than the average family hatchback. ThrustSSC hit 600 miles per hour in just 16 seconds before accelerating to its record-breaking top speed.