World's Fastest Stuff
Guinness World Records certifies that the fastest production car is the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, which achieved a speed of 267.86 mph near Wolfsburg, Germany, in June 2010. Beverly Hills Rent-A-Car, (800) 479-5996, has one blue-and-white Veyron in its fleet that rents for the purchase price of a new MINI Cooper: $25,000 a day. Learn where you can rent other fast cars, such as Aston Martins, Ferraris and Maseratis.
Formula Rossa at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, holds the record for fastest steel roller coaster. This ride screams along at 149 mph and can accelerate from zero to its top speed in four seconds. Ferrari World is a Ferrari-themed park, and roller coaster cars are designed to resemble the Ferrari Formula One car.
Sunswift, the University of New South Wales' solar racing team, based in Sydney, set the land-speed record of 54 mph for a solar-powered vehicle with its Sunswift IVy on Jan. 7, 2011. “Unfortunately, the solar car is not currently available for public viewing, as we are actively working on developing it further,” said Daniel Friedman, project manager for Sunswift. “We regularly display the solar car at public events, and we direct people to our website, www.sunswift.com, for details on where we will be displaying it.”
Austrian Federal Railways owns the fastest electric locomotive, the multisystem electric 1216 050 (type ES 64 U4), according to this entry in Guinness World Records. The locomotive, driven by Alex Dworaczek from Munich, Germany, reached 221.82 mph on the high-speed line Ingolstadt-Nuremberg, in Germany, on Sept. 2, 2006. Want to catch a fast train? You can travel from Madrid to Barcelona, Spain, at 220 mph
In August 2010, test pilots flew a Gulfstream G650 passenger jet at a record flight speed of Mach 0.995 in a 16- to 18-degree dive in Savannah, Ga., and this, together with its maximum cruising speed of Mach 0.925, makes the Gulfstream G650 the fastest civil business aircraft currently flying. By comparison, the Boeing Business Jet, the Airbus A320 jet and the Embraer Lineage 1000 can reach only Mach 0.82. Want to catch this fast plane? You’ll have to wait. “The G650 is currently in flight test, will be certified by year's end and is scheduled to enter service in 2012,” said Heidi A. Fedak of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
The official world water-speed record is 275.97 knots — or 317.58 mph — by Ken Warby in the unlimited-class jet-powered hydroplane Spirit of Australia on Blowering Dam Lake in Australia on Oct. 8, 1978. The Spirit of Australia is displayed permanently at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney.
In May 1969, Tom Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan traveled around the moon in Charlie Brown, the Apollo 10 command module, as a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 landing, which followed in July. The command module holds the record as the fastest manned vehicle on record. It traveled at 24,790 mph during its return from the moon on May 26, 1969. It’s now on display in the Making the Modern World gallery at the Science Museum in London.
Cheetahs
Feel the need for speed? Bing Travel scoured the globe to find the fastest planes, trains, automobiles, park rides and even critters. Discover how to enjoy these speed demons, all guaranteed to get your adrenalin pumping.
The cheetah, the fastest land animal on Earth, can sprint at 70 to 75 mph for up to 1,600 feet and can accelerate from zero to 62 mph in three seconds. Unfortunately, the cheetah is also fast disappearing from the Earth. Fewer than 10,000 adults are estimated to be left in the wild today, according to Panthera, a wild-cat conservation organization. Travelers can still catch a glimpse of wild cheetahs in Namibia, Niger, Botswana, Iran, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya.
Feel the need for speed? Bing Travel scoured the globe to find the fastest planes, trains, automobiles, park rides and even critters. Discover how to enjoy these speed demons, all guaranteed to get your adrenalin pumping.
The cheetah, the fastest land animal on Earth, can sprint at 70 to 75 mph for up to 1,600 feet and can accelerate from zero to 62 mph in three seconds. Unfortunately, the cheetah is also fast disappearing from the Earth. Fewer than 10,000 adults are estimated to be left in the wild today, according to Panthera, a wild-cat conservation organization. Travelers can still catch a glimpse of wild cheetahs in Namibia, Niger, Botswana, Iran, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya.
In a report published by researchers working in the sub-Antarctic, the mean estimated groundspeed recorded for a satellite-tagged gray-headed albatross is 78.9 mph, sustained for more than eight hours while returning to its nest at Bird Island, South Georgia, in the middle of an Antarctic storm. These birds nest in colonies on islands in the Southern Ocean and have large colonies on South Georgia in the South Atlantic. Lindblad Expeditions offers cruises to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, with several days spent on South Georgia, the gray-headed albatross’s favorite turf.
Need to practice your "elevator speech"Consider the lift inside Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. This breathtaking landmark towers more than 160 stories over the Dubai skyline. Inside, the world’s fastest elevator ascends at 39 mph. In a comment on our blog, a Bing Travel reader, Melissa Zeruth, noted the elevator travels 124 floors in one minute “on a smooth elevator ride with soothing music and disco-like lights.
Tony Benshoof, representing the United States, reached a speed of 86.6 mph on the Olympic track at Park City, Utah, on Oct. 16, 2001. The speed, certified by Guinness World Records, was reached during training for the 2001 Luge World Cup Series. While you may not approach the record, you can still learn to maneuver a luge down the same ice track used for the 2002 Winter Olympics at Utah Olympic Park. Learn about the park’s luge sliding programs or even learn to ride a skeleton or bobsled.
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