The Fastest Car in the World

9. The Fastest Car in the World

ThrustSSC · Nevada, USA · 1997

ThrustSSC's top speed1,227.98 km/ha typical highway speed limit120 km/h≈ 10× a typical highway speed limit
The ThrustSSC traveled over ten times faster than cars cruising on a normal highway.

How do you build the fastest car ever? You take two massive jet engines from a fighter plane and strap them to a custom frame! Driven by Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green, the ThrustSSC looked more like a wingless rocket than a regular automobile.

When Andy fired up the engines in the Nevada desert, the vehicle accelerated so fiercely it actually broke the sound barrier. It created a massive, booming shockwave that echoed across the dry lakebed as it averaged a mind-blowing 1,227.985 km/h.

Many supercar companies brag about their vehicles reaching incredible speeds, but those are just regular production cars. The ThrustSSC is a custom-built prototype and remains the absolute only car to ever officially blast past the speed of sound on land!

How Is That Even Possible?

Instead of a normal car engine that turns the wheels, the ThrustSSC used twin jet engines from an actual military fighter plane. It didn't drive so much as blast forward on pure thrust, overcoming immense aerodynamic drag to slice through the air and shatter the sound barrier.

Wow-o-Meter
No. 9
A cheering crowd stands on a cracked desert floor, tossing confetti and hats into the air as a massive, black, wingless jet-car rests triumphantly in the center of the scene. The hero, a proud pilot in a bulky racing suit, stands on top of the vehicle with both arms raised in victory. Plumes of dramatic white smoke still billow from the two colossal rear engine exhausts. Smiling officials in neat blazers stand nearby holding stopwatches and clipboards, clapping enthusiastically as the desert dust settles around the spectacular machine.

The Fastest Car in the World — ThrustSSC