Facts About the Fastest Car in the World: The Thrust SSC
The Thrust SSC holds the record for fastest car in the world after reaching a speed of 763 mph.
Written by Alexandra Maloney
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Have you heard of the
fastest car
in the world? The coveted title goes to the Thrust SSC, a vehicle not fit for the roads because of its astonishing ground speed of 763 mph. Although the record was set in 1997 and there have been numerous attempts to break it, no other car has been able to take the title from the Thrust SSC.
Jerry
, thetrustworthy insurance comparison app
, looks at some car history
to learn a bit more about this record-breaking car.The fastest car in the world is powered by two jet engines
You’re probably wondering how it’s possible for a car to reach a speed of 763 mph, and the answer is two jet engines.
According to
Motorious
, the Thrust SSC is fueled by two Rolls-Royce Spey 202 jet engines, which give the vehicle an airplane-like look, and produce over 50,000 lbs of thrust punch. These two engines launched the vehicle forward at astonishing speeds, allowing it to hit 763 mph for the stretch of one mile.A highly skilled driver operated the vehicle
Understandably, not just anyone can hop in the fastest car in the world and start going 763 mph. Instead, it took a
highly-skilled, specially trained driver
to operate the vehicle. When something is moving that fast, steering it in a straight path can become incredibly difficult and is a task only few people can handle. The Thrust SSC was driven by Royal Air Force Wing Commander Andy Green, who is credited with bringing the car to its top speed, and safely slowing it down, too. During the drive, Green had to monitor different systems to ensure everything was working the way it was supposed to, while accelerating at a speed of 25 miles per second.
It’s the only vehicle to break the sound barrier
The Thrust SSC went so fast, it was even faster than the speed of sound. When the car made its run on Oct. 15, 1997, it became the first vehicle to break the sound barrier, and remains the only one to do that to this day.
According to
HotCars
, the exact speed of sound depends on various factors like temperature, wind, and more, but at 20 degrees Celsius, it’s about 761 mph. The Thrust SSC went just over that incredibly high number. The Thrust SSC produced a sonic boom
Not only did the Thrust SSC break the sound barrier, but it also produced a sonic boom that was heard and felt in the surrounding area.
Driver Andy Green stated it sounded like the loudest and highest-pitched scream he’d ever heard, and in a nearby Nevada town about 10 miles away, sprinkler covers were knocked off by the vibrations of the sonic boom.
You can see the fastest car in the world today
After the Thrust SSC’s one record-breaking run in 1997 at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, the car was officially put into retirement. Although there have been attempts to break the record in the 25 years since, there have been no successful attempts, which makes the Thrust SSC a pretty cool sight to see.
Today, the fastest car in the world is on display at the Coventry Transport Museum in Coventry, England, where the public can view the iconic car in an exhibit.
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