(car engines rev)
- I like going fast.
(car engines rev)
And you probably do too.
(car engines rev)
Today on Wheel House we're asking, how fast will cars get?
Humans have always had a taste for speed,
well before cars were a glint in anyone's eye.
The nineteenth century saw the rise
of the industrial revolution and railways,
and in 1829, George Stevenson's rocket locomotive
reached an unheard of 30 miles per hour.
But by the end of the century,
trains were able to reach speeds of 120 miles an hour.
That's insane.
From 1894 to 1914, speeds achieved by the automobile
rose exponentially, as did the complexity of their design.
Engine layouts went from one cylinder to 12,
from brakes on just the rear wheels to brakes all around,
from steam engines to carbureted,
four cylinder internal combustion engines.
The Benz Patent-Motorwagen, built around 1885,
was the first car of its kind
to reach a wind-whipping speed of
(drum roll)
Wait for it!
10 miles per hour.
- That's fast. - Mm-hm.
- Within a decade, the steam powered Stanley Roundabout,
more commonly known as the Stanley Steemer,
was lightning fast by comparison at 35 miles an hour.
As the car evolved and as speed became a priority,
what wasn't yet clear was the difference
between race cars and road cars.
Race tracks weren't really a thing yet
so speed records, at least early on,
had to be done on public roads.
By the 1920s cars were hitting speeds
of over 100 miles per hour.
The Duesenberg Model J, manufactured in Indiana,
hit 119 miles per hour
and was followed by the company's souped-up SJ model,
which was said to do over 140 miles per hour,
helping to coin the term,
it's a doozy.
The first man to make a serious attempt
at the 200 mile an hour barrier
was a dude named Sir Henry O'Neil de Hane Segrave in 1927.
He would pilot a custom built land speed racer
called the Sunbeam 1000 Horsepower Mystery Slug
and that's what it was called.
That's actually what it was called.
The blood-red racer had two air-trap engines on board,
one in front of Henry and one behind.
When Segrave and the Sunbeam team
took the car to Daytona Beach to go for the record,
so many people showed up to watch
that Henry had to abort a few test runs
because spectators were standing
on the nine mile long course, just in the way.
After police showed up to block people
from being in the car's way,
Henry set off pushing the car
to a blistering 200.669 miles an hour.
After the run, Henry pressed on the brakes to slow down
but to his surprise the intense speed
quickly burned his brakes out.
So he had no choice
but to drive into the ocean to slow down.
I'm not lying about that.
After pulling the car out and making some repairs,
Henry turned around and went for another run,
this time averaging 203 miles per hour.
(car engine revs)
Just seven years later in 1935
Sir Malcolm Campbell was the first man
to break the 300 mile an hour mark
in his Bluebird Streamliner.
The sands of Daytona weren't practical
for such high speeds so Campbell had to go all the way
to the wide open Bonneville salt flats of Utah
to set his record,
a place that would soon become
the mecca of land-speed racing.
After World War II, hot rod culture was bustling
with enthusiasts meeting in the deserts of Nevada
and Bonneville with the hope of breaking world speed records
in their own customized rides.
They would drive anything from road-going roadsters
to completely handmade streamliners fashioned out of
fighter plane fuel tanks.
While men like John Cobb and Craig Breedlove
were smashing the 400, 500
and even 600 mile an hour records,
things were going a little slower
back in the production car world.
In 1949, the fastest car in the world
was the Jaquar XK120 with a top speed
of 120 miles an hour.
While your buddy's Hyundai might be faster today,
120 in a car meant for the road
back then was very impressive.
The 1950s brought the Aston Martin DB4 GT
which hit speeds of 153 miles an hour.
With all that elegance and no one
to possibly catch up in a high speed chase,
it's no wonder the Aston Martin became the car of Bond.
(sings James Bond theme song)
(makes gun shot sound)
In the 1960s and 70s Ferrari was at the top spot
in the fast class with its Ferrari 365 GTB4 Daytona,
which reached speeds of 174 miles an hour.
Followed by the Berlinetta Boxer
which was said to be able to reach speeds of 188.
It wasn't but Ferrari still eked out its top spot
as the fastest car in the 1970s.
With the Berlinetta Boxer a bit of a let down,
and the Porsche 959 taking the place
as the world's fastest car,
Ferrari felt the heat and once again,
(phone rings)
answered the call.
In the 1980s, the Ferrari F40 was the first production car
to make it past 200 miles an hour,
and became the super car of the decade.
Probably the first super car, actually.
Once that barrier was broken, the gloves were off.
The McClaren F1 reached a speed of 240 in 1998.
The carbon fiber production car made 627 horsepower
from its BMW V12 engine,
making it the fastest car of its era.
(car engine revs)
The Shelby SSC Aero followed
and came roaring into the 21st century
at 268 miles an hour,
followed by the Hennessy Venom GT
which holds the top spot at 301 miles an hour.
Mmm, sort of.
The Hennessy has claimed to go from zero to 249
and back to zero in less than 30 seconds.
But Hennessy has yet to confirm the speed
with the Guinness Book of World Records,
so the real top spot goes to,
drum roll please,
(imitates drum sound)
the Koenigsegg Agera RS at 278 miles per hour.
To make things official,
Koenigsegg asked the Nevada Department of Transportation
to close an 11 mile stretch of Route 160
where the 1,160 horsepower Agera RS
hit 284.55 miles per hour during its first run
and 271.19 during its second
for an average of 277.9 miles per hour.
Very impressive stuff,
but Koenigsegg wants more,
looking square the big three oh oh.
So what's holding streetcars back
from 300 miles an hour?
While cars like the Bugatti,
Veyron and Chiron,
Chiron, Chirone?
We went on this cruise one time
and we met this chick from ASU,
her name was Michon.
Hennessy Venom and the Koenigsegg
make monster horsepower numbers.
That isn't enough to break 300.
There are two very big obstacles
we need to overcome before we get there.
The first being air.
At low speeds, we don't think about this much.
It's easy to cut through.
But as you go past 200, it gets exponentially harder
to go faster and faster,
requiring more and more power
to make gains of even 20 miles an hour.
The SSC Ultimate Aero made 985 horses and reached 256.
13 years later, the Agera RS made 175 more horses
but only went 22 miles an hour faster at 276.
Building engines capable of that sort of power
takes a lot of know-how,
especially if you wanna put it in a streetcar.
But let's pretend we didn't have to worry about reliability
and that we built an engine capable of 2,000 horses.
(car engine accelerates)
And we have a super aerodynamic,
street-legal and safe super car to put it in.
Well, there's still something holding us back, our tires.
The faster you go, the more friction and heat
your tires have to deal with.
And when your wheels are turning
hundreds of times per second,
that's a lot of forces pulling on the tires.
If you don't have good rubber under you,
that's dicey.
Both the Chiron and the Agera RS
use Michelin Pilot Sport Twos,
which Michelin says can be pushed to 300,
as long as it doesn't take too long to get there.
If it takes more than a few minutes
to go from 270 to 300, then there's gonna be
way too much heat in the tire and it could be compromised.
(loud tire noise and explosion)
There's a pretty good chance that we'll see
a street-legal car break 300 miles an hour in our lifetime.
The question is, who's gonna do it?
I don't know, they could be watching us right now.
(mysterious music)
(rhythmic rock beat)
Hey, we make awesome stuff like this
pretty much every day so make sure you don't miss it
by hitting this guy right here.
Oh, and hit that notification bell, too.
Or if you wanna know more about tires,
check out this episode of Science Garage.
Be nice to each other, see ya later.
Say bye, Dor. Bye, Doris. Bye bye.