Porsche just sent the new 2025 911 GT3 Weissach Package (992.2 generation) with a manual transmission around the Nürburgring. It only took them 8 years to break the Viper ACR's lap time

the official lap time is 6:56.294

That’s 3.7 seconds faster than the previous PDK-equipped GT3, and 9.5 seconds faster than the former record-holder for manuals, making the new GT3 the fastest stick-shift production car ever around the ‘Ring.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/2025-porsche-911-gt3-is-now-the-fastest-manual-production-car-ever-around-the-nurburgring

45 years ago, Valerio Boni, Vespa tester was 20 years old, set an unofficial 24 distance record. Now, he took the same Vespa around the same track, and get an official Guinness World Record, 300 km farther

Certified by the Guinness World Records organization, the record distance now is 766.19 miles.

To make the event worth a few more lines is that not only is the scooter a 45-year-old Vespa 50cc, but that the same Vespa, with the same rider, in 1979 accomplished a similar feat, though not officially acknowledged, running a distance of 584 miles on the Pirelli test track.

Congratulations to 65-year-old Valerio Boni who, surprisingly, inscribed Piaggio Vespa on the Book of Guinness for the first time in the 78-year life of the most iconic scooter ever.

https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-news/vespa-50-special-sets-guinness-world-record/

As of February 2024, Doyle Archer was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest male truck driver at 90 years and 55 days old.

Doyle was recently awarded a “Million Mile Safe Driver” accolade after hauling goods safely for 1 million miles without any incidents at his company of the last 20 years, Coomes Inc. in Phillipsburg, Kansas. “Anything you can haul in a truck, I have hauled it,” the world’s oldest trucker said. “My favorite views I’ve been able to witness are the mountain views, scenic prairies, and the timbered forest of this great country.”

https://cdllife.com/2024/oldest-trucker-holds-guinness-world-record-at-90-years-old/

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2024/5/worlds-oldest-truck-driver-still-hitting-the-road-at-90-and-has-no-plans-to-reti-769664

A new milestone in drag racing has been reached: Mike Salinas is the first person in NHRA history to go 300 mph in the 1/8th mile.

Best I've ever done was 100, in 9 seconds, in the 1/8th

If you've drag raced, or been to an NHRA top fuel or funny car race, you know how mind blowing they shoot down the track. 

Since the NHRA cut the quarter mile race to 1,000 ft in 2008, racers have been developing cars reach the same top speeds in 1,000 ft that 2007-era cars reached in the quarter mile. 

So, we knew it would happen eventually, all records eventually fall as someone comes along with more determination, more money, more engineering, or better tech. 

Frickin remarkable power and traction. 

What makes Salinas unique in Top Fuel is that he owns and operates Scrappers Racing without a major full-time sponsorship. The name Scrappers comes from his career as an owner of a San Jose, California recycling business called Valley Services.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/nhra-drag-racer-broke-300-mph-in-the-1-8-mile-for-the-first-time-ever

applied sciences students from ETH Zurich and Lucerne University have broken the 0-60 acceleration world record for electric vehicles (it only weighs 310 pounds.... it's not really competing with the Rimac as a car)

the students didn't build a car, so, it's not exactly competing with the electric super cars that do everything, like ac, stereo, windshield wipers, airbags, seating for 4, etc... it's not street legal, can't drive on roads, doesn't have a driving ability that can accomplish range... it's simply a one trick pony. Zero to sixty, and it did that in 40 feet. 

but, they had a single focus, and broke the record others compete for really hard. 

The team did so with a scratch-built EV, designing everything from its chassis to its circuit boards, and bested the existing record—set last year by students in Stuttgart, Germany—by more than a third.

The students developed the 309-pound car by themselves, including the printed circuit boards, chassis, and battery. They used a lightweight carbon and aluminum honeycomb structure and used in-house developed four-wheel hub motors with an output of 326 horsepower, giving the mythen a power-to-weight ratio of over one horsepower per pound of weight.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/09/this-student-built-ev-just-set-a-new-world-record-for-0-62-mph/

https://insideevs.com/news/686371/eth-zurich-students-break-ev-acceleration-record/

Raced in E/Stock and set a national record with a 12.01 E.T. at 114.94 MPH during the division 1 points race at York US 30 Dragway, the first "stock" Camaro to break into the 11 second bracket. Coming to auction in 2024

 

In 1970, its final year of racing, the Sea Terror held the F/Stock record and was noted as the fastest 1968 Z/28 Camaro in the country 

Original drivetrain 302/290 HP V-8 engine with its original cowl plenum air cleaner

 Muncie M21 4-speed manual transmission

Original BX code 4.88 ratio rear end

https://www.mecum.com/lots/1098505/1968-chevrolet-camaro-z28/

Bob Herda's family donated a lot of photos to the American Hot Rod Foundation, and they are sharing some on Instagram, like this 1967 run streamliner with a 427 cammer that went 357 in the salt, setting a record

https://www.instagram.com/americanhotrodfoundation/

Ernst Henne bought a BMW R37, took it apart, thew most of the bits away. Then built one of the most successful record breaking motorcycles ever built. 76 world records with a bike built in a backyard shed on tires made 100 years ago

https://silodrome.com/ernst-henne-supercharged-bmw/

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222956896131086&set=a.1617402035143

Norman Dewis, who was a rear gunner in the RAF during WWII, piloted a modified 1952 XK120 with a small bubble windscreen to win the land speed record for a production car. It became the only Jaguar to hold a land speed record.

known as the ‘Jabbeke’ XK, famed for its 1953 land speed record of 173.159 mph, achieved on Belgium’s Jabbeke Motorway.

Norman Dewis & Jaguar XK 120

 To beat his mile run record, approved in May 1949 on the Jabbeke-Aeltre stretch of motorway at over 213 km/h, then beaten by Pegaso in September 1953 (243 km/h), William Lyons – the president of Jaguar – beats the recall of his troops from any urgency to line up immediately October 1953 a Jaguar XK 120 prepared with an engine pushed in its final stretch. 

Built is 1952, this XK120, registered MDU 524, began life as an original Jaguar Works Competition car and went on to compete in the challenging terrain of the Rallye International des Alpes as its first competitive outing.

Its optimized aerodynamics - narrow tires, removal of any frame, headlight profiling - is even spectacular with this famous bubble that has been debated. 

Indeed, these modifications seem to rather go against the will of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium, which since 1946 has been organizing speed transfers on a portion of the Brussels-Ostende motorway for cars classified da ns different categories of cylinders.

 Beyond this controversial bubble, the result is no less stunning for the time being: the Jaguar XK 120, driven by chief engineer Norman Dewis, becomes the world's fastest "series car" again with a flying mile of 173 mph !!!

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02AS2nosAXDkqyPQ5eoXy8zgnbm2krui3mkuRwLhf5VBVUMWH3dkxr38Q5HSnjt3oFl&id=501374326693699

https://www.autoweek.com/news/a2139256/longtime-jaguar-development-driver-norman-dewis-1920-2019-2139256/

https://www.supercars.net/blog/1952-jaguar-xk120-record-car/

https://concoursofelegance.co.uk/car-of-the-week-4/

https://petrolicious.com/articles/legendary-jaguar-test-driver-norman-dewis-passes-away-aged-98

Mowabusa, has claimed the Guinness record for the world's fastest lawnmower with a vehicle built at home by a retired air conditioner engineer

 

powered by the 1,300cc engine from a Suzuki Hayabusa superbike and also uses the front suspension from a car and a trike conversion kit in the rear, and it was clocked at an average speed of 143 mph to break the previous mark of 133 mph, at the Elvington Airfield in York, U.K.

it took 2 years of work, and about 30k British pounds

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16337511/guinness-world-record-fastest-lawnmower/

The first car to officially top 200 MPH on a closed course circuit

https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0521-462053/1969-dodge-hemi-daytona-race-car/

this is terrific, the world record flugtug distance (have I lost you already?) was set by Miss Mitchell II! (In the nearby Hangar #3 at Fleming Field in South St. Paul is the actual B 25 Miss Mitchell)

Rachel Norman's team "Major Trouble and the Dirty Dixies,"  set a new record with the "Miss Mitchell II," a man-made and woman-piloted flying machine broke the year 2000 previous world record of 195 feet.

 "Major Trouble and the Dirty Dixies," of Inver Grove Heights, came up with the idea to model their flying craft after Miss Mitchell. They came up with a very good representation of Miss Mitchell.

The B-25J "Miss Mitchell" served in the 310th Bomb Group, 57th Bomb Wing of the 12th Air Force in North Africa and Italy completing over 130 missions.  https://commemorativeairforce.org/aircraft/7

 A lot of engineering, time and testing were put into the craft, and it was worth it! The aircraft was pushed from the 30 ft high platform, released from its base and cleared the world record, flying 207 ft

skip the first 38 seconds on this next one, blogger won't allow me aymore to change the code to get videos to start on queue

now I have a new glider ambition, should I win the lotto. I have for the past 20 years wanted a Platz Glider, now I want a glider that looks like a WW2 bomber. 

Is this not the coolest looking glider you've ever seen? 

https://www.rivertowns.net/news/942111-woodbury-womans-world-record-flight-flugtag

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/03/19/flugtag-returns-to-st-paul

http://minnesotawingblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/flugtag.html

Steve Huff became the first four-wheel electric dragster racer to record a 200 mph pass in just 7.52 seconds, beating his childhood hero Don Garlits who had the record at 189mph

https://www.powernationtv.com/post/electric-dragster-silently-breaks-record-at-201-mph-quarter-mile

#71 K&K Daytona Bonneville

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/bobby-isaacs-legendary-71-dodge-daytona-returns-bonneville/

AMC marketing stunt in 1968 was pretty cool, but, then the cars were never used again. This one only has 19 miles on it, some of those were setting the record of 161 miles an hour on Bonneville

In 1968 American Motors sponsored a contest in which 3 1968 Javelins would run at Bonneville to compete for the C Production class record. Dubbed the Bonneville Speed Spectacular, it featured three stock Javelins specially prepared by Craig Breedlove, Edelbrock Engineering and head-porting expert Joe Mondello. Nine entrants, forming three three-man teams, were chosen who met the contest’s selection criteria, which included a small quiz to determine their automotive aptitude.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/bonneville-baja-former-car-craft-publisher-sal-fish-seen/
https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0512-126296/1968-amc-javelin/

Followup to the most cars ever sold in a year... bad news all the way around, total washout

So, to remind you what I'm referring to...

in the early 70s Joe Girard sold a lot of cars, became famous for that, and hit the motivation talk show circuit after 1977
What else is a used car salesman going to do when he gets older anyway? He's sure as hell not going to keep showing up to a car lot to sell more cars.

in 2017, a GM dealership claimed that their guy, Ali Reda, sold more than Girard.

Well, maybe. Just how many he sold, vs, how many he was credited with based on the number of cars sold that he talked the customers through from start to finish, is something else. Reda was a salesman team leader, and gets credit for all the sales he assists his salesmen with.

Anyway, here's the hammer that knocks the block out from under it all...

Guinness refuses to take the call. They claim nothing can be verified, and no matter than it can, they aren't going to take part in it anymore, and have "retired" the category now that there is someone who challenges the old record holder.

So, they say it's now a "Historic Category" and will not update it.

To add insult to this injury, Girard who at 89 has nothing else, sues Reda.... get this, for taking away his esteemed position as the record salesman, and his bookings. Yeah, not that being 89 was getting in the way of being paid to show up for speeches, for selling cars over 40 years ago and none since, but that he can now put someone in the defendants chair in court and sue him for loss of income.

Ain't that a kick in the teeth? No matter if Reda accomplished the sales numbers, Guinness won't get involved in doing THEIR JOB and calling the issue for this guy or that guy based on facts, so, really, what the hell are they good for if they aren't going to step up and be the referee on a record?

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/02/27/worlds-best-car-salesman-broke-44-year-old-record-and-someones-not-too-pleased.html
https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/08/23/best-car-salesman-joe-girard-goes-court-guinness-pulls-out/1058870002/
https://www.autoblog.com/2018/08/28/guinness-freezes-salesman-record-joe-girard-ali-reda/

a hybrid race Porsche just beat the lap record at the ring, setting the new record to 5:19:54. That's nearly 52 seconds faster than the previous record, top speed 230 mph, average speed 145 mph

well worth the 5 minutes to watch... the only way to get faster than this on the course might be complete focused effort to dominate the track by computers.... that analyze all factors and then utilize a car without a human in it, and using mathematically achieved best possible speeds, shortest distances through corners, least amount of braking, along with more aerodynamics in speed and braking ( computer controlled air dams used to increase airflow anytime the car isn't slowing, but fully closed air dams when slowing, like that new Ferrari system) then maybe something will be faster than this five-time overall winner of the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring.

https://www.919tribute.com/stories/919-tribute-tour-timo-bernhard-breaks-nordschleife-record

the founder and CEO of Weather Tech is overcharging the customers. How else does he get so rich he can spend 70 million dollars on this 1963 Ferrari that placed 4th at Le Mans?

setting the record for the most ever spent on a car.

His collection also includes a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta SWB, which just won best in class at the 2018 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, as well as a stable of other "prancing horses" including a 250 GT Lusso, 275 GTB, 365 GTB/4 "Daytona," F40, and F50.

This was a private sale, not an auction. The seller set the price, and I'd guess every other 1963 250 GTO Ferrari owner has just increased how much they are selling theirs for, by 10 million.

What makes this specific car worth 20 million more than any other?

It's never been wrecked for one thing. It's been raced a lot, but never crashed.

In its first two years it was raced by the famous Belgian teams Ecurie Francorchamps and Equipe National Belge – hence the yellow stripes on its silver bodywork.

This 250 GTO also finished fourth in the 1963 Le Mans 24-hours, driven by Pierre Dumay and Léon Dernier, and won the prestigious but tough ten-day Tour de France road race in the hands of Lucien Bianchi and Georges Berger in 1964. In 1964–’65 alone it competed in 14 events, including the Angolan Grand Prix in Africa.

It went on to be raced in Spain from 1966 to ’69 by owner/driver Eugenio Baturone.

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/ferrari-250-gto-1963-record-sale/index.html
https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht-w.html

Ford and Chevy ought to man up, just race each other, and be done with the pissing contest

A few years ago the Viper set a lap time record at VIR (Virginia Intl Raceway) with a 2:40:02. Fine, that's nice, they took a factory race car and dropped the record time. Expectedly, and this isn't a newsworthy item.

But last week, the new Ford GT was supposedly not out to set a record lap time, but clocked a 2:38:62 while "Ford nonchalantly claimed this was part of a validation lap to iron out a few developmental kinks, not a planned record-breaking run" paraphrased

So, yesterday, those goofy dorks at Chevy decided to have a measuring contest so long as no one was on the track ready to put up a fight for bragging rights, and shaved 00:01:37 off the Ford GT time, with a front engine pushrod dinosaur that costs 1/4 the expense of the Ford supercar.

Keep in mind, it's only that cheap because unlike Chevy, Ford hasn't been building GT40s since the 60s when they kicked ass at Le Mans. They stopped then, and to get into production with a Le Mans winner right out of the gate was a ridiculously expensive venture.

Supposedly, with a fully optioned factory bare bones Corvette that wasn't stripped for racing. Uh huh. Got video proof of the car the camera was on? No? Well, let me know when you're ready to be serious about who gets to claim fastest factory stock dealership available car around VIR.

Unlike the photo of the Demon lifting the front end off the ground with a NHRA validated 9:65 in the quarter mile that made Chevy and Ford fans lose their grip, so far all we have is Chevy's word it was a production Vette like any you can buy from a dealership.

Sure, I believe that. It's that Vette that you can find on the beachfront race track for sale in New Mexico, or the one that is for sale in New York City that comes with a bridge they'll throw into the deal for free.

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/2019-chevrolet-corvette-zr1-sets-lap-record-virginia-international-raceway/

In 1968, Chrysler shipped two brand new 1969 Charger 500s to Hot Rod magazine for drag strip tests where the B-5 hemi 4 speed knocked off a quarter mile in 13.48 seconds. Then it was stolen. It eventually was the car that cracked 200mph closed course

Later, it was found missing its Hemi, its interior and driveline. Chrysler could not repair and sell the B-5 car. They decided to turn it into an engineering test car. The shell was shipped as essentially a body in white to Nichels Engineering in Griffith, Indiana.

Nichels rebuilt the car to NASCAR standards, including raking the body nose-down. They installed the bars inside the engine compartment from the firewall to the radiator support to stiffen the front end. They put in a roll cage, a race Hemi and matching drivetrain, and numbered it DC 93.

Paul Goldsmith drove it at the 1969 Daytona 500, and along with Bobby Isaac and Charlie Glotzbach completed a 1-2-3 sweep in Charger 500s.

Chrysler decided to go to the next level and install the ultimate aero package – the nose cone and the wing, making it a Charger Daytona.

The test results convinced Chrysler higher ups to make the winged cars and sell them to the public so they could be raced in NASCAR. While Chrysler worked out the logistics of building the 500 cars necessary for the public, Chrysler racing made the wings and nose cones available to teams racing the Charger 500s. None of the teams would race actual Charger Daytonas; they would merely add the modifications to the 500s they were already running. The newly configured cars would make their first track appearance at Talladega in September 1969.

Technically, a Chrysler-owned car could not race in NASCAR. As he had at Daytona, Nichels entered the car at Talladega as if he owned it. The car was outfitted to look like a Nichels-owned racer and the number “88” was applied to it.



The first day of practice at the track led to the headline: “200 MPH Certain At Talladega Track.” P Isaac was driving the K and K Daytona and Glotzbach predicted he would be even faster on race day. He was slated to sit on the pole – and then the Professional Drivers Association walked out.

On March 24, 1970, DC-93 ran its “transmission test” where here it broke 200 MPH with Buddy Baker at the wheel. The speed was a NASCAR record and world record for a closed course. After the Talladega record runs, the car was sent to Chelsea where Chrysler continued using it for tests.

https://speedwaysightings.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/how-a-stolen-car-became-nascars-fastest-and-ended-up-in-a-field-decades-later/