From helicopters and space ships to fish and subatomic particles these are the 25 fastest things in the world.
Fastest Train
The Japanese JR-Maglev has reached over 360mph (581km/h) on a magnetic levitation track
Fastest Roller Coaster
At a top speed of 150mph the recently constructed Formula Rossa can be found in Dubai
Fastest Elevator
Elevators in the Taipei Tower in Taiwan shuttle people up and down at a speed of 60km/h
Fastest Production Car
Topping out at 268mph the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is the fastest street-legal car in the world
Fastest Non Production Car
On October 15, 1997 the rocket powered car Thrust SSC broke the sound barrier in the Nevada desert.
Fastest Manned Plane
Not only did the US Air Force X-15 go fast (4,519 mph) it went so high that several of its pilots were later awarded astronaut wings by NASA.
Fastest Tornado
In terms of wind speed a tornado near Oklahoma City reached nearly 300mph.
Fastest Man
In 2009 Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt broke the world record for the 100 meter dash with a time of 9.58 seconds.
Fastest Woman
In 1988 American Florenc Griffith-Joyner ran the 100m dash in 10.49 seconds, a record that is yet to be broken.
Fastest Land Animal
Although Cheetahs can run fast (75 mph) they can accelerate even faster (0-60 in 3 seconds) than most production cars.
Fastest Fish
Sailfish have been clocked going nearly 70mph.
Fastest Bird
Also the fastest animal in the world bar none, the Peregrine Falcon, can exceed speeds of 200 mph (325km/h)
Fastest Computer
Although in all likelihood this record has already been broken by the time your read this, Milky Way-2 of China is at the time of this publishing the world’s fastest computer.
Fastest Submersible
It’s hard to get records on these sort of things because submarines data tends to be classified. The highest alleged speed however was reached by the Soviet K-162 in 1969. It’s speed was 44.7 knots.
Fastest Helicopter
In July 2010 the Sikorsky X2 broke the record with a speed of 258mph over West Palm Beach, FL.
Fastest Boat
The World Unlimited Water Speed Record is the officially recognized fastest speed achieved by any water-borne vehicle in the world. Currently it belongs to the Spirit of Australia that topped out at 318 mph.
Fastest Racket Sport
In Badminton the shuttlecock (birdie) can easily travel at speeds of over 200 mph.
Fastest Land Vehicle
Military rocket sleds have been recorded at over mach 8.
Fastest Spacecraft
In space speed can only be measured relative to some other object. The fastest satellite moving away from the sun, however, is the Voyager 1 at 38,500 mph
Fastest Eater
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut is now officially recognized by the International Federation of Competitive Eating as the World Champion after consuming 66 hotdogs in 12 minutes.
Fastest Crash Test
EuroNCAP usually only does its crash tests at about 40mph to assign production ratings. In 2011, however, they decided to up that speed to 120 mph. Just for fun.
Fastest Guitar Player
John Taylor broke the previous world record when he played “flight of the bumblebee” at 600 beats per minute perfectly.
Fastest Rapper
No Clue obtained the title of “fastest rap MC” in the Guinness Book of World Records when he did 723 syllables in 51.27 seconds. That’s about 14.1 syllables per second.
Fastest Speed
Technically the fastest possible speed in the universe is the speed of light. But there are some footnotes to that statement which brings us to #1…
Fastest Particle
Although it’s controversial, scientists at CERN recently conducted experiments where muon neutrinos covered the distance between Geneva, Switzerland and Gran Sasso, Italy several nanoseconds faster than light. At the moment, however, the photon is still the considered king.
