A century old record has been broken after Inspiration, a twin-finned car that looks like a prop from Thunderbirds, achieved an average speed of 139.84mph on two runs over a measured mile, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. That may not sound fast when a car has already broken the sound barrier, but this was a steam car, and the record for this type of machine was set in 1906, at an average of 127.7mph.

The British car, with British born driver Charles Burnet III at the wheel, reached a maximum of 151.085mph, a speed greater than the 145.6mph recorded in 1985 by Steamin’ Demon, a car designed by Jim Crank of California and driven by Richard Barber along the Bonneville Salt Flats. Unfortunately, a door flew open on “Steamin’ Demon”, a fire started and the car was unable to make the return run. The Federation Internationale d’Automobiles (FIA), who officially record any record runs, requires cars to run in both directions over a measured mile to cancel out advantages of tail winds in one direction.

“It was absolutely fantastic,” said Charles Burnett III. “The car really did handle beautifully. What we’ve achieved today is a true testament to British engineering, good teamwork and perseverance.”

A number of minor problems, and the intense heat at Edwards, have held the car back from the record for the last fortnight. But patience finally paid off.

Inspiration is a three tonne construction of carbon composite and aluminium bodywork, space-frame chassis and 300hp twin-stage steam turbines. Painted British Racing Green, the car sounds like a jet fighter and represents the hopes, invention and engineering skills of a team established 10 years ago in Lymington, Hampshire under the patronage of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

Design expertise has come from Students at the University of Southampton as well as from Welsh engineer Glynne Bowsher, who previously worked on Thrust SSC, the jet-powered car that broke sound barrier in October 1997, and, at 763mph, holds the world land speed record.

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12 metric tons of beef, a mile long grill and 1,250 grill masters later a Guinness world record is set!

Robbie Maddison achieves the impossible, jumping his motorcycle over 120 feet to the top of the Arc de Triomphe at the Paris Las Vegas and then jumped back down.

I’m not sure if she’s Annika Irmler, a German schoolgirl, having the biggest tongue (for female), according the Guinness World Records Book. Annika’s tongue is 7 centimetres (2.76 inches) long, but this is not the biggest! The absolute biggest tongue belongs to Stephen Taylor. His tongue is 9.5 centimetres (3.74 inches) long [source].
French kiss anyone?

An NHK camera crew has captured a flying fish traveling through the air for 45 seconds, in what could be a new world record.

The footage was taken on Monday, from a ferry near Kuchino-erabu island in Kagoshima prefecture, southwestern Japan.

The fish flew alongside a ferry that was traveling at roughly 30 kilometers per hour. The fish was able to continue flying by occasionally beating the surface of the water with its tail-fin when its flight height became low.

An expert says the flight time beats the previous record of 42 seconds reported by an American researcher in the 1920s. He says the flight of 45 seconds must be close to the fish’s biological limit, as brachial respiration is impossible while flying in air.