Automotive metal fabricator and TV personality Jessi Combs has set a new land speed record for women. She achieved an incredible “two-way” average speed of 344 miles per hour. This smashed the old record of 308 miles per hour.
The 308 MPH record was set way back in 1965 by Lee Breedlove who was the wife of former land speed record holder Craig Breedlove. Combs broke that 48-year-old record by 36 MPH in a jet-powered North American Eagle Supersonic Speed Challenger.
Combs achieved 318.2057 MPH within a mile on her first run on a dry lake bed at Alvord Desert in Oregon. She used the vehicle’s afterburner just once in that first pass, nearly doubling the jet engine’s thrust.
On her second run, Combs went into full afterburner and hit a record speed of 369.7983 MPH which they combined with the first run for a “two-way” average speed of 344.002. Later on that same day, she gave it one more go and hit 440.709 MPH for an average of 392.954 MPH.
That last run, however, didn’t count toward the record due to the rules about how speeds must be recorded. They state that a driver must complete two runs on a measured course, once in each direction, with the speeds being averaged together by officials. The second run has to be within 60 minutes of the first run in order to count.
Combs completed her record-setting run in what is actually a 50,000 horsepower F-104 Lockheed Starfighter jet. The vehicle was converted by a team of volunteer engineers and former military personnel from the United States and Canada.
Even though the vehicle has helped Combs achieve a women’s land speed record, its job is far from complete. North American Eagle team owner Ed Shadle plans to run it again next year to try and break the existing world land speed record of 763 mile per hour.
Check out our video of a fast car that you can actually drive, the 2013 Porsche Panamera GTS.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
