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Super-fast hydrogen car smashes a speed record

It's the fastest time ever recorded in a hydrogen-powered car, reaching 406mph (654km/h).

RelxNews Staff12 August 2026 at 21:39 UTC1 min read
Super-fast hydrogen car smashes a speed record

Bonneville is a famous place for speed records because it is wide, flat and empty.

The ground is made of dried salt, creating a huge natural racetrack. Drivers need lots of space to speed up, race in a straight line and then slow down safely, so the salt flats are the perfect place.

Green is already one of the fastest drivers in history. Almost 30 years ago in 1997, he drove a jet-powered car called ThrustSSC at 763mph, or 1,228km/h.

That made him the first, and still the only, person to break the sound barrier on land.

The sound barrier is the speed sound travels through air. When something goes faster than sound, it can create a huge boom.

The hydrogen car was still a few hundred miles per hour off breaking the sound barrier, but Green said: "This record is a huge achievement by a world class team and superb technology."

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