fastest things known to man

In 1988 American Florenc Griffith-Joyner ran the 100m dash in 10.49 seconds, a record that is yet to be broken. Granted, there has been some controversy over the measurement, but the Association of Track and Field Statisticians has let the record stand.

In December 2003 a the Japanese JR-Maglev reached 361mph (581km/h) on a magnetic levitation track with three cars. This is widely held to the be the fastest speed recorded for a railed vehicle not counting military rocket sleds that are used to test missiles.

The North American X-15 was a part of the X-series of aircraft produced for the US Air Force in the 1950s. It currently holds the record for fastest speed achieved by a manned, rocketpowered aircraft at 4,519 mph (7,273 km/h). Not only did they go fast though, they also went high. So high in fact that several of the pilots were later awarded astranaut wings by NASA.

Because the fastest submerged objects (excluding missiles) in the world are all top secret military vessels it is hard to get reliable data on this subject. The fastest speed being claimed by any government out there however, was achieved by the Soviet K-162 in 1969. It allegedly reached speeds of up to 44.7 knots on trials which is already about 15 knots above any verified record.

For almost a quarter of a century the top speed for a helicopter was 249mph (216 knots) set by a modified Westland Lynx in 1986. In July 2010 however, the Sikorsky X2 broke the barrier with a speed of 258mph over West Palm Beach, FL. By comparison, an Apache attack helicopter tops out at around 175 mph.

The World Unlimited Water Speed Record is the officially recognized fastest speed achieved by a water-borne vehicle. It is currently held by the Spirit of Australia that topped out at 318 mph (511 km/h) on Blowering Dam in 1978.

Although EuroNCAP usually crashes vehicles at a measly 40mph to assign production ratings, they decided to do something worthwhile last year when they crashed the Ford Focus, one of their safest vehicles, into a wall at 120mph. Their conclusion? Dont crash your Ford Focus into a wall at 120mph.

Not counting the fact that this record is soon to be broken by Mitsubishi in the Shanghai Tower, the current record is held by the Taipei Tower elevators in Taiwan that shuttle people up and down at a speed of about 60km/h. No time for small talk in that town.

In Badminton the shuttlecock (birdie) can easily travel at speeds of over 200 mph which is pretty good for a piece of cork impaled on a bunch of goose feathers.

This one is sure to be controversial. Although the world famous Takeru Tsunami Kobayashi still holds the record for most hot dogs consumed in 10 minutes with 69, Joey Jaws Chestnut is now officially recognized by the International Federation of Competitive Eating as the World Champion. In 2007 he broke a world record when he inhaled 66 hotdogs (along with their buns) in 12 minutes, successfully warding off the Tsunami.