Spirit of America

The Spirit of America is officially the World's fastest 3-wheeler. Although Craig Breadlove went on to 675mph in a 4-wheeled Spirit of America it was on October 15th 1964 that the jet powered 3-wheeled Sprit of America reached a speed of 526.27mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats (USA) breaking the Land Speed Record. After setting the record it was broken in October 1964 by Tom Green and further extended by Art Arfons . Breedlove returned to Bonneville with Spirit and pushed the record over 500 mph (800 km/h), setting it at 526.277 mph (846.961 km/h) on October 15, a record that stood for almost two weeks. In setting the new record, at the end of his second run, the Spirit lost its parachute brakes, skidded for five miles (8 km), through a row of telephone poles and crashed into a brine pond at around 200 mph (300 km/h). Breedlove was uninjured. This feat earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest skid marks . The Spirit was recovered and taken by the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as an exhibit. Craig Breedlove also built a Spirit of America dragster that was nicknamed the "Screaming Yellow Zonkers" car. In 1973 this car ( bottom two photos) was clocked at 377.754 MPH in a quarter mile from a standing start at The Bonneville Salt Flats. The elapsed time was 4.654  seconds. On a drag strip in the UK this car is listed in the top 20 cars at 280mph for the quarter mile though it could not use full power at a normal drag strip because there is no way to stop it soon enough. At the time the car was sponsored  by "English Leather Special" .