The Bonneville Salt Flats are gearhead heaven. Whatever you're driving, you can push it to the limits on the seemingly endless expanse of dry lakebed. Surrounded by distant mountains, driving out there feels like being in an arena.

In 1965, with a shiny, gold streamliner they'd built in a shed — and four Hemi V8s — brothers Bill and Bob "Butch" Summers ended the longstanding British rule over the wheel-driven land-speed record. Bill Summers died last week at 75.

Remember the great land speed records waged between Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove that pushed speeds to 500+ mph and more? This is just like that. Only slower. And with lawn mowers.

When Bloodhound SSC makes its 42 second run for a 1000MPH land speed record, it'll use a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine and hybrid-rocket to deliver 47,500 pounds of thrust. Somehow, former fighter-pilot and driver Andy Green hopes to survive.

No? How about the drawing that Bill Mitchell filed for the '63 Corvette? One of Henry Seagrave's land-speed record cars? Maybe you'd prefer a Weddell car-boat thing? We're ordering prints now. Why aren't you? [Vintagraph]

It isn't often that an engine makes the front page of Wikipedia, but not many engines score as high on the Ass-Kick-O-Meter™ as the Rolls-Royce R!

There are countless classes attempting records at Bonneville but Spectre Performance is attempting one of the most important: going over 400 MPH in a gas-powered, wheel-driven car. Audio of the engine and pictures below.

The British team attempting to break the long-standing steam-powered land speed record have beaten the 127 MPH mark, unofficially. They still need a visit from the FIA and another pair of runs to make it official.

Jesse James set a record speed of 199.712 in the hydrogen-powered Streamliner at the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed last week, besting the hydrogen record previously held by the BMW H2R, thus proving Americans lead in increasingly obsolete technology.

If you're one of those weirdo intellectual gearheads who reads books, we're not going to give you the swirly-and-stolen-lunch-money treatment you probably deserve. No, we're going to indulge your shameful habit!