A Timeline of Land Speed Records

Automobiles came along in the late 19th century, and before the 20th century rolled in were already up to more than 65 miles per hour! Of course, these were never our everyday cars, but race cars designed and built by those with a need for speed. Therefore, they looked pretty weird. Believe it or not, race cars broke the 100 mph bar in 1904. Eventually, they put jet engines and rockets in cars and got them up to ridiculous speeds, while the rest of us were driving at 75 mph or less, and we had to build a nationwide highway system just to do that. These cars were never meant to be mass-produced, because they would never be safe for getting to a destination.

Don't let the length of this video keep you from watching. They go through all the record-breaking cars in four minutes, then show them again from the perspective of someone standing still on the roadside. Then the last four cars are shown again from an overhead drone view, twice. Somehow, I'm still most impressed with the earliest cars. (via Born in Space)