Speed Records.

The Shanghai Maglev Train, connecting Shanghai Pudong Airport to the city center, operates at a top commercial speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) — the fastest train in regular scheduled passenger service anywhere in the world, covering 30 km in about 8 minutes since opening in 2004.

Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar bowled a delivery at 161.3 km/h (100.2 mph) to England's Nick Knight at the 2003 World Cup in Cape Town on February 22, 2003.

A mobile Doppler-on-Wheels radar unit estimated a wind speed of roughly 484 km/h (301 mph), some tens of meters above the ground, inside the Bridge Creek–Moore tornado near Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999 — the highest wind speed ever attributed to a tornado. Because the reading is a radar-based estimate rather than a direct anemometer measurement, and was taken above ground level, meteorologists treat it as the highest tornadic wind speed estimate rather than a directly recorded surface value.

ThrustSSC, a British jet-powered car driven by Andy Green, reached 763.035 mph (1,227.985 km/h) over a measured mile on October 15, 1997 at Black Rock Desert, Nevada — the first supersonic land speed record (Mach 1.016). It remains unbroken as of 2026; the successor Bloodhound LSR project never completed a record attempt.

Dutch driver Arie Luyendyk set a one-lap qualifying record of 237.498 mph (382.216 km/h) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 1996 — a track qualifying record that, as of the most recent editions covered by this registry's sources, still stands, since subsequent aerodynamic and engine rule changes have kept qualifying speeds lower.

American Bob Windt drove a hovercraft at 137.4 km/h (85.38 mph) at the World Hovercraft Championships on the Douro River at Peso da Régua, Portugal, on September 18, 1995, the world hovercraft speed record recognized by Guinness World Records.

MIT's Decavitator, a pedal-powered hydrofoil boat, reached 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h) over a 100 m course on October 27, 1991, with aeronautical engineer Mark Drela pedaling. It remains the human-powered speed record on water.

The Soviet Project 705 Lira (NATO reporting name 'Alfa') class attack submarines, powered by a lead-cooled fast reactor, were reportedly capable of submerged speeds of around 41 knots (76 km/h), with some trial reports citing even higher figures — widely regarded as the fastest submarines ever built, though exact top-speed figures remain only partly declassified.

On March 6, 1990, on its retirement flight, an SR-71 Blackbird flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., 3,701 km (2,299.7 miles), in 64 minutes 20 seconds, averaging 3,452 km/h (2,144.8 mph). The aircraft was then handed over to the Smithsonian Institution.

Lyle Shelton flew Rare Bear, a heavily modified Grumman F8F Bearcat, at 850.24 km/h (528.33 mph) over a 3 km course near Las Vegas, New Mexico, on August 21, 1989.

Bill Elliott lapped Talladega Superspeedway at 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h) in a Ford Thunderbird to win the pole for the Winston 500 on April 30, 1987. NASCAR introduced restrictor plates soon after, so the record has stood ever since.

Ken Warby, an Australian, reached 511.11 km/h (317.6 mph) in his home-built jet-powered hydroplane Spirit of Australia on Blowering Dam, Australia, on October 8, 1978 — the outright water speed record, unbroken for over four decades. Several competitors have died attempting to break it, making it one of the most dangerous standing records in any sport.

USAF crew Capt. Eldon Joersz and Maj. George Morgan flew a Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird at 3,529.56 km/h (2,193.2 mph) over a 15/25 km course near Beale Air Force Base, California, on July 28, 1976. It remains the FAI absolute speed record for jet aircraft.

A U.S. Air Force SR-71 Blackbird flown by James Sullivan and Noel Widdifield flew from New York to London in 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds on September 1, 1974, averaging 2,908 km/h (1,806.964 mph) over 5,571 km. More than 50 years later the record is still unbroken.

Gary Gabelich drove The Blue Flame, powered by a liquefied-natural-gas and hydrogen-peroxide rocket, to 1,001.667 km/h (622.407 mph) at Bonneville on October 23, 1970. It was the first car to average more than 1,000 km/h over a measured kilometre.

Apollo 10 astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Gene Cernan reached 39,897 km/h (24,791 mph) relative to Earth on May 26, 1969, during their high-speed return trajectory from the Moon — the fastest any humans have ever traveled. No later crewed mission, including the Moon-landing flights that followed it, has matched or exceeded it.

The Soviet Tupolev Tu-114 turboprop airliner set an FAI speed record of 871.38 km/h on a 1,000 km closed circuit on March 24, 1960, and has held the official title of fastest propeller-driven aircraft ever since. It was the largest, fastest and longest-range airliner of its day.

U.S. Air Force flight surgeon John Stapp rode a rocket-powered sled to a peak speed of 1,017 km/h (632 mph) at Holloman Air Force Base on December 10, 1954, then decelerated from that speed to a stop in about 1.4 seconds — earning him the nickname 'the fastest man on Earth' and generating data on human tolerance to extreme acceleration used in later aviation and automotive safety design.

SS United States crossed eastbound from New York to Bishop Rock on her July 1952 maiden voyage in 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes, averaging 35.59 knots (65.9 km/h). No conventional ocean liner has crossed faster since.

The LNER Class A4 steam locomotive 'Mallard' reached 126 mph (203 km/h) while descending Stoke Bank in Lincolnshire, England, on July 3, 1938 — the fastest speed ever recorded by a steam locomotive, a record that still stands today even though far faster non-steam trains now exist.

Francesco Agello flew the Italian Macchi M.C.72 racing seaplane at an average of 709.2 km/h (440.681 mph) over Lake Garda on October 23, 1934. It was the fastest any aircraft had flown at the time, and more than 90 years later it is still the speed record for a piston-engined seaplane.