If you dig deep enough, you'll find a world land speed record in some obscure category that has stood for so long that technology has overtaken it, putting the benchmark within the reach of road-going (sort of) vehicles.
When American publication Diesel Power found out that the world land speed record for a vehicle towing a trailer had stood for years at 222.576km/h they reckoned they could better that with a big diesel bakkie and some over-the-counter go-fast goodies.
V-RATED RUBBER
So they put a two-stage nitrous conversion on a GMC 2500HD, which boosted it up to more than 750kW, hitched it up to a lightweightcaravan and fitted both vehicles with alloy rims and high-performance V-rated sports tyres.
Then they hauled the rig down to El Mirage dry lake and took it through an FIA-certified speed trap at - wait for it! - 227.197km/h, bettering the old mark by just more than the required one percent and claiming their very own world land speed record.
Now I wonder what IOL Motoring could get out of a BMW 530d with an M Performance kit and a Ventertjie at Hakskeenpan?
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