Fastest Elevator
The current world record holder for the fastest elevator is surprisingly slow, a measly 45.8 mph. The record holder is the Shanghai Tower in Tokyo, and it’s one of many super fast elevators in Asia. The west generally lags in comparison, with the fastest western elevator being at 1 World Trade Center in Manhattan at 23 mph.
Fastest Rapper
Speed rapping is becoming more and more common, and not surprisingly, the title of fastest rapper is something hotly debated. Currently, Rebel XD is certified world’s faster rapper with 852 syllables in 42.2 seconds, but Ricky Brown and Twista both deserve an honorable mention for their previous fastest rap titles.
Fastest Fish
The cheetah of the sea, sailfish have been clocked at speeds of up to 68 mph (110km/h). Although they are known for the gigantic “sail” spanning the length of their backs, they usually keep these folded down while speeding through the water.
Fastest Guitar Player
Long held by John Taylor before being overcome by Taylor Sterling, the world’s current fastest guitar player is a teenager named Nirvana Bista. Getting up to an impressive 1,600 beats per minute, Nirvana has blown away the previous records by a mile.
Fastest Submarine
Because the fastest submerged objects (excluding missiles) in the world are all top secret military vessels, it is hard to get reliable data on this subject. The fastest speed being claimed by any government out there, however, was achieved by the Soviet K-222 in 1971. It allegedly reached speeds of up to 44.85 knots (51.61 mph).
Fastest Land Animal
By far the fastest land animal, the cheetah can reach speeds of up to 75 mph (120.7 kph), but after about 500 meters (1,640 ft), it has to stop and take a breather. It’s acceleration, however, is where it really shines as it can get from 0 to 60 mph in roughly three seconds. That’s faster than most production cars.
Fastest Woman
In 1988, American Florence Griffith-Joyner ran the 100m dash in 10.49 seconds, a record that is yet to be broken. Coming close is Tori Bowie, who ran the 100m in 10.85 seconds in the 2017 Olympics.
Fastest Man
In 2009, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt broke the world record for the 100 meter dash with a time of 9.58 seconds. Born in 1986, he is the only sprinter in history to pull off a triple treble, winning Olympic gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and relay races three Olympics in a row.
Fastest Baseball Pitch
While we all know that fastballs are something every baseball pitcher should have, some of the fastest pitches will absolutely blow your mind! While the highest average pitch speed in a season belongs to Aroldis Chapman, who throws 100mph balls without breaking a sweat, the fastest pitch recorded is Nolan Ryan with a 108.1 mph pitch in 1974.
Fastest Crash Test
Although EuroNCAP usually crashes vehicles at a measly 40mph (64kph) to assign production ratings, Fifth Gear decided to do something worthwhile when they crashed the Ford Focus, one of the EuroNCAP’s safest vehicles, into a wall at 120mph (193kph). Their conclusion? Don’t crash your Ford Focus into a wall at 120mph.
Fastest Roller Coaster
At a top speed of 149mph (239.7 kph) the Formula Rossa is the world’s fastest roller coaster. It is located at Ferrari World in Abu Dubai, United Arab Emirates and reaches its top speed in less than 5 seconds using a hydraulic launch system.
Fastest Bird
The fastest member of the animal kingdom, the high flying Peregrine Falcon, can exceed speeds of 200 mph (325km/h) when diving to catch its prey. They are quite literally at the top of their food chain.
Fastest Computer
Although this one will probably be outdated by the time this page finishes loading on your screen, the fastest computer in the world at the time of this writing is America’s Summit supercomputing machine. It’s peak speed is 200 petaflops – meaning it can do in one second what would take 6.3 billion humans an entire year to compute.
Fastest Helicopter
Despite it being well known that pilots are some of the coolest people on Earth, helicopter pilots rarely get enough credit. The world’s current fastest helicopter, a hybrid Eurocopter X3, reaches an incredible 255 knots (293 mph/471.5 kph). Talk about a fast flight!
Fastest Production Car
At the time of this writing, the Hennessey Venom F5 is the current fastest production car at an astonishing 301mph. You can buy one for yourself, if you pass the company’s owner application, for the bargain price of $1.6 million. That price is a steal when compared to some of the most expensive cars in the world.
Fastest Tornado
Technically, when we say “fastest tornado,” we’re referring to the wind speed, not forward motion. With that said, the fastest wind speed on record was measured in an F5 tornado near Oklahoma City in 1999. The speeds reached over 300 mph (484 km/h). On the Fujita scale, this means it was barely scraping an F6 and no tornado has ever been classified as an F6.
Fastest Train
The Japanese SCMaglev train is currently considered the fastest train, hitting 374 mph (603 kph) in testing. However, because of safety law, most countries limit how fast trains can run. Currently, China’s Fuxing train is the fasting operating train at 217 mph (350 kph). (Japan’s train is capped at 199 mph (320 kph).)
Fastest Boat
The World Unlimited Water Speed Record is the officially recognized fastest speed achieved by a water-borne vehicle. It is currently held by the Spirit of Australia which topped out at 318 mph (511 km/h) on Blowering Dam in 1978. It’s surprising this record has yet to be beaten, but do noT worry, multiple challengers from around the world are continuing to try to break this one!
Fastest Non Production Car
On October 15, 1997, the rocket powered car Thrust SSC hit a speed of 763 mph (1,228 kph). Driven by fighter pilot Andy Green through the Nevada desert, it is the first car to break the sound barrier. The Bloodhound SSC, a new version also piloted by Andy Green, is currently undergoing testing to attempt to break this record.
Fastest Manned Plane
The North American X-15 was a part of the X-series of aircraft produced for the US Air Force in the 1950’s. It currently holds the record for fastest speed achieved by a manned, rocket powered aircraft at 4,520 mph (7,273 kph). Not only did they go fast though, they also went high enough to enter the atmosphere. Neil Armstrong was one of the X-15 test pilots.
Fastest Text Message
Every one of us has probably sent a text or two in our lifetime. However, the fastest text message sent (“The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.”) was 17 seconds. Set by Marcel Filho in 2014, the record still stands.
Fastest Eater
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut is now officially recognized by the International Federation of Competitive Eating as the World Champion. In 2018, he broke a world record when he inhaled 74 hot dogs (along with their buns) in 10 minutes, blowing past the previous record.
Fastest Spacecraft
Calculating the speed of a spacecraft is a lot harder than simply pulling out your stopwatch. You have to account for the many possible frames of reference, two popular ones being the Earth and the Sun. The fastest spacecraft as defined by heliocentric speed (i.e. relative to our sun) was the Helios 2, which reached an astonishing 153,453 mph (246, 960 km/hr).
Fastest Speed
While theoretically scientists have argued that some things (such as the Big Bang) could be faster than the speed of light, the fastest speed we can record has been the speed of light at 670,616,629 mph (1,079,252,848 kph).
Fastest Particle
Although we just went on about how photons (i.e. light) are the fastest particles in the universe, scientists have been debating whether or not this is in fact true ever since Einstein came out with his theory. Although tachyons (hypothetical particles that move faster than light) have been proposed in the past, CERN has recently completed experiments where they found neutrinos that allegedly covered the distance between Geneva Switzerland and Gran Sasso, Italy, 60 nanoseconds faster than light would have. As of yet, however, they have refrained from drawing conclusions from the experiment, so the photon is still king.
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