The world record happened on the fourth day of his 3000km journey, where Simon and his co-driver pushed the Roadster to take them 501km on a single charge, smashing the previous record by 110km.

That’s a pretty fantastic effort. If only we could all drive Roadsters, the world would be a much better place.

[Internode]

This video has it all folks. The fastest typist in the world circa the late ’70s, music, pimp suits and the hardships of a man too damn good at what he does.

“I’ve lost about 25 or 30 jobs because of my speed. They couldn’t keep me busy 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

At the time, Ron was capable of typing 160 wpm — fast enough to become the world record holder on a manual machine. Who knows how fast he could have typed without the tacky jewellery weighing him down. [Digg]

Check out the video.

The record was shattered at Edwards Air Force Base, in the Mojave Desert, California. According to the rules set by the Federation International Automobile, the car had to do two runs in opposite directions, with a maximum one hour interval between them. It was a tough one: The first try failed in August 19, when there was a problem with one of the car’s turbine. Needless to say, Burnett was ecstatic:

I wouldn’t like to leave it this close again, it was the last but one day we had to do this. It was absolutely fantastic I enjoyed every moment of it. The car really did handle beautifully. It is a privilege to be involved with such a talented crew, what we have achieved today is a true testament to British engineering, good teamwork and perseverance.

[BBC News and Autopia]

Burnett will try to beat the previous record-established at 127.658mph by American Fred Marriott in 1906-over the Mojave Desert in early June. Yes, Fred got that speed in 1906. On this kettle:

The attempt to break the record will happen tomorrow at 6am, California time (11pm tonight AEST). [Daily Mail]

Takuo Toda, head of the Japan Origami Aeroplane Association (classy!) set a new world record with his 27.9 second flight. His greatest ambition, however, is to launch a paper plane…from space.

Toda’s record-breaking paper plane was made from one uncut sheet of paper, because he’s a pro, and professional origami aeroplane modelers would never stoop so far as to use scissors. The Telegraph reports that the plane was 10cm long (about four inches), which seems tiny to us, but then, we’re not paper aviation experts.

Oddly, Toda wants to launch his specially-designed paper planes from space. Seriously.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced that it would fund a three-year, 90 million yen (£617,000) study into the feasibility of launching paper darts from the International Space Station.

Next up: Testing to see if ants can be trained to sort tiny screws in space. [The Telegraph]

Like some kind of cross between NASCAR and Evel Knievel, Eric Scott of Jet Pack International recently set a new speed record for jetpacks: A surprisingly-fast 98kph.

The jetpack in question only has enough fuel (mostly hydrogen peroxide converted to water) for about 30-40 seconds of flight, so even though he claims the jetpack achieves about 800 horsepower, he only gets up to 98kph. Still, that’s far faster than we would have thought, given Mark’s experience, but evidently this is an entirely different kind of jetpack. [MAKE]

Here is the trick to setting world records—aim low and think of the stupidest record possible. Case in point—the record for most rotations while hanging from a power drill.

See? You don’t have to spend millions and risk your life to set the land speed record just to be recognised by Guinness. Just stick a drill in the ceiling and hang on tight. If you have a problem with motion sickness, I hear the record for most plastic green army men stuffed into an adult diaper is still up for grabs. [about:blank]

Yep, 10 years ago he managed to buy a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter for $US25,000, and he and his buddies have spent the years since turning it into the world’s fastest hot rod.

The goal is to break the land speed record last year, shooting for 1280kph. He’s got competition from more professional and better-funded groups, but come on. We’ve got to pull for the most extreme garage tinkerer in the country. Kick some arse, Ed! [NY Times

That’s right, Joachim watched 3 seasons of the TV series 24, to reach the 72 hour mark—beating his previous record of 69 hours and 48 minutes. Although, after watching movies for 123 hours and 10 minutes straight, this feat seems like a walk in the park. Truly, if endurance “athletes” were treated like other high-profile sports figures, we would see Joachim on the Wheaties box…eyes half open, pouring coffee over the flakes. [Yahoo]

For example, Sprint has confirmed that a 14-year old Florida girl sent around 35,463 text messages in a month on two separate occasions. That works out to 1,182 a day. As sad and depressingly impressive as that is, those numbers don’t come anywhere near the Guinness record. Apparently, that “honour” is held by a man…a GROWN man by the name of Deepak Sharma. He managed to send 182,689 messages in a single month—about 6100 messages a day (or 4.2 messages a minute). Yeah, that is insane. Good thing we have unlimited text plans—even though it is most likely a ripoff. [Herald Tribune via Fark Image via Flickr]