Pitched at becoming the world’s first car to surpass 1000mph, the British Bloodhound SSC (pictured) uses the turbojet engine from a jet fighter aircraft as well as a rocket to produce a staggering 133,000bhp. It will attempt a run to 500mph in 2019, and a 1000mph mission in 2020, both to take place on the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa.

But Bloodhound is just the latest in a long list of land speed record vehicles, built with the sole purpose of taking the ultimate Earth-based speed crown. Here we chart mankind’s quest to be the fastest on dry land: