1898 On 18 December, a land speed record is officially set when Frenchman Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat drives his car at 39.24mph.

1899 Within a year, the record is broken five times, passing between the Frenchman and a Belgian, Camille Jenatzy, who raises the record to 65.79mph.

1904 Driving his Arrow at 91.37mph, Henry Ford breaks the record at Lake St Clair, Michigan.

1904 The French become the first to break the 100mph barrier when Louis Rigolly reaches 103.55mph in a Gobron-Brillie car.

1914 Britain achieves its first win when L G Hornsted, reaching 124.10mph, breaks the record at the Brooklands racetrack in Surrey in a Benz car. It's the first time the record is timed over two runs. From now on the speed is calculated from an average taken from two attempts.

1924 Malcom Campbell sets his first land speed record in his Sunbeam Bluebird at Pendine Sands in Wales – 146.16mph.

1925 Campbell, at 150.76mph, becomes the first man to break the 150mph barrier.

1926 Henry Segrave makes his first land speed record at Southport Sands in Lancashire – 152.33mph.

1926 Welshman Parry Thomas breaks the land speed record in Babs on Pendine Sands (171.02mph). Believing he can go faster, he breaks his record again a day later (172.331mph).

1927 On 1 March, a year after his last attempt, Parry Thomas makes another land speed attempt on Pendine Sands. Unfortunately, a drive chain broke, the car overturned and Thomas was killed. He is the first casualty of land speed record attempts. His car Babs is buried in the sand. No other driver will ever attempt a record at Pendine Sands again.

1927 On 29 March, at 203.792mph, Henry Segrave breaks the 200mph barrier in his Sunbeam at Daytona, Florida.

1928 Pushing his Napier-powered Bluebird to 206.956mph, Campbell retrieves the record at Daytona. But two months later, the record is broken by American Ray Keech.

1929 Henry Segrave breaks the record again in his Golden Arrow at Daytona, taking it to 231.446mph. He then travels directly to Miami where he beats Gar Wood, the speedboat king, with his Miss England power boat. He is knighted on arrival back in the UK.

1930 On 13 June, Sir Henry Segrave is tragically killed whilst making a water speed record attempt on Lake Windermere. In fact, he actually broke the record and became the first man to hold both the land and water speed records simultaneously.

1931-1935 During these years, Campbell makes and breaks the record five times in Bluebird. On 3 September 1935, he breaks the 300mph barrier, reaching 301.13mph.

1963 At 407.45mph, American Chris Breedlove breaks the 400mph barrier in his Spirit of America at Bonneville salt flats, Utah. It is the first purely jet-propelled record.

1964 Donald Campbell continues the family tradition. In a record attempt, he reaches 403.10mph.

1964 In Spirit of America, Craig Breedlove makes another groundbreaking drive. He's the first man past the 500mph barrier, at 526.28mph.

1965 Breedlove again. This time the first past the 600mph barrier. In Spirit of America-Sonic I, he travels at 600.601mph

1967 On 4 January, Donald Campbell is killed in a water speed record attempt on Lake Coniston.

1983 At Black Rock Desert, Nevada, Englishman Richard Noble travels at 633.468mph in Thrust 2, bringing the record to Britain.

1997 Richard Noble's team builds Thrust SSC and with Andy Green at the helm, it breaks the sound barrier – moving at 763.04mph.