Electric Venturi powers to landspeed record

Monaco-based luxury electric car company Venturi has smashed its own landspeed record for an electric vehicle.

Driver Roger Schroer took the VBB-3 to an average speed of 341.4mph (549.43kph) over two runs on the salt flats at Bonneville, Utah.

The car was clocked at a top speed of 358mph (576kph) during the attempt - another record - though this faster speed will not be considered the official speed. Landspeed records are standardised over a fixed-length course and averaged over two runs in opposite directions.

The company has been waiting several years to make a new attempt on the electric landspeed record after setting the bar at 307mph (495kph) with the Venturi VBB-2.5 in 2010. Bad weather in 2013, 2014 and 2015 forced previous attempts to be cancelled.
The current holder of the Outright World Land Speed Record is ThrustSSC, a twin turbofan jet-powered car that was the first land vehicle to break the sound barrier when it reached 763.035mph - 1,227.985 km/h - over one mile in October 1997.