Thrust SuperSonic Car (SSC), the first land vehicle to travel faster than sound, performs a speed trial. The car broke the land speed record on 15 October 1997 near Gerlach in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, USA. It travelled at an average speed of 1227 kilometres per hour (km/h) - about 24 km/h faster than sound - over two runs that took place within an hour of each other. The car was powered by two jet engines from a fighter aircraft. The British Thrust SSC team included driver Andy Green & team leader Richard Noble; the latter had him- self set a land speed record in 1983. Thrust SSC's success occurred the day after the fiftieth anni- versary of the first supersonic flight.