Clint Davis/Aussie Invader With the Bloodhound SSC team flat broke, and the North American Eagle destroyed in a tragic fireball in Oregon, Perth's Aussie Invader 5R is planning to take a run at the very elusive 1,000 mph (1,609.3 km/h) mark. In doing so, the team will need to smash the outright land speed record, which has stood firm since October 1997, when the ThrustSSC broke the sound barrier for the first time and recorded an official 763.035 mph (1227.985 km/h). Rarely does a record last so long in this age of rapid technical advancement, but the insane resources you need to get past the sound barrier with even the slightest pretense of safety haven't changed at all. And it's not like a Formula One situation, where the team can perhaps spin out ideas it's developed on the racetrack for the good of future street cars; supersonic cars don't even put their power down through the wheels. The physics gets very different as you start approaching the speed of sound.