1968 Challenger II sets piston-driven speed record

If you think 450mph in a 50 year-old car sounds scary, wait until you see the vid...

The story of Danny Thompson's Challenger II is a fascinating one; originally built by his father Mickey Thompson in 1968 (and replacing Challenger I, which went through 400mph), the car was meant to race at Bonneville in 1968. However, rain washed away the salt that year, and so Speed Week didn't run. In fact, the car never ran at all, and when Mickey Thompson was killed in 1988 the car was put into storage by Danny.

It wasn't until 2016 that Challenger II saw the light of day again, Thompson junior recommissioning his father's incredible vehicle to set a new record at that year's Bonneville Speed Week for an "unblown fuel streamliner" of 406.70mph. Confident that it could go quicker, Danny Thompson was back at Bonneville this weekend gone - 50 years since Challenger II was originally meant to be there - to break another record.

And break it he did, securing a 448.7mph average in the 5,000hp, Hemi-powered, four-wheel drive Challenger II to make it the fastest ever piston-engined, wheel driven car. It surpassed the 439mph set by George Poteet in his Speed Demon, the previous record-holding incumbent. The Challenger II reached 450.9mph on one run, 44.3mph faster than the Challenger I had achieved in its one-way record attempt back in 1960.

So bravo Danny, for restoring a piece of family and land speed record history, plus having the guts to do more than seven miles a minute in a 50 year-old car. Finally, if you're wondering just how crazy a drive that really is, there was a GoPro in the car... See below for one of the craziest onboards you'll watch for a while!