Skip to main content

High speed mobility

A group of automotive enthusiasts in the UK hope to set a new world land speed record, with a mobility scooter. Powered by a 600cc motorcycle engine the mobility scooter is now thought to be able to reach some 192km/h, around 15 times as fast as a conventional mobility scooter. Official timed runs have yet to be made for the record to be set. The rules call for two timed speed runs to be made within one hour with the record being an average of the two. However the group believe their mobility scooter will e
September 26, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
A group of automotive enthusiasts in the UK hope to set a new world land speed record, with a mobility scooter. Powered by a 600cc motorcycle engine the mobility scooter is now thought to be able to reach some 192km/h, around 15 times as fast as a conventional mobility scooter. Official timed runs have yet to be made for the record to be set. The rules call for two timed speed runs to be made within one hour with the record being an average of the two. However the group believe their mobility scooter will easily be able to top the current mobility scooter speed record of 115km/h.

Meanwhile another man in the UK has fitted the starter motor from a Chinook helicopter to a shopping trolley. The starter motor has been modified to produce thrust and is estimated to deliver around 112kW. The first speed test at the Santa Pod drag strip has shown this unusual vehicle to be capable of reaching 70km/h, which makes it the world’s fastest shopping trolley. Its builder, a go-kart racer, believes it is powerful enough to reach 160km/h although he is unsure about its stability at this speed. Given the heat and noise the trolley generates, it is not likely to be welcome inside a supermarket however.

Related Content

  • Increased infrastructure spending
    February 22, 2012
    With economies booming in the BRIC countries and other regions, spending on infrastructure is at a high - Patrick Smith reports As economic crisis grips much of the world, many countries are still spending billions on infrastructure to improve transportation. While the USA and Europe struggle with debt problems (and this has affected much of the rest of the world) the development of highways, airport, ports and other infrastructure is gathering pace in other regions to boost economic developments.
  • Dynapac’s high capacity asphalt paver
    September 30, 2013
    Dynapac is now offering the SD2550CS tracked paver, which is said to deliver high productivity and efficiency at a low cost/tonne. The machine is also fitted with Dynapac’s latest intelligent Pave Manager 2.0 control system, further boosting mat quality. The company says that the paver has benefited from an intensive research and development programme and the R&D team has worked hard to improve a number of features on the new paver, which now has an improved operator work station and controls systems, lo
  • Strabag on the edge with a Dynapac DF145CS paver from Atlas Copco
    June 10, 2015
    When asphalting the inside of the newly raised edge of a water dam, Austrian road construction company Strabag faced a challenge. The paver had to be operated at an angle of between 34-41 degrees with material fed into the hopper from a ledge just 2.8m wide on the edge of the dam. The Waldeck 2 kidney-shaped hydroelectric station is located on a mountaintop about 500m above sea level on Lake Eder in central Germany. The dam, owned by global energy group E.ON, has a perimeter of about 3km. An important pa
  • TRL acquires Transport & Travel Research
    April 15, 2014
    TRL has announced the acquisition of Transport & Travel Research (TTR) making it a wholly owned subsidiary of TRL. A minority shareholder in TTR since 2010, TRL has stated that TTR will continue to operate as an independent organisation. TTR’s chairman, David Blackledge, has stepped down from the Board to take on a role as Special Advisor, while TRL's chief executive, Rob Wallis, is appointed chairman of TTR (in addition to his other group company responsibilities) with immediate effect. All other operat