How fast can things go? Here's a fun, quick tour of record speeds — from everyday vehicles to the fastest things in the universe — with how to measure your own speed at the end.
Fastest on land (vehicles)
- Fastest production car: the quickest road-legal cars have topped 480+ km/h (300+ mph).
- Land speed record: a jet-powered car has exceeded 1,220 km/h (760+ mph) — faster than the speed of sound.
- Fastest train (maglev test): over 600 km/h; commercial maglev around 430 km/h.
Fastest animals
- Peregrine falcon: in a hunting dive, over 300 km/h — the fastest animal on Earth.
- Cheetah: the fastest land animal, up to about 100–120 km/h in short bursts.
- Sailfish: among the fastest fish, around 100 km/h.
Fastest humans
- Usain Bolt's top speed: roughly 44–45 km/h (about 28 mph) at his peak during a 100 m sprint — astonishing for a person on foot.
Fastest in the sky and beyond
- Commercial jet: cruises around 900 km/h.
- Fastest crewed aircraft: experimental planes have exceeded 7,000 km/h.
- Speed of light: about 1.08 billion km/h — the universe's ultimate speed limit.
Put your own speed on the scale
You won't hit falcon speeds, but it's fun to see where you land. Use the free GPS Speedometer to measure your real speed on a walk, ride, drive or train in km/h, mph or knots — and try the 0–100 km/h test to time your car's acceleration. Everything runs on your device, with nothing uploaded.