Captain George Edward Thomas Eyston MC OBE was a British engineer, inventor, and racing driver best known for breaking the land speed record three times between 1937 and 1939.
George Eyston in 1931
Eyston (left) with fire-damaged MG Midget, 1931
The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), respective governing bodies for racing in automobiles and motorcycles, both bodies recognise as the absolute LSR whatever is the highest speed record achieved across any of their various categories. While the three-wheeled Spirit of America set an FIM-validated LSR in 1963, all subsequent LSRs are by vehicles in FIA Category C in either class JE or class RT.
ThrustSSC, driven by Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green, holds the current land speed record at 1,227.986 km/h (763.035 mph) set October 15, 1997.
Ralph DePalma in his Packard '905' Special at Daytona Beach in 1919
The White Triplex in 1928, driven by Ray Keech
Dorothy Levitt, in a 19 kW (26 hp) Napier, at Brooklands, England, in 1908