Tag: world record

  • Hennessey Venom GT, the World’s Fastest Car

    Hennessey Venom GT, the World’s Fastest Car

    Holy batman.

    Just a couple of weeks ago, the Hennessey Venom GT set a new world speed record for 2-seat sports cars. If you can believe it, the car reached a top speed of 270.49 mph (435.31 km/h). THAT IS INSANE.

    The speed test was held at the Kennedy Space Center on the 3.2-mile space shuttle landing runway. The lucky driver? Brian Smith, Director of Miller Motorsports Park.

    Interestingly enough, the Venom GT was powered with Pennzoil Platinum® with PurePlus™ Technology. It’s the first of its kind – a synthetic motor oil made from natural gas.

  • 36 Pull-Ups in 60 Seconds: Meet Ron Cooper

    36 Pull-Ups in 60 Seconds: Meet Ron Cooper

    cooper pull up world recordMeet Ron Cooper, world record holder for the most number of pull-ups in 60 seconds.

    Ron competed in Ninja Warrior last year, won a Warrior Dash and has top finishes in many local New England races. He often competes with his wife, Katie, a former All American 5K runner.

    I asked Ron to tell us a bit about his training schedule, the Guinness World Record process and his future plans.

    Ron, thanks for joining us!

    36 pull-ups in 60 seconds. Congratulations! How did you train for that?

    Thanks! I’ve been doing pull ups twice a week since high school, and usually my pull up sessions are fairly intense. Apparently the compounding effect of doing so many pull ups over such a long time was enough to sneak my name into the Guinness World Records.

    In terms of training for the record, I stuck to twice a week pull up sessions, each of which lasted about a half hour. I did and still do five to seven sets of various types of pull ups and chin ups twice a week.

    Can you walk through the Guinness World Record process start to finish?

    The process is actually a little cumbersome, which is probably why not many people make attempts. First I had to contact Guinness to let them know I was going to have a record attempt. Upon their green light that I could make the attempt, I then had to follow their lengthy instructions to insure the integrity of the attempt. First I had to coordinate a bunch of disinterested parties to help make the attempt official. I had to have two video cameras filming me from two different angles, the front and the side, to make sure my form was proper (no kipping, full arm extension on descent, chin above bar on ascent). I also needed a photographer, a timer, a police officer, a personal trainer as a judge, and some type of media coverage. Then I had to mail all my “proof” footage and signed documents into Guinness, and wait a few months for their response. Getting the certificate and the letter that I set the record in the mail was absolutely awesome. I’m just an every day guy, so to have a Guinness World Record is a lifetime achievement that I’m very proud of.

    You’re going to be on Ninja Warrior? How did that happen?!

    I still have to get on the show for this year! The audition process is going on now, and I should likely know if I’m on or not in the next few weeks. I got on last year, and got royally humbled on the first obstacle. The competition is very real, and the obstacles are insanely difficult. I’d love to get back on the course and have some redemption.

    I first saw American Ninja Warrior when I was flipping through channels one night a couple of years ago and was immediately entranced. Once I discovered that there was going to be open casting for the following season, I went into high training mode. I eventually sent in an audition video, and managed to get the invite. My wife, Katie, even got invited down to compete, so we made a family affair of it. We brought our kids down to Miami, where the filming was for our region, and had a blast. We met some great people, and competed alongside some of the best athletes in the country for obstacle racing.

    In your opinion, what are 3 things people can do to improve their fitness?

    Here are three rules I live by that if others live by they will have maximum success in fitness. Rule number one is consistency. Every morning at 5:30 AM when I hit the gym or the roads for a run I always know that 95% of the battle is just getting out the door. Once I’m in motion I know I’ll give a good effort, I always do. Consistency led me to a Guinness World Record, but most importantly it has led me to a healthy lifestyle.

    ron cooper warrior dash

    Rule number two for me is to stay within myself. It’s good to use the bar someone else has set as motivation, but at the end of the day we are all unique and have our own strengths and weaknesses, and someone will always be better. As long as I do the best I can and give it my all each and every day, I can’t be mad.

    Rule number three is to always be a student. I’m always looking for ways to improve, and never think I know everything. Learning new training keeps it fun and interesting, and leads to better gains. This is especially true with obstacle racing. Since these races really only have become mainstream since 2010, we’re all learning. There are no rule books.

    What’s on the horizon? Any races or events this summer?

    I’m signed up for several obstacle course races this summer. I love them. They are so much fun. I’m currently signed up for Warrior Dash, Superhero Scramble and Spartan Race. I’m sure I’ll do some local road races too. Nothing to get the pulse going like a race.

    I might even attempt to beat my own Guinness World Record for pull ups. I unofficially did 39 pull ups in a minute recently, 3 better than my previous record. I’d like to have my best effort be the one I put forward.

    But in the meantime, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I can get back on American Ninja Warrior, and if so, I’ll do my best to get some revenge on the course for last year.

  • Felix Baumgartner 22-Mile Supersonic World Record Stratos Skydive

    Felix Baumgartner 22-Mile Supersonic World Record Stratos Skydive

    red bull stratosFolks, skydiving history will soon be made.

    Felix Baumgartner, Austrian aviation specialist, plans to leap out of a space capsule from an altitude of 120,000 feet, rocketing his way at predicted speeds of over 700 mph to the earth’s surface.

    UPDATE:

    [highlight color=”yellow”]10/14 | 3:42pm EST: And he did it. WAHOO![/highlight]

    Quick Essentials

    Some quick facts you should know:

    > The planned jump is 120,000 feet, or 22 miles above the Arizona desert

    > The freefall should be around 5 minutes and 30 seconds. Felix Baumgartner is predicted to break Mach 1, the speed of sound, ripping through the air at speeds of over 700 miles per hour.

    > Baumgartner will travel in a 55-story high balloon, built out of a polyethylene plastic that happens to be one-tenth the thickness of a sandwich bag. This balloon is incredibly lightweight and will carry him all the way from the ground up to 120,000 feet.

    Check out this CGI video to get a visual sense of what to expect:

    [youtube id=”VCqnQq86fkY” width=”600″ height=”350″]

    The History: Seven Years, Felix Baumgartner and Red Bull

    Called the Red Bull Stratos Project, this multi-million dollar, seven-yar endeavor involves experts in the field of aeronautics, engineering and medicine.

    Felix Baumgartner, the protagonist in this epic storyboard,  is a 43-year old former Austrian paratrooper who has 2500+ jumps to his name. Baumgartner’s celebrated history of daredevil stunts include world records for the lowest BASE jump and for being the first to skydive across the English Channel. Who comes up with ideas like this?

    [youtube id=”r-TCO2IdoTA” width=”600″ height=”350″]

    In the video above, you’ll get a stronger sense of the complexities of the project. Joe Kittinger, meteorologist and current world record holder, has been advising Felix throughout the process. In 1960, Kittinger jumped from 102,800 feet, as part of Project Excelsior.

    During initial bouts of claustrophobia, Kittinger helped Felix develop a 40-item checklist to help ease his mind. Even though a specially designed balloon carries Baumgartner upward at a speed of 1000 feet/minute, there is significant alone time in the process.

    If the jump proves successful, Baumgartner plans to hand his 25+ year daredevil drawers up, to settle down with his girlfriend and to fly a rescue helicopter. The man recognizes that he has been pushing the limits — this is his final hoorah.

    Check out this video of Felix Baumgartner performing a 96,000 foot, second test jump over the summer.

    [youtube id=”s_SzUnkYcR4″ width=”600″ height=”350″]

    The Jump: 22 Miles, 700+ MPH

    Click the image below for a play-by-play mission timeline:

    felix baumgartner red bull stratos

    What Could Go Wrong

    Unfortunately, a lot could go wrong.

    For one, Baumgartner could find himself in a flat spin. In low air, high-altitude dives like this, an uncontrolled flat spin could push Baumgartner to an unconscious state. He could face temporary blindness as blood rushes to his head and extremities. Yikes.

    It is predicted that Baumgartner will step out of his capsule into temperatures of minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. As he rockets toward earth, he could experience up to minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, his custom-designed space suit should protect him up to temperatures of minus 90 degrees.

    When Baumgartner’s body approaches the speed of sound, shock-shock interaction could endanger his pressurized suit. Hopefully, because these sonic forces are less intense when the air is thin, it won’t be an issue.

    The Skydiving Suit: Custom-Engineered

    felix baumgartner supersonic skydive

    Any skydive above 62,000 feet requires a pressurized suit. Otherwise, water in the body turns to gas, and the body distends via a process called ebullism.

    Not fun.

    Red Bull partnered up with the David Clark Company, based out of Massachusetts, to create a custom suit modeled on those worn by Air Force pilots during high-altitude recon missions.

    The suit has four layers — a liner, a bladder fitted to Baumgartner’s body, mesh to hold the bladder in place and a flame-retardant exterior. The suit is designed to protect Baumgartner from a fairly large temperature range, -90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with a ventilation hose to provide warm or cool air as needed.

    The composite helmet weighs 8 pounds, with a retractable sunshade visor and an integrated heating circuit to prevent fogging. The helmet is also equipped with an oxygen regulator that will pump out 100% oxygen during the ascent and descent. A drinking port will provide Baumgartner with enough water.

    Finally, five cameras will live on the suit to film what will undoubtedly be the ride of Baumgartner’s life.

    Follow Along in Real Time

    The whole shebang will be broadcast live, without feed delay or interference — an engineering marvel, I might add — from Red Bull Stratos.

    There are also several tweets from Red Bull – below are a few notables:

    https://twitter.com/RedBullStratos/status/255415156702584832

    https://twitter.com/RedBullStratos/status/255466402809516032

    https://twitter.com/RedBullStratos/status/255313839053221888

    https://twitter.com/RedBullStratos/status/255158801370603520

    https://twitter.com/RedBullStratos/status/254740216185778176

    [photos via Red Bull Content Pool]

  • David Goggins Attempts 24 Hour Pull Up World Record

    David Goggins Attempts 24 Hour Pull Up World Record

    We love David Goggins.

    The man is an absolute beast and may not be human (or at least a 2.0 version of most humans). Transforming himself from a 280lb overweight desk jockey to a ripped-to-shreds ultra-marathoner, this man takes athleticism and determination to a whole different level.

    We know and love the man for his ridiculous running capabilities, insane mental toughness and feats of endurance. But David is giving us a whole new reason to be in awe of him. He’s working on endurance…with his arms.

    Taking a break from running hundreds of miles at a time, David is trying something new: breaking the Guinness World Record for most consecutive pull-ups done within 24 hours. Yup that’s right, he’s going to do some endurance upper body activities from now on.

    https://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251296545272635393

    He started yesterday morning

    on the Today Show and he’s aiming to do more than 4,020 consecutive pull-ups. BOOM! That’s a whole lot of pull-ups.

    Watch David Start The World Record Attempt For Pull-Ups on the Today Show

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    Visit NBC for the full David Goggins World Record Video

    Can David Goggins Complete The Most Consecutive Pull-Ups in 24 hours?

    He plans on doing 10 pull-ups per minute while on his quest for the world record. That’s 402 total sets and if he keeps up the pace and does them back to back to back, that’s 6.7 hours of consecutive pull-ups (6 hours and 42 minutes)!

    He’s doing this challenge, just like he runs his ultramarathons, to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project – a non-profit that raises money to give full-ride scholarships to children of soldiers killed in combat. To date, they’ve given over 900 full-ride scholarships. Wow!

    Will David Goggins be able to pull off this pull-up challenge? We’ll find out soon!

    Update #1:

    As of publishing, David passed the halfway mark (2011 consecutive pull-ups) according to the Today Show Twitter account.

    http://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251408177441153024

    Update #2:

    It looks like David had to stop before smashing the world record.

    https://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251646341992816641

    According to the Today Show, David completed 2,588 in 566 sets for a total of 4.6 pull-ups per set. 1,000 pull-ups in 2 hours 48 minutes and 2,000 pull-ups in 3 hours 34 minutes. But at 13.5 hours in, he felt something in his wrist snap and was not able to go on. An x-ray at 10:30pm confirmed a partial tear in his forearm.

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    The culprit: the portable pull-up bar David brought for the challenge was completely different than the one he trained on. It was poorly constructed and had a lot of sway that put an undue amount of stress on David’s body and required much more energy from him. Unfortunately, David didn’t’ realize this until the world record attempt.

    When it was all said and done, David Goggins’ world record pull-up attempt by the numbers looked something like this:

    • David did 2,588 pull-ups in 566 TOTAL sets. That’s 4.6 pull-ups PER set.
    • David did 216 sets on the minute before taking his first break longer than 60 seconds (12:02 pm).
    • David did 2.9 pull-ups EVERY minute for 15 hours when he officially ended. That’s INCLUDING the 3 hours at the end, when he did ZERO..
    • David did AT LEAST 6 pull-ups in his first 111 sets.
    • David got to 1,000 pull-ups in 2 hrs 48 minutes and 2,000 pull-ups in 3 hrs 34 minutes.

    He might have fallen short this time, but that won’t stop him. If we know David, he’ll be back to give the consecutive pull-up world record another shot:

    “You can fail, as long as you get back up again. I’ve failed plenty of times, but I just keep going. I’m just an ordinary man. I’m David Goggins, a guy who never gives up, who believes that any man or woman can push beyond their own limits with the right combination of will, focus, determination and discipline.” – David Goggins

    Today Show Updates on David Goggins Pull-Up Attempt via Twitter

    http://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251296545272635393

    http://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251353209669558273

    http://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251408177441153024

    http://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251473788674387968

    http://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251501099788427264

    http://twitter.com/todayshow/status/251646341992816641

    Non-Official David Goggins Pull-Up Updates

    http://twitter.com/ian_sager/status/251373389531467776

    http://twitter.com/LeshneAgency/status/251482359323582464

  • 1984 Dana Kunze 172 Foot World Record High Dive

    1984 Dana Kunze 172 Foot World Record High Dive

    While Dana Kunze no longer holds the world record for the highest dive, there’s still something about this video I find fascinating. Shot in 1984, watch Kunze jump with perfect form, 172 feet high. The pool looks so small from up there.

  • World’s Highest Blob Jump

    World’s Highest Blob Jump

    Remember the Blob? Always the highlight of any summer camp or lake experience. Watch the world’s highest Blob jump, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records in June 2011. 17 meters, in Cham, Switzerland. Too cool.

  • Tammy Camp, Kiteboarding World Record Holder

    Tammy Camp, Kiteboarding World Record Holder

    [youtube id=”q7MlxVrTpoU” width=”600″ height=”350″]

    Our inaugural interview! And boy, is it a good one.

    Tammy Camp, deemed the “Lara Croft of the Internet,” is an American entrepreneur, public speaker, angel investor and private equity advisor based out of San Francisco. In addition to all of her business success, she also has a wide range of eclectic interests and is an avid kiteboarder, holding the world record for the most number of consecutive backloops in one minute.

    Tammy Camp Being Amazing

    I sat down with Tammy (or Tamikaze, as she’s known to her friends) to discuss her world record experience, her history with kiteboarding and how she used IndieGoGo to crowdfund her trip. Thanks again, Tammy!

    Where to find Tammy Camp:
    Website –> tammycamp.com
    Facebook –> facebook.com/tammycamp
    Twitter –> twitter.com/tammycamp

    When she’s not busy closing big-time business deals or catching massive air out on the water, Tammy is busy polishing her acting chops in her new web series Bootstrap: an Office/30 Rock take on Silicon Valley.

    Check it out and see yet another side of Tammy. Watch Bootstrap.

    Oh, and how could we forget her World Record Video? Check out her record smashing experience on video and see why Nerve Rush absolutely loves Tammy Camp (is there anything she can’t do?).

    [youtube id=”_T6DZ0yBRTo” width=”600″ height=”350″]

    [photo courtesy of Tammy Camp]