Snworld

TEN FAMOUS TRANSPORT PIONEERS Wright brothers  Orville: 1871–1948  Wilbur: 1867–1912  Made the first powered fixed-wing flight At the turn of the 20th century, the race to achieve powered flight was hotting up. But though several of their contemporaries got airborne at around the same time, these siblings were the first to achieve true powered flight – on 17 December 1903 – and to patent the aerodynamic control of a flying machine. Henry Ford 1963–1947 Founded the Ford Motor Company this industrialist’s adoption of mass-production techniques revolutionised transport, with his model t fords rolling off the assembly line at an astonishing rate. ford was a controversial character, but made car ownership an achievable goal for many middle-class Americans. Frank Whittle 1907–96 Invented the turbojet engine Whittle outlined the principles behind jet propulsion while still a student, taking out a patent on his design in 1930 at the tender age of ...

TEN FASTEST ROAD CARS 01 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport Top speed: 431km/h 2010–present despite having made its public debut back in 2010, all other road-legal cars continue to eat the Super Sport’s cinders. Powered by an eight-litre engine, the Bugatti is capable of accelerating from 0-60mph in just 2.4 seconds. This need for speed doesn’t come cheap, though. Prospective owners need to have a spare $2.5m in their back pocket. And then there’s those insurance premiums. 02 Hennessey Venom Gt Top speed: 428km/h 2012–present 03 Koenigsegg Agera R Top speed: 418km/h 2011–present 04 Ssc Ultimate Aero Top speed: 413km/h 2006–2013 05 9ff GT9-R Top speed: 413km/h 2007-2008 06 Saleen S7 Twin-turbo Top speed: 399km/h 2005–2009 07 Koenigsegg CCX Top speed: 394km/h 2006–2010 08 McLaren F1 Top speed: 386km/h 1992-1998 09 Zenvo st1 Top speed: 374km/h 2009–present 10 Pagani Huayra Top speed: 370km/h 2012–present

TEN FASTEST TRAINS 01 430 km/h  Shanghai Maglev,  china  Route: Longyang Road Station – Shanghai Pudong International Airport Opened: 2004 Manufacturer: Siemens and ThyssenKrupp 02 380 km/h  harmony crh 380a,  china  route: Beijing – Shanghai  Opened: 2010 Manufacturer: CSR Qingdao Sifang locomotive & Rolling Stock 03 360 km/h  agV italo,  italy  route: Naples – Milan  Opened: 2012  Manufacturer: alstom 04 350 km/h  Velaro e/AVS 103,  Spain  route: barcelona – Madrid Opened: 2007  Manufacturer: siemens 05 350 km/h  Talgo 350,  Spain  route: Madrid – Lleida  Opened: 2005  Manufacturer: Patentes Talgo and bombardier Transportation 06 320 km/h  e5 Series Shinkansen Hayabusa,  Japan  Route: Tohuku Shinkansen Line  Opened: 2011  Manufacturer...

TEN BIGGEST COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFTS 01 Airbus a380 853 passengers 72.72m long 02 Boeing 747-8 700 passengers 76.3m long 03 Boeing 747-400 568 passengers 70.6m long 04 Boeing 777-300 550 passengers 73.9m long 05 Boeing 747-300 496 passengers 70.6m long 06 Boeing 747-200 452 passengers 70.6m long 07 Boeing 747-100 452 passengers 70.6m long 08 Boeing 777-200 440 passengers 63.7m long 09 Airbus A350-1000 369 passengers 73.78m long 10 Airbus A340-600 359 passengers 75.36m long

TEN LONGEST COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS 01   sydney to Dallas  13,804km  Qantas 15 hours and 10 minutes 02 Johannesburg to atlanta  13,582km Delta air lines  16 hours and 55 minutes 03   Dubai to Los Angeles  13,420km  emirates 16 hours and 30 minutes 04 Dallas to brisbane  13,363km  Qantas  16 hours 05   Dubai to houston  13,144km  emirates 16 hours and 20 minutes 06 Dubai to san Francisco  13,041km  emirates  16 hours 07 New York (JFK) to Hong Kong  12,990km  Cathay Pacific  16 hours 08 New York (Newark) to Hong Kong  12,980km united airlines  15 hours and 50 minutes 09 Doha to houston  12,951km Qatar airways  16 hours and 20 minutes 10 Dubai to Dallas  12,940km  emirates 16 hours and 20 minutes

TEN GREAT TRANSPORT BREAKTHROUGHS 01 Wheel c 4500BC It’s difficult to pinpoint when the wheel was invented, but the earliest recorded evidence of their use dates back to the Sumerians of Mesopotamia. The wheel enabled the people of this ancient civilisation to build carts with which to haul bigger loads than could be carried on their backs. 02 sailboat c 4000BC the nile, tigris and euphrates rivers were important trade routes for the egyptians and mesopotamians. Artefacts from those civilisations show sailboats were used to travel and to transport goods between the settlements along them. 03 Suspension c 3100bc early roads were little more than rocky tracks, making journeys uncomfortable for any passengers and potentially damaging for cargo. By hanging a loadbearing platform or cabin from a frame built upon a cart’s chassis, the ancient egyptians came up with a method of ensuring a smoother ride. 04 chain drive c300bc the mechanism that – by transmitting drive from...

THE TOP 10 FASTEST PLANES 01 Falcon HTV-2 Top speed: 20,920km/h unmanned Lockheed Martin, defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and US Air Force, usa, 2010 developed to test the limits of long-duration hypersonic travel, the Falcon HTV-2 is a rocket-launched, unmanned but fully manoeuvrable plane that’s capable of flying at Mach 20. Not that anything can be remotely described as ‘long-duration’ at these kinds of speed; a plane travelling at more than 20,000 miles an hour would cover the distance between New York City and Los Angeles in around 12 minutes. 02  X-43A Top speed: 12,144km/h unmanned NASA, USA, 2004 03 X-15  Top speed: 7,274km/h Manned us air Force and NASA, USA, 1959 04 X-51 WaveRider Top speed: 6,276km/h unmanned Boeing, USA, 2010 05 SR-71 BlackBird Top speed: 3,540km/h Manned Lockheed, USA, 1964 06 MiG-25 Foxbat Top speed: 3,492km/h Manned Mikoyangurevich, soviet Union, 1964 07 Bell X-2 starbuster Top sp...