Wired, March 2003 - Speed Freaks The latest Wired magazine is about speed and the people who crave it. The cover article chronicles those that rank at the top: from the fastest person, through to the fastest computer. I still can't believe that the SR-71, at Mach 3.4, still holds the speed record for an aircraft (that was set back in 1976) - and considering that Columbia was over Mach 18 when it broke up ... you'd think there would be a faster plane by now. Other articles on speed in this issue are:
  • War of the Wheels: a well written article on the drag racing scene. The article compares the old-school dragsters who pushed raw-horsepower, topping with vehicles that put out 7,000+hp, to the "rice burners" - souped-up Japanese imports, such as overclocked Honda CRXes that reach upwards of 1,000hp. The article is well written, and pulls no punches.
  • Maximum Overdrive: covers the overclocking of processors. It started out just as a way of pushing a CPU and a computer faster than the manufactuers wanted so that the edge could be gotten in the first-person shooters such as Doom and Duke Nukem. It's evolved into refined sport where the latest king of the hill can claim fame at such sites as HardOCP.com and Futuremark.com.
  • ... or Die Trying: Ken Warby's holds the world's water speed record at 317.6mph, set in 1978. Everyone who's tried to break it have either failed and/or died in the attempt. Warby now thinks he can break his own record, and he's got competition from two other teams, all are readying for runs within the next year.

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