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The Why Factor: Speed

Speed

25/10/2013

BBC World Service - The Why Factor, Speed

Why are we obsessed with speed?  Mike Williams investigates.

Why does humankind insist on the need to go faster and faster? From the playground roundabout to the 1600 km/h rocket car. Mike Williams asks what is this obsession all about?

The Manifesto of Futurism written in 1909 declared that “the splendour of the world has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed!”    

And the addiction has taken hold.  So what is it about speed?   A desire to lose control, a suppressed childishness or just the reality of 21st Century urban life? And what would the speed merchants of 1909 in their 190 km per hour roadsters make of today’s rocket propelled cars trying to reach 1600 km per hour? 

Mike Williams meets the students of the Bloodhound club at Heathland School west London, Wing Commander Andy Green preparing himself to attempt a new land speed record in Bloodhound SSC and experiences a bit of speed for himself on the Mercedes Benz World test track.

(Image: RDC 500 mile motor race at Brooklands race track in Weybridge, Surrey 1929. Credit: Getty Images)

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