Rolls-Royce. The Vehicle holding the record of the highest land speed had engines made by Rolls-Royce. The current Outright World Land Speed Record is held by ThrustSSC, a twin turbofan jet-powered car driven by Andy Green, which attained 763.035 mph (1227.985 km/h) over one mile in October 1997. It broke the sound barrier at Mach 1.016, making it the first supersonic record. ThrustSSC engine was made by Rolls-Royce. It was the first land vehicle to officially breach the sound barrier when it reached an average speed of nearly 760 mph in 1997 at Black Rock Dry Lake, Nevada. Richard Noble, a businessman, invented the Thrust SSC, which was designed by Ron Ayers, a former chief aerodynamicist of British Aerospace, and a team of engineers.