Notable dates in the history of speed

1838 -- 1,440-ton steamer Great Western crosses the Atlantic in 15 days.
1839 -- Samual Cunard begins his career in shipping co-founding the Britsih and North America Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, later known as the Cunard Line.
1840 -- Cunard liner, S.S. Britannia; crosses the Atlantic in 12 days, 10 hours at an average speed of 8.5 knots.
1840 -- Cunard liner, Acadia becomes the first ship to win the Blue Riband for crossing the Atlantic in 11 days and 4 hours at an average speed on 9.45 knots.
1843 -- S.S. Great Britain first propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic, launched at Bristol docks.
1845 -- first true clipper ship, the Rainbow built at New York. These ships were designed to provide the fastest passage for trade goods between the continents and are said to have been named because they could clip the time taken by regular packet ships to make the same trip.

1849 -- French physicist Armand Fizeau measures the speed of light.

1850s -- a Swedish visitor to the US Patent Office notes that of the nearly 15000 machines registered, most are "for the acceleration of speed, and for the saving of time and labor."
1850 -- sailing ship Marco Polo launched at Saint John, NB. In 1852 she earned the title of the fastest ship in the world on a return passage of 144 days between Liverpool and Melbourne Australia and broke all the records for trips to and from Australia in 1852-53.
1851 -- the schooner America wins race around Isle of Wight, winning the One Hundred Guinea Cup, which became known as the America's Cup.
1852 -- the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company, known as the Allan Line, established. Within a year it was offering 14 day service between Montreal and Liverpool.
1853 -- the first locomotive built in what became Canada at the Toronto Locomotive Works.
1854 -- S.S. Brandon the first ship with compound expansion engines.
1855 -- first iron Cunard steamer crosses the Atlantic in 9 and 1/2 days.
1865 -- English barrister John Macgregor pioneers canoeing as a sport.
1867 -- the pedal-driven bicycle or velocipede emerges as the latest Parisian fad.
1867 -- Henry Seth Taylor demonstrates the first Canadian-built automobile at Stanstead, Quebec. The vehicle is powered by steam.

1867 -- Canadian rowing team from New Brunswick wins the four-oared event at the world rowing championships in Paris. Members of the "Paris Crew", as they became known, were George Pirie, Robert Fulton, Samuel Hutton and Elija Ross.
1868 -- 10,000 spectators watch 300 competitors ride in the earliest recorded bicycle race (over 2 k.) at the Parc de St. Cloud, Paris.
1868 -- Royal Canadian Yacht Club chartered in Toronto.
1871 -- the Paris Crew defeat an English team in an international race at Saint John, NB.
1878 -- Karl Benz, German engineer, builds motorized tricycle with top speed of seven miles per hour.
1878 -- Montreal Bicycle Club founded, first in Canada
1878 -- Edward (Ned) Hanlon of Toronto defeated Eph Morris for the US singles rowing championship.
1882 -- Guion liner Alaska wins Blue Riband twice in three months by crossing the Atlantic from Queenston to New York in 7 days, 6 hours and 43 minutes and then returning to Queenston in 6 days, 22 hours. Her approximate speed was 16.1 knots going out and 16.8 knots returning.
1884 -- Sir Charles Parsons invents the first practical steam turbine engine.
1885 -- Karl Benz builds single-cylinder engine for motor car.
1886 -- Canadian Pacific Railway open to the public, cross-country trip (Port Moody B.C. to Montreal, 4653 km) takes 6 days.
1888 -- John Boyd Dunlop re-invents the pneumatic tire for use on his son’s tricycle.
1890 -- the introduction of the safety bicycle which is much easier to ride than the high wheeled version, inspires a widespread craze. While devotees revel in the freedom, independence and speed it offers, critics worry that the strained facial expression often seen on speeding cyclists or scorchers will cause a permanent disfigurement called "bicycle face".
1891 -- Empress of India betters record for a Pacific crossing (Yokohama to Vancouver) by two days.
1892 -- Diesel patents his internal-combustion engine.
1893 -- New York Central Railroad Locomotive No. 999 hauling the Empire State Express, is clocked at 112.5 mph, the first to exceed the 100 mph barrier.
1896 -- first modern Olympics held in Athens.

1896 -- first Canadian skiing championships held at Rossland, B.C.
1897 -- Charles Parsons' Turbinia, first vessel powered by steam turbines attains a speed of 30 knots.
1897 -- George Foote Foss, a Sherbrooke, Que bicycle repairman, builds Canada's first gasoline-driven car.
1897 -- Jack K. McCulloch won the world speedskating title in Montreal.
1899 -- H. Gibson became the only Canadian to win a world cycling title.
1901 -- first motor-driven bicycles.
1901 -- Wilhelm Maybach, technical director at the Daimler works, constructs the first Mercedes car.
1903 -- motor-car regulations in Britain set a 20 mph speed limit.
1903 -- first coast-to-coast crossing of North America by car: 65 days.
1903 -- first Tour de France cycle race won by Maurice Garin
1903 -- Sir Alfred Harmsworth offers cup as prize for racing boats under 40 feet in length.
1904 -- first Vanderbilt Cup auto race won by Mercedes.
1904 -- first American Power Boat Association Challenge Cup awarded to Carl Riotte who drove his boat Standard at an average speed of 23.16 mph on the Hudson River.
1905 -- Ontario drivers required to stop and allow horse drawn conveyances to pass or procede.
1905 -- first recorded automobile speed trap set up by authorities in New York City.
1906 -- H.M.S. Dreadnought launched: displacement 17,900 tons, speed 21 knots.
1906 -- French Grand Prix motor race first run.
1907 -- S.S. Lusitania and Mauretania launched, each 31,000 tons and powered by turbines; Lusitania breaks transatlantic record, steaming from Queenstown, Ireland to New York in 5 days, 45 minutes.
1908 -- Dixie II built for the US defence of the Harmsworth Trophy attains a speed of 37 knots.
1909 -- first six-day bicycle race held in Berlin.

1909 -- Francois Faber of Luxembourg becomes first non-French competitor to win the Tour de France.
1910 -- Farman flies 463 km (approx. 300 miles) in 8.25 hours.
1910 -- Barney Oldfield drives a Benz at 133 mph at Daytona Beach, Florida.
1911 -- Gordon-Bennett International Aviation Cup given for the first time.
1911 -- first running of the Indianapolis 500 is won by Ray Harroun driving Marmon Wasp, at an average speed of 74.5 mph.
1912 -- Thomas Wilby drives from Halifax to Victoria in a Reo Special, becoming the first person to drive across Canada. The trip takes 52 days.
1912 -- Englishman S.E. Saunders builds Maple Leaf II, the first vessel of any size to exceed 50 knots.
1915 -- automobile speed record of 102.6 mph set at Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., by Gil Anderson driving a Stutz.
1919 -- J.W. Alcock and A. Whitten Brown make first nonstop flight across the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland in 16 hours 27 minutes.
1919 -- a hydrofoil designed by A.G. Bell achieves a record speed of 114 kph (71 mph).
1920 -- Canadian racing boat Rainbow I wins the Fisher Gold Cup.
1921 -- Bluenose, the most famous Canadian sailing ship launched at Lunenburg. Later in the same year, under the command of Angus Walters, she wins the International Fishermen's Trophy. This was the first of three wins for her.
1922 -- Joseph-Armand Bombardier introduces first commercially successful snowmobile.
1922 -- Mercedes-Daimler cars dominate racing.
1923 -- Rainbow III wins Fisher Gold Cup.
1925 -- Malcolm Campbell increases land speed record to 150.86 mph.
1925 -- for first time an Indianapolis 500 winner, Peter De Paolo, exceeds 100 mph average speed. His average speed throughout the race was 101.127. The 100 mph barrier was not broken again until 1930 when Billy Arnold was clocked at 100.448 mph.
1928 -- Rainbow VII wins Lipton Trophy in Detroit despite carrying 8 people.

1929 -- railroad record: non-stop from Buenos Aires to Cipoletti (775 mi) in 20 hours, 37 minutes.
1929 -- Graf Zeppelin airship flies around the world (21,255 miles) in 20 days, 4 hours and 14 minutes.
1931 -- Gar Wood becomes the first motorboat racer to exceed 100 mph, clocking a speed of 102.256 in Miss America IX.
1932 -- Gar Wood pilots Miss America X to a new motorboat speed record of 124.9 mph. He eventually wins 5 APBA Gold Cups and 9 Harmsworth International Trophies.
1933 -- Sir Malcolm Campbell (knighted in 1931) achieves automobile speed record of 272.46 mph.
1933 -- Hubert Scott Paine sets world salt water speed record for single-engined boats--100.132 mph.
1934 -- CP liner Empress of Britain crosses the Atlantic in 4 days, 6 hours and 58 minutes.
1935 -- Malcolm Campbell drives Bluebird at 276.8 mph (Daytona Beach, Florida).
1935 -- S.S. Normandie crosses the Atlantic in 4 days, 3 hours and 2 minutes.
1936 -- Queen Mary, 81,235 tons wins Blue Riband by crossing the Atlantic in 3 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes.
1936 -- Frank Amyot wins a gold medal for Canada in canoeing at the Berlin Olympics.
1938 -- Howard Hughes flies around the world in 3 days, 19 hours 17 minutes.
1938 -- 32,000 people die in automobile accidents in the United States.
1939 -- Malcolm Campbell establishes a water-speed record of 368.85 mph.
1941 -- Alfred Letourner sets cycling speed record of 108.92 mph behind draft vehicle in Bakersfield California.
1941 -- Ferry Command aircraft crosses Atlantic from the west in 8 hours, 23 minutes.
1944 -- first non-stop flight from London to Canada.
1946 -- Hans De Meiss-Teuffen sails solo from Spain to US in 58 days.
1947 -- British racing driver John Cobb establishes s world ground speed record of 394.196 mph.

1948 -- police first use radar to measure the speed of automobiles (ca 1950 in Canada).
1949 -- first flight of Avro Jetliner, first commercial jet transport in N. America.
1952 -- S.S. United States wins Blue Riband, crossing the Atlantic in 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes. Her average speed was 35.59 knots.
1952 -- John Cobb killed while establishing a water-speed record of 206.89 mph on Loch Ness, Scotland.
1953 -- a rocket-powered US plane is flown at more than 1600 mph.
1953 -- General Motors introduces the Corvette sports car.
1954 -- Ford introduces the Thunderbird sports car.
1955 -- V-8 engines first installed in lower-priced N. American cars. The 1955 Chevy dubbed the "Hot One" and a new automotive craze had begun--the horsepower race.
1955 -- 82 die in disaster at Le Mans car race.
1955 -- travel times of CPR and CNR passenger runs between Montreal and Vancouver reduced by 14 to 16 hours.
1956 -- a team from the University of British Columbia wins the gold medal in fours rowing at the Olympics.
1958 -- American defender Columbia defeats British challenger Sceptre to win America's Cup.
1959 -- total US auto accident death toll more than 1.25 million--more than have died in all US wars combined.
1959 -- Ski-Doo snowmobile manufactured at Valcourt, Que by Bombardier.
1962 -- Weatherly (US) defeats Gretel (Australia) to win the America's Cup.
1962 -- Trans-Canada highway officially opened at Roger's Pass, Alta.
1963 -- Craig Breedlove breaks the land speed record driving his car, Spirit of America, at 407.447 mph.
1964 -- Canadian team wins the four-man bobsled competition at the Innsbruck Olympics and George Hungerford and Roger Jackson win gold in coxless pairs rowing in the summer games at Tokyo.

1965 -- Ralph Nader publishes Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile. It helped to force changes in US safety regulations relating to the design and manufacture of autos.
1968 -- Hugh Porter (Britain) wins world cycling championship, Rome.
1969 -- the RCN's experimental anti-submarine hydrofoil HMCS Bras d'Or exceeds her designed 60 knot speed by 2 knots in tests at Halifax.
1969 -- The Concorde, Anglo-French supersonic jet makes its first test flight.
1969 -- Sidney-to-Hobart sailing race won by Morning Cloud.
1969 -- British cycling champion Peter Buckley dead following training accident.
1975 -- the Ontario government introduces legislation to lower highway speed limits and make the wearing of seatbelts mandatory.
1976 -- world's first scheduled supersonic passenger service is inaugurated when two Concorde jets take off simultaneously from London and Paris; Britain and France begin supersonic service to Washington.
1976 -- CPR's new LRC train sets a new Canadian rail speed record of 129 mph. The previous record of 112 mph was set by a CPR steam locomotive in 1936.
1983 -- new land speed record of 633 mph set by Briton Richard Noble.
1983 -- Australian challenger Australia II defeats US defender Liberty to win the America's Cup, the first American loss in the 132 year history of the race.
1986 -- Greg LeMond becomes the first non-European to win the Tour de France. He wins again 1989 and 1990 after recovering from a serious injury.
1990 -- Arie Luyendyk sets race record for the Indianapolis 500 covering the distance in 2 hours, 41 minutes and 18.404 seconds, at an average speed of 185.981 mph.
1992 -- in winning the Tour de France, Miguel Indurain of Spain sets a record for the fastest average speed, 24.547 mph.
1992-1995 -- Chip Hanauer sets a series of world records for "unlimited" hydroplane racing including one for a 2.5 mile qualifying lap in which he drove his boat Miss Budweiser at a speed of 172.166 mph.
1995 -- Canadian Jacques Villeneuve wins the Indianapolis 500 in a controversial race that saw leader and fellow Canadian Paul Tracy penalized in the late stages of the race for passing the pace car.

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