+ Click to Enlarge ANOTHER RECORD: Mike Newman has broken his own land speed record for a blind person driving solo.

October 12, 2005

The world land speed record for a blind person driving solo has been broken yet again by Briton Mike Newman.

Newman and his Speed of Sight team used a de-restricted BMW M5 at Evington airfield near York in central England on Tuesday to record a two-way average of 167.32mph (269.3km/h) over a measured mile.

His top speed on one run was 178.5mph (287.3km/h).

Newman was chasing his own previous record of 144.7mph (232.9km/h) set in a Jaguar in August 2003 at the same airfield and, given a longer runway, the BMW M5 could have reached 330km/h.

The record was made possible by state-of-the-art computers, communications and microSAT GPS equipment supplied by sponsors Scan Computers, Site Link and Datron Technologies.

Newman said afterwards: "This was dedicated to the charity Vision '2020: The Right To Sight on World Sight Day' whose aim is to eradicate preventable and avoidable blindness by the year 2020."

He continued: "Not enough is done to help vision-impaired people - in many cases simply increasing the levels of Vitamin A in a child’s diet or a simple cataract operation could transform a life.

"I hope this record draws increased attention to this very important global issue."