Mr Clarkson was instructed to drive a Renault Magnum lorry through a wall at 56mph - the vehicle's maximum legal speed - at a test track near Milton Keynes.

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After returning and graduating from Purdue, Neil applied to become a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base.

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James Anderson is still feeling his way back into Test cricket, and is delivering some lovely balls at high speed going across the left-handers but most of the batsmen are not good enough to edge those.

BBC: Jonathan Agnew column

At my first test location, the T-Mobile Rocket drove the ThinkPad to an average download speed of 4.88 megabits per second, versus just 1.36 megabits per second for the Verizon data modem.

WSJ: A review of T-Mobile's HSPA+ system

During that era of rapid innovation, lives were sacrificed -- by test pilots in space and Gemini astronauts on the ground -- but the space program moved ahead at light speed.

CNN: Space is still the new frontier

For the city test, the cars are driven on an 11-mile, stop-and-go journey at an average speed of 20 miles per hour that lasts 31 minutes and includes 23 stops.

FORBES: Fuel Economy Sticker Shock