BLIND driver Steve Cunningham claimed an astonishing land speed record when he blasted down the runway at RAF Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire, in an 180mph supercar.

Despite attrocious weather conditions, Steve averaged 147.56mph over a measured mile behind the wheel of an 8000cc Chrysler Viper. This shattered the previous record for a blind driver which stood at 135.2mph. Steve has been completely blind since the age of 12. As he drove the £69,000 V-10 engined supercar his passenger and 'eyes,' Peter Colmer Gwynne, a professional rally driving instructor, shouted instructions through an intercom system inside their crash helmets. Months of training went into this record attempt.

"When we set out to do this we knew it would take a lot of hard work but it has certainly been worth the effort," said a jubilant Steve after the record breaking run.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.