
Elon Musk Says Hyperloop Hit a Top Speed of 288 MPH Before Exploding - rmason
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/elon-musk-hyperloop-top-speed-record-virgin-hyperlooptt-a9015381.html
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Someone
_”The latest speed record is not only a long way off this prediction, it is
also not on the same level as the fastest high-speed trains currently in use
in China and elsewhere around the world.”_

That is a bit unfair; these machines only had 1.2 km of tunnel to accelerate
_and_ come to a stop.

These also are one-off events, more like an Olympic final than like an
engineering test, where you can fix things and try again. The Delft hyperloop
([https://delfthyperloop.nl/en/](https://delfthyperloop.nl/en/)), for example,
expected/hoped to reach 640km/h, but its brakes activated too early. In an
engineering setup, that seems repairable within a day (depending on how the
vacuum tunnel worked). In a sporting event, it means losing.

