Andy Green OBE, the only man to break the sound barrier on land, joins Wilton Legends

A central figure in the pursuit of ultimate speed, Andy Green OBE will be part of this year’s Wilton House Wilton Legends. Best known as the driver of ThrustSSC, Green remains the only person to have driven a car faster than the speed of sound, a record that still stands.

He began his career as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, flying high performance aircraft and developing the precision required for extreme speed. That background proved critical when he joined the Land Speed Record programme led by Richard Noble, where control, stability and judgement are measured in fractions of a second.

In October 1997, at Black Rock Desert in Nevada, Green drove ThrustSSC to a two way average of 763mph, officially breaking the sound barrier on land for the first time. The run required two passes in opposite directions within a limited time window, with the car exceeding Mach 1 on both runs. More than two decades later, that remains the current world land speed record.

Since then, Green has continued to work at the forefront of high speed engineering, playing a leading role in the Bloodhound LSR programme, which set out to push the record beyond 1000mph. Alongside record attempts, he has focused on education and engineering outreach, using the project to explain the science behind speed and inspire interest in STEM.

Bringing together experience from aviation, engineering and record breaking performance, Green offers a clear and practical perspective on what it takes to operate at the limits of speed, making him a distinctive addition to the conversations at Wilton House.