The current world speed land record is 763 mph, but this record may be about to change significantly if one speed addicted aficionado has anything to do with it. Southern California native, Waldo Stakes, is working on a rocket car that he hopes will hit a speed of 2,000 mph.

The car, which is called the Sonic Wind LSRV, is powered by an XLR99 rocket engine that was developed for the X-15 - an aircraft that can hit a top speed of 4,520 mph. He started his project back in 2003 and has currently put together a wooden model about 4 feet long that looks more like a dart than a car.

"The Sonic Wind Land Speed Research Vehicle will be the premier land speed car and the most powerful car ever seen on the planet," Stakes claims in his video tour of the project. "Nothing being built in Australia or Great Britain or planned by any nation will be able to touch this car in its velocity. And its stability will be second to none."

Stakes must have a lot of faith in his work to be able to make such claims without a real prototype to back him up. So much faith, in fact, that we are inclined to believe him, but we'll save our final say for when the rocket car actually puts tires to paved roads.

Find out more about the Sonic Wind LSRV after the jump

Design

The Sonic Wind LSRV was designed with a safety capsule that was built using hardened steel and a rounded end capped cylinder wrapped in composite material for strength and abrasion resistance. The driver of the vehicle will be suspended in a Kevlar web hammock that is stretched over a 4130 chrome moly steel tube frame. To ensure added strength for this one-of-a-kind machine, designers will be wrapping the capsule in fiberglass.

Safety features are also paramount for a car that's looking to break the world land speed record. In the case of the Sonic Wind LSRV, the designers are installing two small supersonic parachutes that will be anchored to the back of the capsule. In the untimely event that something goes wrong, the pair of chutes will be ready to deploy to slow down the bullet.

The development and build of the Sonic Wind LSRV is being worked on by a team of experienced fabricators and scientists headed by Waldo Stakes and his organization, Land Speed Research Vehicles LLC, with the assistance of Dan Moser, a highly-regarded rocket engineer.

Currently, the car is still under development and is being built to military standards to ensure that it's of top-quality. According to Stakes, the car is already 40% complete and already racking up around $8 million. The target date for the car's completion, should it secure more funding and finish all testing phases, has been pegged at around 18 months. Count that down and you're looking at either June or July of 2013 before the Sonic Wind LSRV is unleashed.

Engine

The Sonic Wind LSRV is being prepared to break the current land speed record of 763 mph. To do that, Stakes and his team will be using an absurdly powerful XLR-99 rocket engine, a modified version of the rocket engine that was used X-15 rocket aircraft, which set it's own record in 1967, hitting 4,520 mph, or in aviation parlance, Mach 6.72.

In its final configuration, the Sonic Wind LSRV will be carrying 220 gallons - 1,980 lbs! - of liquid oxygen and 230 gallons - 1,840 lbs. - of methanol.

While it's unrealistic to expect the Sonic Wind LSRV to hit the same top speed of the X-15, engineers are already expecting the vehicle to hit a top speed in excess of 1,400 mph, which is a little over Mach 2/680.58 m/s. On top of that, the team will also fit the car with larger tanks, enabling the vehicle to hit its ultimate top speed of 2,200 mph, numbers that are considered Mach 3.

No Other Vehicle Like It

When all is said and done, the Sonic Wind LSRV is expected to re-write the record books in ways that have never been done in the past. We're holding off on our judgments until after the vehicle is finished and ready to break the record, but if this vehicle is everything it says it is, then it's going to be a machine that no other in this world can even compare with.

That much we can guarantee.