Black Rock Desert

The Black Rock Desert is a dry lakebed in the western USA, near the town of Gerlach, Nevada. It has become the site of the annual Burning Man festival. It is informally referred to by burners as the Playa.

It is also the site of the most recent successful attempts on the World Land Speed Record. In 1983, Richard Noble drove the jet-powered Thrust 2 car to a new record of 633mph. Noble also headed up the team that beat the Thrust 2 record. In 1997, Thrust SSC became the world's first, and so far only, supersonic car.