Idris Elba may be most well known as an actor in movies like Thor and Pacific Rim, but he’s also a car enthusiast who has set a new speed record. He got behind the wheel of a Bentley Continental GT Speed and broke an 88-year-old flying mile speed record on a beach in Wales.
Unlike other timed races, a flying mile lets a driver get up to speed before hitting a timed zone. To officially set the record, the race is run twice within one hour and in opposite directions. Elba set his record at the Pendine Sands in southern Wales.
Elba drove the 626 horsepower Bentley at an average of 180.4 MPH with a top speed of 186.4 MPH to break the record set back in 1927. That one was set by Sir Malcolm Campbell in a car called the Napier-Campbell Blue Bird. He later went on to be the first person who drove a car over 300 MPH at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1935.
Elba’s stunt was all part of a new Discovery Channel series. He will be starring in Idris Elba: No Limits which is set to air this coming July.
