The 100-ft. ICAP Leopard racing yacht is officially the fastest sailboat on the water having just set a just new transatlantic speed record. The Leopard sailed at an average speed of 15.5 knots, and a top speed of 37.4 knots, to make the 2,925 nautical mile crossing from New York to Cornwall, UK, in seven days, 19 hours and 21 minutes. The record broken by the Leopard, for a monohull sailing craft - i.e. a proper yacht, not a catamaran - with power-assisted winches, was previously held by the 246-ft. superyacht Phocea, which sailed the course in eight days, three hours and 29 minutes. One of the most stylish and technologically advanced yachts ever to be launched, Farr Yacht Design provided the Leopard's basic naval architecture and construction engineering, with styling and interiors by Ken Freivokh. The yacht is available for charter for up to 20 guests at a base rate of £10,000 or about $17,000 per day, including champagne.

[via Duncan Quinn]

Back in May we reported that a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa had sold at auction for $12 million, setting a new world record and becoming the de facto most expensive car in the world. Now that record is quite possibly about to be shattered by a bespoke, one-of-a-kind 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II 40/50 HP Continental "All-Weather Convertible" custom made for an Indian Maharaja. The incredible car (above), known as the "Star of India", is being sold off by famed Rolls-Royce collector Hans-Günther Zach, who's liquidating his private museum dedicated to the marque in Germany. It's expected to fetch as much as €10 million or $14 million, beating the Ferrari by a wide margin. The Star is just one of classic and collectible 24 Rolls-Royces Zach is accepting bids for until Sept. 15th.

[via JamesList]

Check out a video of the Star of India after the jump.

The ultra-rare 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa (which my colleague Noah Joseph wrote about back in February) just set a new world record for the most expensive motor car ever to be sold at auction, achieving a final price of €9,020,000 or about $12.2 million at RM Auctions' annual Leggenda e Passione event in Italy. The beautiful Scaglietti-designed "pontoon-fender" 250 TR was one of only 22 made. One of the most instantly recognizable cars in Ferrari's history, it's highly coveted by collectors - Ralph Lauren owns two of them.

"The historical significance of this car attracted a bidding war as collectors from around the world - both in the room and on the telephone – competed to secure one of the most alluring and iconic of all Ferrari racing cars," said Max Girardo, Managing Director of RM Europe. "The eyes of the world were watching today's sale as cars of this quality are so rarely offered to the market. The quality and the provenance of the Testa Rossa speaks for itself and the price we achieved today is testament to that."

Cut and light a double corona, and you're likely to draw comments about size, compensation and the like. So, imagine how the locals at your smoke shop would react to Jose Castelar's latest creation. He just set the world cigar rolling record (his fourth), doubling his last one. The result was a cigar 142 feet long.

The world record holder smoked his last record breaking cigar – 67 feet long – in 2005. At the time, he promised to continue breaking records ... and four years later, he's come through in style.

What's next? Castelar wants to roll a cigar the length of Malecon, Havana's six-mile seaside promenade.

The Cuban cigar roller, interestingly, limits himself to one cigar a day. What he does not say, however, is how long it is.

Here's a fun traffic jam to be a part of: a group of 385 Ferraris parading down the Silverstone circuit in England. It happened just a week or so ago on June 9th as part of a celebration to mark the company's anniversary year. Just a few of the models present were a 250 California Spider, a 275GTB/C, FXX, F40, F50 and an Enzo. The total value of all the Ferraris involved is estimated to be more than $118.4 million.

For the event the cars traveled slowly over a 2 mile course, made sure to stay within 2 car lengths of each other, and were counted both at the beginning and at the end. A representative from Guinness World Records certified the event as a new world record and presented Ferrari officials with a certificate.

What? No certificates for the individual owners/drivers? Bummer.

Flowers seem to be a fairly standard Valentine's Day gift, one that is so expected that it is actually quite difficult to impress your Valentine with them without going to extremes. Filling up a room with roses could be prohibitively expensive, but the World's Tallest Roses, while still pricey, might make even more of an impression. Just look at how pleased the woman in the picture is to see the roses!

The roses are over five feet tall and are carried exclusively by Organic Bouquet. The roses are imported from Equador, where the combination of sun and volcanic soil allows them to reach such impressive heights. Price for 1 dozen: $250.

[via growabrain]

We mentioned that Pasion Azteca was the most expensive tequila back in June, priced at $150,000 per bottle. And June was a long time ago, as the company that put it out, Ley .925, has already outdone themselves to set a world record for the priciest tequila ever made. The new version is a Grand Reserve Pasion Azteca. The tequila is made of 100% Blue Agave, aged for 6 years and is packaged in a platinum bottle. It already sold to a collector for $225,000.

The creator of the tequila, Fernando Altamirano, already has his sights set even higher. He plans to create a million-dollar tequila over the course of the next year, packaged in a bottle made of platinum and encrusted with diamonds.

Steve Fossett has touched down at Bournemouth Airport putting a successful end to the Ultimate Flight. Fossett, who broke the world record for the longest flight ever at 26.389.3 miles and a duration of 76 hours and 45 minutes. Fossett was supposed to land at Kent International Airport, but had to make an emergency landing when his generator failed.  It was a rough landing, two tires burst and his windscreen was iced up but he is now on land and in need of a nap.

Although it was predicted that it might be a few days delayed, the Global Flyer took off this morning after all. Steve Fossett left NASA Kennedy Space Center at 7:22am and is currently zooming around the world. He has spent the day flying over the Atlantic and is currently approaching the African Coast. The takeoff was a bit bumpy as it took the aircraft a while to lift off and two birds hit the aircraft. All seems to be going well currently but weather patterns could cause a bit of a concern.

The GlobalFlyer is set to go again on the new mission to set a record for the longest non-stop flight of an airplane. The plane should take off from Kennedy Space Center tomorrow morning. The GlobalFlyer team has been given a code green status meaning weather conditions are expected to be good to go. The flight should launch tomorrow morning at 6:42 am. I wonder if Branson is lending Steve Fossett his Breitling for this flight too.

[via Aero-News Network]