CM Insider

The upcoming six-part ITV series Speed Freaks will follow daredevil Zef Eisenberg as he attempts to break the British land speed record in a specially-built Porsche 911 at Pendine Sands in south Wales.

With more than 40 land speed records currently to his name, Zef has already set the British land speed record of 201.5mph on a supercharged Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle in 2018 – also at Pendine Sands – but wants to achieve the same on four wheels and become the first person since F1 driver John Surtees to hold both records at the same time. He’s hoping to achieve more than 210mph behind the wheel of a road-legal 1200bhp Porsche 911 Turbo S.

Pendine Sands is a seven-mile stretch of beach which has been the scene of both incredible triumphs and terrible tragedies. On February 4, 1927, Sir Malcolm Campbell set the land speed record there in his Bluebird Railton, with an average ‘flying mile’ speed of 174.224mph. Less than a month later, John Parry Thomas lost his life attempting to break that record and Campbell never returned, despite setting his sights on 200mph. On May 8, 2015, actor Idris Elba broke the Pendine Sand record with an average ‘flying mile’ speed of 180.361mph in a Bentley Continental GT Speed.

In order to prepare for this dangerous feat, Zef is scouring the nation to meet fellow motoring mavericks and glean essential engineering knowhow from their experiences, whether it’s fitting a 24,000cc W12 aero-engine into a car or building a full Dakar offroad racer from scratch. On the way, Zef will be getting behind the wheel and under the bonnet of Britain’s fastest cars, bikes and boats.

He will also be challenging his team of mechanics – Tessa Whittock, Martin Richards and Simon Bucknell – to take a different vehicle in each 60-minute episode and use their expertise to make it as fast as humanly possible. The knowledge they gain will play a crucial part in helping Zef succeed in his record attempt.

Speed Freaks will screen on ITV4 in late summer 2019.