Oh man! Definitely watch the videos because this is addressed multiple times. And while it sounds plausible (it bit Kusenko) it's not the explanation! Here's on

Oh man! Definitely watch the videos because this is addressed multiple times. And while it sounds plausible (it bit Kusenko) it's not the explanation! Here's one reason why: On the craft is a ribbon, it's dangling from the front of the craft. This is called a "telltale" because it tells the direction of the wind from the perspective of the craft. If the craft is at rest, then the telltale points downwind. And if the craft is moving faster than the wind the telltale points the opposite direction -- backwards, if the craft is moving downwind. What you can see from the runs is that while the telltale is pointing backwards (so, the craft is moving faster than the wind) the craft actually continues to accelerate! In fact while the landspeed record was set as 2.8x the ambient windspeed, the craft was still accelerating, and would have gone faster had they not had to brake. The videos have a lot more to say and I found them really fascinating and counterintuitive, I wanna really emphasize that you should watch them if you find the idea banal or trivial.