There are a just handful of people who have reached 300mph on land but a Maidstone businessman is hoping to join the exclusive club.

Geoff Stilwell is a self-proclaimed petrol head and currently holds a landspeed record after pushing his 7707 Lucas Oil landspeeder to 258.69mph – but his ambitions lie further than just being the fastest in his class.

The 66-year-old CEO of Beechwood Underwriting Agencies wants to join famous names such as Andy Green, John Cobb and Major Sir Malcolm Campbell in being one of six Brits to have exceeded the incredible speed.

Mr Stilwell, who hopes to achieve the feat on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the United States, said: "This year the target is to run at least 300mph at Bonneville.

"If I do I will be one of five or six Brits to have done that on a landspeeding course and join the 300mph club, which is a very exclusive club."

He has had a passion for motor racing since an early age but it was in 2015 when the thrill of landspeed caught him on the end of its hook – and a friend suggested he get behind the wheel.

"We were in front of 300 luminaries of the motor-racing world and he said 'Geoff is going to drive one of my cars next year'.

"I thought 'oh Lordy,' was he joking? But he wasn’t and so in 2016 I turned up at Bonneville with my suit and my helmet and that's when it started."

Since then, Mr Stilwell has constructed his own landspeeder and has had his eyes set on breaking the 300mph barrier.

Built out of the chassis of a 1927 Ford Model-T, his car currently holds the record for the fastest A-class rear piston-engined car since 2018.

Due to a number of uncontrollable circumstances, the business tycoon has not been able to make the trip across the pond to reach his goals but once the borders opened in November, he did not waste time booking his schedule.

He said: "We took the car to Bonneville in 2019 and the heavens opened, it was like being in a salt bath.

"When it rains at Bonneville, which is unusual in the summer, it really rains and the salt starts to melt. It's like you’re sitting in a lake basically so we couldn’t run.

"In 2020 and 2021 Covid meant we couldn’t get out there because they shut the borders but then they reopened in November.

"We got out there as quickly as we could so we could pick up the last meeting of the year.

"We went 193mph in the mile at only 17% throttle and it was under 3,000rpm.

"This car is geared for 350mph at 6,000rpm, so if everything is equal and the weather conditions are good and the track is good technically, in theory it should be able to break it."

The car leaves the start line for dust. Footage: Geoff Stilwell

Mr Stilwell plans to head for Bonneville, where he hopes to have the honour of adding his name to the list of 300mph achievers.

But he has pals who have gone even faster – reaching an astonishing 400mph.

"You get a blue hat for running 300mph – it may not seem much but it says 300 chapter on the side and if you were to run 400 you get a black hat," he said.

"I have friends that have done that but there is literally less than 20 people on the planet who have exceeded 400mph on the ground.

Mr Stilwell's car being worked on. Footage: Geoff Stilwell

"I have a couple of friends that live in their hats because it's such an achievement."

Mr Stilwell has to indulge in his passion in the US as there is nowhere in the UK with enough space to do it.

There are seven miles of beach at Pendine Sands in Wales where Campbell broke the record in Blue Bird in the 1920s and motor racing meets are still held today, while Elvington, based at an RAF airfield near York, is the longest in England at two miles.

But both are trumped by the vast 12-mile expanse at Bonneville, where landspeeding was born.

As a result, Mr Stilwell has made plans to visit his racing operation in Los Angeles over a number of dates of the year.

"My schedule this year is six races so May, June, August, September, October, and the last one is November 14, 15, so it's from May to November."

He hopes that at one of these events he will finally get to write his name in the history books.

"To join one of these clubs is an honour," he said. "If, for example, I was able to go more than 400mph, more people have walked on the moon than have exceeded 400mph."