[rosseloh]

> If someone goes faster but never tells anyone, they still went faster.

That's true, and I certainly am not the authority here nor am I knowledgeable enough to pretend to be one....But this reminds me of an argument I had once with someone about Short Takeoff & Landing airplane competitions.

They were bringing up how a group in Alaska was totally incorrect in claiming the competitors at their event were setting world records because (paraphrased) "well I know a guy whose uncle in Idaho took off in a foot less than that on his mountain airstrip, so that video isn't of the world record.".

Did he? Maybe. I can't prove either way. But the difference is, these guys are the, or at least an, authority on STOL world records. If you are serious about setting a record like that, you're going to participate in one of these events. Uncle Jimmy might be a pretty dang good pilot but it really doesn't matter if nobody was there to see it. And the pilots in these all agree that this group is the authority, so why would they recognize a "record" from someone outside it?