HIS training regime is more pie and pint than pasta and chicken but in the fastest sport in the world Mark Calland reigns supreme.

The human bullet has clocked an amazing average of 311mph without an engine in the daredevil sport of speed sky-diving and at one stage he was travelling at 325mph.

Mark, 40, from Lowton, near Leigh, is deadly serious about the hobby that requires nerves of steel.

Competitors launch themselves out of a plane at 13,500ft and plummet headfirst with their hands by their sides trying to make their bodies as aerodynamic as possible.

Two computers, about the size of a matchbox, are attached to the side of their parachute to calculate speed.

Hiseffort will not be recognised as a world record because it was achieved during a practice run.

But he is confident that he will soon break that barrier at an official training practice, or competition, and beat the record of 306mph.Mark, managing director of MSC Installations which installs fire curtains, took up the sport only three years ago but is ranked world number one.

He caught the sky-diving bug after doing a charity jump for the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

And he is using a new suit, which has been designed and made by Goldstein Research Laboratory in Eccles - part of Manchester University - and Ian Chapman who runs manufacturing firm Original Lizard.

Mark said: "Once you're above 220mph the air goes very hard, like concrete, and it's a question of trying to keep yourself as stable as possible within the tube of softer air you're creating with your head.

"If your legs start wobbling or fishtailing you can feel them hitting the sides of the tube and you have to try to stay calm because if you over-correct things, it could go wrong and you'd be in big trouble."

He deploys his parachute at 3,000ft.
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