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Sir Chris Hoy made history by winning his sixth Olympic title on a day when Britain claimed its best medal haul at a Games for more than a century.

Sir Chris's triumph in the frenzied atmosphere of the velodrome means he now has more golds than any other British Olympian - Sir Steve Redgrave has five.

Team GB's medal tally is now 48 - 22 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze - making it the most successful Games since the London Olympics of 1908.

After winning the keirin title Sir Chris, 36, rolled around the velodrome draped in the Union flag as the audience, which included Prince Harry, raised the roof.

He told the BBC: "It's just unbelievable; it's the most amazing feeling.

"This is the perfect end to my Olympic career."

Before Sir Chris's record-breaking victory the new star of British women's cycling Laura Trott, 20, won her second gold of the Games.

An ecstatic Trott now joins an elite club of British women to have won double gold at a single Games, including Dame Kelly Holmes and Rebecca Adlington.

She said: "I can't believe this is happening to me, I really can't. I am so happy."

The double Olympic champion only took up cycling because of poor health after being born with a collapsed lung and diagnosed with asthma.

She took regular bike rides around her home in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, on a Saturday morning after being told she would need to take part in sport to help regulate her breathing.

She was full of thanks for her parents, saying: "I couldn't have done it without them."

Her sister Emma, a road race cyclist, looked emotional as she said: "She's not just done our family proud, she's done the nation proud."

But the outgoing face of British cycling Victoria Pendleton could only manage a silver in her sprint showdown with Australian arch-rival Anna Meares.

The 31-year-old said: "I've been a bit overwhelmed with emotion.

"I would have loved to have won on my final race but I'm just so glad that's it all done and I can move on."

Earlier the Team GB gold rush continued as the dressage team trotted to a historic victory over Germany.

Team dressage has been dominated by Germany in every Games since 1984 - but the magic of London 2012 meant that this was yet another bastion to fall to an apparently unstoppable Team GB.

The team of Carl Hester, Laura Bechtolsheimer and Charlotte Dujardin put in an exquisite performance in this most rarefied of equine sports.

The Brownlee brothers raced to Olympic glory in one of the most dramatic races yet at London 2012.

Alistair Brownlee took gold and his brother Jonny won bronze despite being given a 15-second penalty.

As he closed in on victory Alistair grabbed a Union flag from the crowd, wrapped it around his shoulders and walked triumphantly across the finish line in Hyde Park.

He waited to embrace his brother who had to fight incredibly hard to overcome the penalty given for mounting his bike too quickly after swimming the Serpentine.

Britain had never won a triathlon medal before but Alistair was favourite, having dominated triathlon over the last four years.

The two brothers were roared on by vast crowds around the course in central London, and also by hundreds of fans in their home city of Leeds.

Alistair said: "To get two of us, two brothers, two British brothers, on the podium is absolutely... you couldn't ask for any more."

There was an unexpected bronze in the Olympic Stadium for Londoner Robbie Grabarz in the high jump.

He said: "I'm so happy - I'm over the moon."

Grabarz is one of the most colourful characters in the British team, leaving a university course he cannot remember the full name of, posing naked for a gay magazine and admitting to looking vacant all the time because he deliberately empties his head at night.

He even considered quitting athletics last year to restore classic cars for a living before a few harsh words from his coach turned his career around.

And there was further success in Weymouth as Nick Dempsey took silver in the men's windsurfing.

Dempsey, born in Norwich and raised in Peterborough, adds silver to Great Britain's sailing medal haul after Ben Ainslie won gold on Sunday and Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson took silver.

He said: "I am just massively relieved, I think, more than anything.

"I was desperate to finish second here so I am certainly massively happy and glad I could do it for a lot of people that have helped me."