A simple question I just haven't bothered to look into
So take empty space, and not just regular space, truly empty space void of anything to cause even the smallest amount of friction. Since there would be no friction and an unlimited amount of fuel, what in physics is stopping you from going faster than light?
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The simple answer is you'd break appart. The complex answer is the photons that help your electrons interact with protons wouldn't be able to keep the electrons to the protons. Your atoms would disintegrate, and so would you. (Photons are the particles for electromagnetism)
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Relativity theory. c is the fastest speed possible in the universe.
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Einstein's Theory of Relativity. The speed of light is the absolute speed limit of the universe because space and time will warp to extreme lengths in order to preserve that limit. In order for an object with mass to move at the speed of light it must have infinite energy due to space increasing its effective mass as it accelerates to the speed of light. Additionally, time slows down as a object approaches the speed of light. As such, time comes to a standstill at lightspeed. TL;DR: The universe does everything in its power to keep you from reaching lightspeed.
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There is no such thing as a true vacuum. Quantum chromodynamics can show why that's true. Either way the speed of light is the speed of light in a vacuum. While not in a vacuum, the speed of light is c/n, where n is how light propagates in that medium.
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But if you were in a true vacuum
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Warp Drives are being discussed right now as a plausible way to exceed the speed of light. It works by warping space around an object via a ring of exotic matter, thus creating a perfect vacuum inside the ring. Check out this article for more info on Warp Drives: [url=http://www.zmescience.com/space/warp-drive-plausible-nasa-research-312031/]NASA: ‘warp drive is plausible’ – experiments under way [/url]
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It's more about moving the space around you to "exceed" lightspeed than actually exceeding lightspeed.