84 years ago nearly to the day (in late March of 1927), Major Henry Seagrave completely smashed the 200 mph (320 km/h) barrier in the 1000 hp 'Mystery S' car built by Sunbeam.Â* The bright red bullet, affectionately known as the Slug, flashed along ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
excellent read this morning! thanks dude! quite a ways. i'd think, i dunno... three times the distance it took to GET to the speed? depends on the surface you're running (rolling resistance) mass, wind... hell, the heat of the suns radiation on the surface of the vehicle... im no math wiz, but the equation for this has got to be something looking like it should be painted on the wall of a pyramid on the Giza plateau or carved on an aztec temple lol
Daytona Beach is truly the birthplace of speed. I have always been interested in the history of their LSR meets and the brave racers.
Guy was way ahead of his time, like many land speed pioneers. Got my history lesson for the day....keep em coming!
Imagine, it took until 2010 for a Sunbeam to go faster!!! Doc Mayfield now owns the World's Fastest Sunbeam, it just took a while.
Rather curious that all those Sunbeam aero engines that held so many land speed records in the '20s were pretty much flops in things with wings and, while they did lots of different designs, the company's inability to get one or two good ones out the door in quantity helped send them into bankruptcy. The LSR program was really run on money they didn't have.
Amazing footage, especially the aerial shots, 1927, wow!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o> </o> Can anyone recommend any good threads (or books) on the history of Land Speed Racing in Daytona?<o></o>
Thanks for posting the photos of me and my car on the salt! The two old geezers are, left: Chuck Colley aka Funbeam Chuck, right: Dale Pulju crew chief. That's me sitting in the driver's seat, helmet on. Wife is in teh F250 behind the car. This is the day when I averaged 204.913 mph in the last mile. The exit speed was 210.779 mph so I was still gaining speed. This was to have been a checkout run. I had had an rpm limiting issue and this was to see if I could get over that limit. Yes, I did, but only around the middle of the 4th mile. Neither me or the car had ever been that fast before. Scared spitless, lol.. Car drifitng around and actually breaking rear tire traction at times. Drove the last mile with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the chute release. Man, was I ever glad to see the 5 mile marker. Popped the chute and car went dead straight to stop easily within a mile... Oh, the date was Sept 16, 2010 at World of Speed. Fun! Building a slightly smaller motor now, a 289 CID, and adding some swoopiness to the front end. The thing is a barn door aerodynamically. Stay tuned for 2012! drmayf doc mayfield and thanks again!
People mention the brave drivers, How about the brave spectators standing feet away from a world record. Could only imagine the what they were thinking way back then watching an Englishman breaking 200mph on American soil.
Holy cow! Going 200+ in that would be like jumping out of an airplane with a bed sheet for a parachute!
Jive-Bomber Jay - Very cool ... thanks for posting! Here's some more pics ('cuz a Blog/thread can never have too many ) ... ... B&W photos: ... a Cutaway drawing: ... Post Cards & artwork:
... and some recent photos taken @ the National Motor Museum (Beaulieu/Hampshire, UK): click thumbnails to enlarge
The Jalopy Journal
