This is a bit hysterical actually... An editor for a mainstream performance magazine gave me a call a few weeks ago looking for information on Sir Malcolm Campbell. He was writing a piece covering his life and times and figured a guy like me would kn... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
and, like so many things of historical importance, they go through a period where they are just considered scrap. Some are lost forever and some are found and can be enjoyed again. This photo was taken when the car sat in a junk yard in England...
Just amazing. Imagine 300 mph in those cars? And that tire looked pretty freaky,but I would think wet sand would be pretty abrasive at those speeds. I like the part about the "world's fastest wizz". Obviously something lost in the British translation there. A great story. Thank you for posting it.
Thanks Ryan. Pretty amazing stuff. http://www.sirmalcolmcampbell.com/ http://www.bluebird-electric.net/sir_malcolm_campbell.htm http://www.landspeedrecordcards.com/Sir_Malcolm_Campbell.htm His son was no slouch. Donald Campbell raced turbo-jet hydroplanes one was named Bluebird as well. http://www.lesliefield.com/galleries/donald_campbell_and_bluebird.htm
hmmm...going to have to do some archiving digging, as Mr. Campbell and his family (and the "Bluebirds") have a very very very long history of record breaking.
Ryan - Cool post! ... that 2nd video IS absolutely incredible! I've always dug Jack Vettrianos painting entitled "Bluebird At Bonneville": ... and my son digs this version:
that car must have been some big deal back then, they made a pressed steel toy version. it's about 15" long.
Read all about SMC in a little book I have called 'Speed on Sand'. Picked it up from a small museum that used to exist in Ormond Beach called The Birthplace of Speed. Awesome... http://
The dubbed sound on the first newsreel sure sounds like an Offy to me. Typical Hollywood. It's definitely different than the 'raw' footage. Newsreel companies used biplanes for aerial shots before helicopters: I remember one many years ago at a boat race on Salton Sea. Bluebird was twice as fast!
The sound of that thing roaring by in the second video was a joy to the ears. It sounded like a pre-war fighter plane going by at low altitude and the amount of Dopler shift as it passed made it perfectly clear that he was moving very, very quickly.
I can`t believe the size of that thing...and seeing it blast past the photo plane like it was parked up is awesome.The Campbells were a family of speed addicts, his son Donald, lost his life on Coniston Water just north of here chasing the water speed record...his body was never found, but his boat was discovered and recovered a few years ago and is being restored. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL3Vi6iyHOU http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...217-s-craft-rebuilt-speed-Coniston-again.html
Its true, they don't make 'em like they used to. And I'm not just referring to the car. His son Donald was very similar.
Blue Bird is in a museum in Talledega. There's also a replica in the UK. The sound in the second video is from the Rolls Royce V12 aircraft engine (pre-Merlin).
The later Bluebirds were simply stunning looking vehicles.... On 17th July 1964, Donald Campbell (1921-1967) claimed the world land speed record at Lake Eyre, Australia, driving this gas turbine-powered Bluebird-Proteus car. Averaging a speed of 403.1 mph (648.8 kph), he achieved the only such record to be set outside the United States in recent times. Bluebird cost £1 million to build and was powered by a 4250 bhp Bristol-Siddeley Proteus gas turbine engine. In 1967, Campbell was killed on Coniston Water in Cumbria attempting to become the first to reach 300 mph on water.
As a kid in Australia in the early 1960s Donald Campbell was my hero and the same for most other kids at school. He was in the news often enough. Pretty much a household name in Australia then. I had a plastic model of the above Bluebird that could be bought at the BP gas stations at that time. The model was about 16 inches long. BTW the Bluebird - Proteus was driven by power to the 4 wheels .
Donald Campbells body was found and recovered when they were salvaging the boat. He finally had a proper burial, I´m glad to say.
What gets me is the "safety equipment" I love the coverall firesuit, leather helmet and goggles! I wonder what kind of restraints if any were used in the cockpit?
We were lucky enough to tour Joe Gertler's shop on Long Island years ago, and his son Joe Jr. showed us scrapbook photos of his dad enclosing the wheels on the Bluebird for Malcom's next attempt, which again broke the record. Joe is on here from time to time, I think. Would be neat to hear his storys...
I have this hanging in my living room, I just love it. http://www.art.com/products/p129144...feb4382a5c9c2de3c5ad95a&searchstring=bluebird
Got the same picture right here sitting on the wall over the computer...Jack Vettriano is a very talented artist and has a real eye for the female form, he has got another couple of car pictures and they capture the moment perfectly...take a browse at some of his work here;... http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1I7GGIC_en&ndsp=20&tbs=isch:1
The Campbells, father & son, were real heroes In eras where thir exploits were appreciated. They made headline news. How many people today know Andy Green is the fastest man on earth?