The Campbell-Railton Blue Bird was

Sir Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a ...

's final

land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

car. His previous

Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird The Campbell-Napier-Railton Blue Bird was a land speed record car driven by Malcolm Campbell. After Henry Segrave's Golden Arrow, clearly a more powerful engine was required for ''Blue Bird'', with a chassis and transmission to handle it. A s ...

of 1931 was rebuilt significantly. The overall layout and the simple twin deep chassis rails remained, but little else. The bodywork remained similar, with the narrow body, the tombstone radiator grille and the semi-spatted wheels, but the mechanics were new. Most significantly, a larger, heavier and considerably more powerful

Rolls-Royce R The Rolls-Royce R is a British aero engine that was designed and built specifically for air racing purposes by Rolls-Royce Limited. Nineteen R engines were assembled in a limited production run between 1929 and 1931. Developed from the Rolls-Ro ...

V12 engine replaced the old

Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept it in prod ...

, again with supercharger. This required two prominent "knuckles" atop the bodywork, to cover the V12 engine's camboxes. many period photos

1933

''Blue Bird's'' first run was back at

Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Da ...

, setting a record of on 22 February 1933. Campbell now had a car with all the power that he could want, but no way to use all of it. Wheelspin was a problem, losing perhaps from the top speed.

1935

Visually the car was quite different. The bodywork was now rectangular in cross section and spanned the full width over the wheels. Although actually higher, this increased width gave the impression of a much lower and sleeker car, accentuated by the long stabilising tailfin and the purposeful raised ridges over the engine camboxes. This ''Blue Bird'' was clearly a design of the

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

'30s, not the brute heroism of the '20s. Mechanically the changes to the car had focussed on improving the traction, rather than increasing the already generous power. Double wheels and tyres were fitted to the rear axle, to improve grip. The final drive was also split into separate drives to each side. This reduced the load on each drive, allowed the driver position to be lowered, but required the wheelbase to be shortened asymmetrically on one side by . Airbrakes were fitted, actuated by a large air cylinder. For extra streamlining the radiator air intake could be closed by a movable flap, for a brief period during the record itself. ''Blue Bird'' made its first record runs back on Daytona Beach in early 1935. On 7 March 1935 Campbell improved his record to , but the unevenness of the sand caused a loss of grip and he knew the car was capable of more. many period photos The faster car needed a bigger and smoother arena, and this led to the

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bur ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. This time the young

Donald Campbell Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

accompanied his father. On 3 September 1935, it reached breaking the 300 mph barrier for the first time by a bare mile-per-hour, crowning

's record-breaking career. many period photos

Survival today

Alabama Motor Speedway Hall of Fame, Talladega,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

, USA There is a replica in the Campbell gallery at the Lakeland Motor Museum, England. The original is located at the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, ...

, located at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NASC ...

Tour Center.

References

* {{Cite web , title=record-breaking Pendine Sands , url=http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/5907.html , publisher=Sand Speed Wales , format=photos , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100909181752/http://www.sandspeedwales.co.uk/5907.html , archivedate=9 September 2010 Many rare period photos.

1933

1935

Survival today

References

See also