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Since the beginning
of recorded history, Britain has been at the forefront in record attempts
of many different varieties with speed being no exception.
With the development
of the motor car, man has strived to push himself faster and further than
ever before. The quest for the speed record itself began in Britain in
1914 at Brooklands when LG Hornstead claimed the record in a 200 hp Benz
No 1 reaching a speed of 124.09 mph (200 kph) and setting the first two-way
record.
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From then onwards
Britain led the field, dominated by Malcolm Campbell. In 1925, Cambell
was the first man to exceed 150 mph (241 kph) and ten years later
recorded a speed of 301 mph (484 kph) in the Campbell Rolls-Royce
Railton BlueBird which earned him a knighthood. |
| The USA then
held the record from 1947 until 1983 with such famous names as the
turbojet powered Spirit of America in 1965 and the rocket powered
Blue Flame in 1970. The honours were returned to Britain in 1983 with
Richard Noble’s Thrust 2 and most recently with the awesome Thrust
SSC driven by Andy Green reaching a staggering 763.035mph (1228 kph)
- the first supersonic record at Mach 1.016 in 1997. As yet this record
has not been challenged. |
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The British desire
to break records also continues on water with Britain’s first success
in 1930 by Henry Seagrave in Miss England II reaching 98.76 mph.
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Malcolm Campbell
then claimed the record for several years in BlueBird K3 and K4, reaching
141.74 mph. He was later followed by his son Donald Campbell with
Bluebird K7 who held and increased the record for 11 years, reaching
276.33 mph in Australia, until the terrible accident on Coniston Water
that claimed his life. |
The Australian, Ken
Warby, holds the current record at 317.60 mph, which was set in 1978.
Britain has also played
an important role in the history of speed records on two wheels. C R Collier,
reaching a top speed of 91.23 mph in the Matchless-JAP motorcycle, took
the first British record in 1911 at Brooklands. Sidney George then exceeded
this in 1914, also at Brooklands when he reached a speed of 93.48 mph
in the 'Indian'.
| The latest British
campaign is the Gillette Mach3 Challenger, a rocket-propelled motorcycle
built and ridden by Richard "Rocketman" Brown. The Challenger was
designed to reach speeds in excess of 332mph, with the sole aim of
bringing the record back to Britain. |
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