Other Speed Record Breakers Are Available!

[Mike Bull]

The thread about John Cobb got me thinking...here we're mostly concerned with one Bluebird K7, and while some care about every last thing to do with speed records, some only care about Bluebird, or just a few select cars/boats.

For me it's Bluebird K7 (duh!) with only a passing interest in CN7, and then the two 'Thrust' endeavours of Richard Noble. (I adore 'Thrust 2' the most, as that was 'my' speed record vehicle when I was a kid, and I still love the sheer brutishness of the thing!)
Those apart I only have a very cursory interest in other speed record breakers/their machines. Cobb's Crusader I guess, and of course one Mr Warby. What are your interests?

Thrust_2_reheat.jpg

[Renegadenemo]

SSC for me. The sheer audacity of it and the very Britishness of solving such a crazy set of engineering problems. Fabulous.

Oh, and I like that blue boat too.

[bluebirdsback]

For me it has to be the blueboat closely followed by CN7. Even before i started school i watched Donalds attempts at new records, My dad used to say. "Hes trying again" and we would watch with baited breath and cheer as he notched another one up. I was 13 on his last attempt and still remember feeling gutted that we would never watch again that graceful machine skimming across the water. Little did i know that 40 odd years later i would be banging rivets into her to achieve as part of a team that event i thought we would never see again. Sadly my dad is no longer with us but if he were he would be first on the bus to see it. All of these other machines have done the job of taking records but to me the Bluebirds take the crown for grace and beauty. "British engineering old boy"

[Mike Bull]

Well, that's 'Rob's Dad' added to my 'remind me why I'm doing this again?' list!

(As for banging in rivets, I hope my new avatar meets with approval- it's 'Rosie The Riveter' from WW2!)

[bluebirdsback]

Hi Rosie im Rob and Single

[Renegadenemo]

Hey, Rob, best you run back you your good lady before she reads your last post and hope Rosie never gets her hands on your rivet. Wouldn't like to mess with her, methinks.

As for dads, mine is still here, an avid watcher of the project even though after a long career of chasing the next dollar he doesn't get why there's dust settling on my desk and I've abandoned the cut and thrust of the business world in favour of being showered in aluminium shavings for no pay most days. Yet the old bugger (68 today) will be first up there with the bragging rights when we take our tin boat back to Coniston. Likewise, I'm sure Rob's old fella is in good company and no further from the action than Donald, Leo, the Norris boys and all the rest of them who have to watch from the other side.

[Mike Bull]

Oh t'riffic, now I have the image of a horny little Rob trying to hump my avatar!

Here are some scans from some old prints (remember those?!) that I took years ago at the Coventry Motor Museum;

A fat lad and a very dusty Thrust 2. I arranged to have the car to myself for a bit one day before the place opened to the public. Bliss!

Thrust 2.jpg

T2's cockpit. Heaven knowns how the not-exactly-short Noble got in and out of here!

Thrust 2 cockpit.jpg

The somewhat battered rear end of SSC-

SSC.jpg

[rob565uk]

One record-breaker I really admire but who tends to get glossed over is Captain George E. T. Eyston. A highly decorated Soldier (MC as I recall) and outstanding Engineer with several patents to his name, he developed a number of record breaking cars in various classes, culminating in the mighty "Thunderbolt" mounting two Rolls Royce R engines of 37 litres each and weighing some 7 tons. He designed the car himself and it was built in a very short period of around 6 months. During the 1930s he and John Cobb provided a wonderful showcase of British design, engineering, skill and bravery as they battled it out at Bonneville - Eyston with Thunderbolt reaching an eventual peak of 357mph before being beaten by Cobb in the Railton Mobil Special. There is some wonderful and evocative video available on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp_LGPxblnM

Eyston went on to become a Director of BP and assisted John Cobb in the latter's tragic WWSR attempt with Crusader at Loch Ness in the 1950s. He was also a friend of the Campbell Family and is believed to have provided advice and guidance for Donald Campbell in his early record attempts.

[malcolm uk]

Whilst I suppose I now have an interest in everything that goes fast on land or water, my interest was first sparked by the battle for the outright lsr between Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove. The 'Green Monster' cars were the brute force (some may say crude build) of LSR and I loved them.

My motorsport path changed course (literally from Brands Hatch and Silverstone to Millbrook and Elvington) once I could become involved with speed record braking in an active way. What was once the preserve of the well healed is now much more open to the working man - with (a great deal of) help from friends and contacts.

Just at the moment there has to be a preference towards a blue boat, but that is just a 'fill in' until a serious new-build comes along in the wsr.

Malcolm

ps do not forget that there are said to be eight absolute lsr contenders progressing their projects as I write.

[bluebirdsback]

No need for jealousy Mike, if i had my own aviator thingy i wouldnt want yours. Can i have one please, can i eh, can i. I would feed it and take it for walks. Can i eh.